The Star Sydney Championships 2017 is currently under way and expectations for quality poker action have already been exceeded.The Monster Stack event was a new addition to this year’s schedule of the popular Australian poker series and it proved tremendously successful. Played across 2 days, it attracted an impressive field with 328 entries. Finally, it was Indian origin player Ash Gupta who won the Monster Stack at the Star Sydney Championships for a hefty $77,093.
Ash Gupta entered the final table as the chip lead with 3.7 million chips. He was marginally ahead of Aharon “Ronnie” Shabtay, who holds over a quarter of a million dollars in tournament cashes. Fifth largest stack under 1.6 million chips was Antonis “Toothpick” Karambouroglou, who has back to back wins in the 2012 Star Sydney Championships to his credit. The biggest hand for Gupta came when he got locked in an all-in confrontation with Haoran Zhang (3rd place finisher) and won 9 million pot.
Two-handed play kicked off with Gupta facing Daniel Neilson. When the play began, Gupta held two times more chips than his opponent Neilson. And it took Gupta a just one hand to finish off Neilson and win the inaugural Monster Stack. Gupta moved all-in and Neilson made the snap call. Gupta turned our 9s-2s against his opponent’s Ac-4s. The board was Js-9d-3s-10c-2d. Gupta won the title for an impressive $77,093 in the top prize money, while Neilson locked A$47,658 for his runner-up finish.
WPT Brings Action Clock to all Season XVI WPT Main Tour events
The World Poker Tour has partnered with Protection Poker to introduce the Action Clock to its all XVI WPT Main Tour events. Beginning with the televised WPT Choctaw, the implementation of the Action Clock is to bring an exciting element to poker by ensuring efficient pace in the play.
The Action Clock will be implemented in all WPT Main Tour events starting one full table off the money bubble and lasting till end of the tournament. Players will have a 30-second clock for action to ensure an efficient pace of play. The Action Clock and Protection Poker are the property of Gaming Advancement Marketing Entertainment, LLC, all rights are reserved.
Talking about action clock, Cavin Quintanilla, CEO of Gaming Advancement Marketing Entertainment, LLC said, “Protection Poker is pleased to expand its partnership with the World Poker Tour to bring the Action Clock to all WPT Main Tour events,”. He further added, “The World Poker Tour is most player-friendly tour, and we look forward to players experiencing the Action Clock on a global scale.”
“The World Poker Tour is proud to be the first to implement the Action Clock across all of its Main Tour events,” said Matt Savage, WPT Executive Tour Director. “Many players, both recreational and professional, have expressed concerns that unnecessary tanking has taken a lot of the fun out of poker. Poker should always be fun, and it was a no-brainer decision to bring the Action Clock to all WPT Main Tour events following its success in the WPT Tournament of Champions and WPT500™ Los Angeles. With the Action Clock, more action equals more fun, and who doesn’t want more fun in poker?”
The Season XVI of the WPT Main Tour continues August 4-8, 2017 at Choctaw with a $3,700 buy-in Main Event that boasts of a whopping $2 million in the guaranteed prize pool. Stay tuned in for the latest updates.