Steven Zhou Wins WSOPC The Star Sydney Main Event; Anish Kumar & Akshay Kapoor Make Top 15 Finish

WSOPC The Star Sydney Main Event
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  • Namita Ghosh December 9, 2019
  • 2 Minutes Read

The 2019 World Series of Poker Circuit (WSOPC) The Star Sydney $2,200 Main Event had an arduous four-day run. The tournament attracted 1,124 entries over four starting flights and eventually declared a champion in Australia’s Steven Zhou.

One of the dominant forces on the final table, Zhou, struck a four-way deal with the other three – fellow countrymen Lior Serge, Edwin Chiu, and John Zwaine that saw them all lock their payouts with only the WSOPC ring and the title left in play. And even though Zhou walked away with a lesser payout than Chiu, he went on to defeat Lior Segre heads-up to win the bragging rights of becoming the latest WSOPC The Star Sydney champion!

The tournament also saw several Indian players in the mix, and three of them succeeded in crossing the money line. While Ashish Gupta (93rd for A$4,361 ₹2.11 Lakhs) fell out considerably early on Day 2, the two others, namely, Anish Kumar and Akshay Kapoor stormed into Day 3 with sizable stacks. Despite a roller-coaster ride, both were able to side-step the hectic round of eliminations and finish in the top 15.

Akshay Kapoor, whose itinerary of live scores is dominated by deep runs in Australian tournaments, was the first of the duo to bow out. He was taken out by Huss Hassan, who called off Kapoor’s all-in move with king-queen with his superior ace-queen and maintained the lead. A 15th place finish fetched Kapoor A$26,729 (~₹12.97 Lakhs).

Akshay Kapoor
Akshay Kapoor

Kumar is another regular in Australian tournaments and was last reported by us for his third-place finish in the 2019 DPT Xpress ₹15K Main Event in March. He was quick to join Kapoor to the rail in 13th place for an equivalent A$26,729 (~₹12.97 Lakhs payday). Like Kapoor, Kumar too had a swingy ride and eventually lost a big pot to Lior Segre to become short-stacked. One hand later, he lost his tournament life with his eight-four going down to Duy Vu’s nine-six.

Check out this clip of Kumar getting his aces cracked!

A total of 182 players managed to make the cut for Day 2, and with only 117 places assured a piece of the A$2,248,000 prize pool, it turned out to be an intense race to the money bubble.

The money line was breached not long into play, with Jun Zheng hitting the rail as the unfortunate bubble boy.

Hamish Crawshaw (12th for A$32,798), Tom Rafferty (14th for A$26,729), Shane De Clifford (17th for A$22,030), Jensen Chow (18th for A$22,030), Jules Wilson (19th for A$18,344), Germany’s Marc Camphausen (20th for A$18,344), Rehman Kassam (21st for A$18,344), Day 1A chip leader Diarmuid O’Kane (22nd for A$15,444), Ling Liu (39th for A$7,598), Andrew Zhang (45th for A$7,598), Vincent Huang (69th for A$5,598), Bobby Zhang (92nd for A$4,361), and Geoff Mooney (114th for A$3,687) were among the notable scorers.

Many big names including the likes of 2019 WSOP Player of the Year Robert Campbell, defending champion Alex Lynskey, 2017 Aussie Millions champion

Shurane Vijayaram, Poker Hall of Famers Mel Judah and Leo Boxell and bracelet winner James Obst, fell out empty-handed.

The penultimate day of the event saw the final 24 players return, all in the money for at least A$15,444. The play was halted after the elimination of Moustafa Haider (10th for A$32,798).

Start of Day 3 chip leader, Edwin Chiu, entered the final table in the chip lead with 6,335,000, while Zhou was a close second with 6,205,000 in chips.

The WSOPC The Star Sydney Main Event final table
The WSOPC The Star Sydney Main Event final table

Final Table Chip Counts

1. Edwin Chiu – 6,335,000
2. Steven Zhou – 6,205,000
3. Huss Hassan – 4,500,000
4. Adrian Attenborough – 4,150,000
5. John Zwaine – 3,065,000
6. Chao Duan – 3,465,000
7. Duy Vu – 2,775,000
8. Lior Segre – 2,585,000
9. Trevor Saunders – 940,000

 

Final Table Recap

The final table began its proceedings with a slight delay, and within just 30 minutes of play, Trevor Saunders fell in ninth place with his ace-jack failing to catch up to Duy Vu’s pocket eights.

Adrian Attenborough and Huss Hassan followed Saunders to the rail subsequently, in eighth and seventh places, respectively.

Nearly an hour after Hassan’s departure, Duy Vu found his queen-ten cracked by Edwin Chiu’s pocket aces to collect a sixth-place payout.

The play slowed down for a good 90 minutes, but not long after the dinner break, Chao Duan moved all-in for 2.3 Million from the cutoff with and found Zhou in the small blind make the call with . Zhou stayed ahead on the runout, eliminating Duan in fifth place.

The four remaining players then cut an ICM-based deal that fixed their payouts, leaving only the WSOPC ring and the title to fight for. Based on the agreement, Edwin Chiu, who was holding the largest stack locked up A$269,550, and Zhou, the next biggest payout of $260,904. John Zwaine was assured $239,007 and Lior Segre $224,114.

The next elimination took an hour coming when John Zwaine, who had 2.4 Million left, shoved all-in from the UTG, and Zhou called it off from the big blind.

Steven Zhou

John Zwaine

Zwaine could have easily chipped up but for the runout that paired both of Zhou’s cards, sending Zwaine out in fourth place.

Less than 15 minutes after Zwaine’s ouster, Edwin Chiu lost a major chunk of his stack to Zhou and soon hit the rail. Chiu raised for 500,000 with on which Zhou jammed with . Chiu snap-called. Chiu was at risk and with the community cards opening , Chiu was dispatched in third place.

The heads-up play between Zhou and Lior Zegre was a one-hand affair where the two decided to move all-in pre-flop.

Lior Segre [

Steven Zhou

Zhou had a superior hand that held through the runout to win him the WSOP Circuit ring and WSOPC Sydney Main Event title!

Steven Zhou wins the WSOPC The Star Sydney Main Event
Steven Zhou wins the WSOPC The Star Sydney Main Event

Final Table Results (AU$)

1. Steven Zhou – A$260,904*

2. Lior Segre – A$224,114*

3. Edwin Chiu – A$269,550*

4. John Zwaine – A$239,007*

5. Chao Duan – A$107,837

6. Duy Vu – A$83,086

7. Huss Hassan – A$64,765

8. Adrian Attenborough – A$51,052

9. Trevor Saunders – A$40,689

*denotes 4-way deal

Content & Images Courtesy: PokerNews

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