WSOPC The Star Sydney 2018: Luke Martinelli Takes Down $20K High Roller For A$356,250

Luke Martinelli
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  • Namita Ghosh December 14, 2018
  • 3 Minutes Read

The 2018 World Series of Poker International Circuit The Star Sydney $20,000 High Roller attracted 50 entries and topping them all was Luke Martinelli (cover image), who locked up the title for a A$356,250 payday. Along with the prize money, Martinelli also won his maiden WSOPC ring and added 50 points towards the race for the Casino Champion.

Martinelli had tried to satellite his way into the event and even punted in a few satellites but to no avail. He finally got in after selling action to a few friends and fired a single bullet, one that saw him through all the way across the finish line.

“It’s pretty good,” Martinelli said after his win. “It’s the highest buy-in I’ve ever played in my life so it’s nice to win that one.”He added, “It’s a really good tournament. I got to play with some really really good players.”

Entries into the tournament created a prize pool just under $1,000,000. Day 1 ended with only nine players left in the fray and Martinelli was leading the pack with his stack of 570,000. He consolidated his position in the last few levels of play.

Indian-origin Gautam Dhingra was also among the group of survivors. With only five places paid, Day 2 saw some intense competition among the finalists who made a dash for the money line.

Robert Spano and Jason Pritchard were the first two players to be eliminated empty-handed on Day 2. Michael Egan followed them out in seventh place.

Sosia Jiang bubbled the final table after her pocket tens were run down by Ebon Bokody’s pocket kings.

With Jiang’s elimination in sixth place, the final five players were all in the money and Bokody (1,000,000) was the only player with a seven-figure stack of 1 Million. Martinelli was the second-shortest stack with 290,000, just above Dhingra with 228,000.

Final Table Chip Counts

1.Ebon Bokody – 1,000,000

2. Jan Suchanek – 780,000

3. Qiang Fu – 410,000

4. Luke Martinelli – 290,000

5. Gautam Dhingra – 228,000

Final Table Recap

Gautam Dhingra, who was the shortest stack coming into the final table, made an exit in fifth place soon after action resumed on the final table. Dhingra moved all in under the gun for under 200,000 holding and was looked up by big blind Qiang Fu with . Fu flopped a winning set on the rundown .

Jan Suchanek was the next player to exit. He open-raised on the button for 26,000 and action folded to Ebon Bokody in the big blind who 3-bet to 100,000. Action folded back to Suchanek and he tanked for a bit before moving all in for 550,000, prompting Bokody to snap call. Suchanek tabled versus Bokody’s .The board ran and Bokody’s pocket kings were enough to eliminate Suchanek in fourth place.

Several hands later, Qiang Fu saw his run cut shot in third place after he made a raise of 33,000 from the button holding and big blind Martinelli 3-bet it to 135,000 with . Fu moved all in for 459,000 and Martinelli tanked for a while before eventually making the call with a slightly covering stack. Martinelli spiked a flush draw on the flop but the turn changed nothing. The river paired Martinelli’s king giving him the lead, and Fu was eliminated.

The heads-up match between Ebon Bokody and Martinelli began with the former holding 1.1 Million in chips against Martinelli’s stack of 1.4 Million. The chips exchanged hands the first couple of hands before Martinelli took down a big pot with his pair of queens reigning over Bokody’s jack-eight. The next hand was the final one, and saw Bokody opening the pot for 40,000 from the button. He held against Martinelli’s . Martinelli called from the big blind to see the flop . Here Martinelli checked his option but Bokody continued for 45,000. Martinelli check-raised to 110,000 and Bokody 3-bet to 250,000. Martinelli who had hit three-of-a-kind sixes on the flop called. The turn saw Martinelli checking and Bokody moved all in for 400,000. Martinelli wasted no time in making the call. Bokody was looking for a seven but the river brought instead and just like that Martinelli was crowned the champion!

 

Luke Martinelli
Luke Martinelli with his rail

Final Table Results (AUD)

1.Luke Martinelli – A$356,250

2. Ebon Bokody – A$220,210

3. Qiang Fu – A$155,330

4. Jan Suchanek – A$118,845

5. Gautam Dhingra – A$110,365

Content & Images courtesy Pokernews.com/wsop.com

Keep following PokerGuru for more updates from the 2018 WSOP International Circuit The Star Sydney!

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