Jim Psaros Wins ANZPT Sydney Main Event

The Season 7 of the Australia New Zealand Poker Tour (ANZPT) came to an end after five days at the Star Casino in New South Wales, Australia when Jim “The Doctor” Psaros outplayed a field of 445 entrants to win the title.

This AU$2,300 buy-in event is the most popular one in the region, and the first of two Day 1 flight did not disappoint as 188 players hit the tables. On Day 1a, there were 84 survivors, and it was Sayed Jabbour who emerged as the chip leader with a stack of 157,400. The second Day 1 flight of ANZPT Sydney Main Event saw 258 entrants. When added with Day 1a, the total field weighed in at 466 making the prize pool of AU$914,300 and the top prize at AU $225,000. Chip leader Sam Ruha was the only one of the 128 survivors from Day 1b to bag up a six-figure stack.213 players of the 445 starters returned for Day 2 of ANZPT Sydney Main Event, and it was Min Jae Park who lead with the chips.

After four days of action, the 2015 ANZPT Sydney Main Event reached a final table. From a starting field of 445 players, the nine remaining players fight it out for the AU$225,000 top prize and the title on Season 7 of the Australia New Zealand Poker Tour.

Psaros started the final table as the chip leader with 2.64 million chips and played smartly to reach all the way to the heads-up battle with Adelaide’s Emanuel “Curly” Seal. In the final hand, on a board of J-Q-Q, Seal went all-in for his remaining 1.7 million in chips. Psaros weighed up the situation and decided to call, tabling K-5. Seal turned over 8-4. The turn was a 2 but the river a 5, giving Psaros a pair of fives and the title.

When three-handed action begun, the remaining players opted to decrease the payouts and soon after Sekuloski was eliminated in third place. Sekuloski got aggressive with the K-K on the turn of a 4-2-7-8 board and ran into Seal’s 2-2 for a flopped set of twos. No miracle on the river and as per the revised prize pool structure, Sekulsoki pocketed AU$90,000. Even in the heads-up round, Seal and Psaros opted to make a deal. It was an balanced split of AU$175,000 each leaving AU$8,000 for the champion. \

Throughout the final table, Denis Sekuloski was the toughest player as played a part in the elimination of Chung Liew (9th), Tom Rafferty (7th), and Zhi Ma (6th) during the early stages of the day. The next players to leave the table were Li-ta Hsu and Murray Roach.

The event attracted a total of 445 players that created a prize pool of $912,250. Psaros took home $183,000 after a deal was done heads-up, with Emanuel Seal winning $175,000. Denis Sekuloski won $90,000 for his third place finish. Psaros, a 56-year-old Sydney local, is a Professor of Accounting at the University of Newcastle who previously had just $13,666 in tournament cashes to his name.

The next stop on Season 7 of the Australia New Zealand Poker Tour is several months away with ANZPT Melbourne taking place at the Crown Casino from October 8-20, 2015.

Given below are the final table results: