Negreanu Wins Main Event, 5th Bracelet as WSOP APAC Concludes

The first ever World Series of Poker Asia Pacific concluded yesterday with Daniel Negreanu topping a field of 405 to win the WSOP APAC Main Event and his fifth WSOP bracelet overall. Negreanu joined Aussie Aaron Lim as the last two bracelet winners down under, while Philip Gruissem took down the non-bracelet High Roller event and Team Europe winning the Caesars Cup.

Aussie Aaron Lim Wins Event #4 (NLHE 6-max $5,000)

After Americans claimed the first three bracelets in Melbourne, Aaron Lim finally won one for the home country by taking down Event #4, the $5,000 buy-in six-handed NLHE event (all dollar amounts AUD).

Lim outlasted a field of 167 to win the gold, in what you might call a complete betting performance, in a final table entirely comprised of his fellow Aussies.

The top 18 finishers were paid in Event #4, with Jason Gray (7th, $27,722), Dominik Nitsche (10th, $19,940), Jonathan Karamalikis (13th, $10,354), and Oleksii Kovalchuk (15th, $10,354) among those cashing but not quite reaching the final table.

According to PokerListings' live updates, the final table took 81 hands, the last 50 of took place between Lim and Andy Lee in a lengthy heads-up battle. 

Lee led to start their duel, though Lim earned an early double-up to seize the advantage and would extend his lead further before finally claiming the last of Lee's chips on a final all-in hand pitting Lee's As-Qd versus Lim's Kh-5h. The Js-6c-3s flop and 8d turn were okay for Lee, but the 5s river paired Lim to give him the win.  

Event #4 ($5,000 NLHE 6-max.) final table results:
1st: Aaron Lim (Australia) -- $233,800
2nd: Andy Lee (Australia) -- $144,530
3rd: Jan Suchanek (Australia) -- $103,766
4th: Brendon Rubie (Australia) -- $74,590
5th: Sam Higgs (Australia) -- $53,615
6th: Billy Seri (Australia) -- $38,545

Negreanu Wins WSOP APAC Main Event #5 (NLHE $10,000)

The five-day Main Event at WSOP APAC then finished up on Wednesday in dramatic fashion with a star-studded final table and victory by Daniel Negreanu. The win marked Negreanu's fifth WSOP bracelet and first $1 million-plus score since finishing second in the 2011 PCA $100K High Roller.

The top 40 finishers from the 405 entrants made the money, with a number of well-known names among those cashing but not making the eight-handed final table, including Antonio Esfandiari who bubbled the final table to finish in ninth for a $65,408 cash.

Others making the money included Tino Lechich (11th, $51,941), Raymond Rahme (17th, $25,778), Todd Terry (24th, $25,778), Oliver Gill (27th, $22,316), Minh Nguyen (31st, $22,316), Joseph Cheong (32nd, $22,316), Jeff Lisandro (35th, $20,392), and Erik Seidel (39th, $20,392). 

PokerListings' hand-for-hand reports from the final table show it took 220 hands altogether for the final eight to play down to one.  

Benny Spindler of Germany began the final table with the chip lead, with Negreanu next and the Aussie George Tsatis not far behind. But Spindler would fall in sixth and Tsatsis in fourth, and by the time Negreanu knocked out Winfred Yu in third, Negreanu had a better than 11-to-1 lead over Daniel Marton.

Marton battled for 26 hands with "Kid Poker," surviving three all-ins by winning one and chopping two more. Finally Marton was all in again with As-7s against Negreanu's 2s-2h, and when the board came 6d-Js-Kh-Th-4d, Negreanu had won.

Also of note from the WSOP APAC Main Event final table was the presence of Russell Thomas who finished eighth. Thomas also make the 2012 WSOP Final Table where the "Octo-Niner" took fourth.

Event #5 ($10,000 NLHE Main Event) final table results:
1st: Daniel Negreanu (Canada) -- $1,038,825
2nd: Daniel Marton (Australia) -- $637,911
3rd: Winfred Yu (Hong Kong) -- $423,225
4th: George Tsatsis (Australia) -- $284,715
5th: Kahle Burns (Australia) -- $201,994
6th: Benny Spindler (Germany) -- $146,205
7th: Mikel Habib (Australia) -- $107,730
8th: Russell Thomas (United States) -- $82,721

Gruissem Gathers Another High Roller Win

The German Philipp Gruissem earned himself yet another major High Roller win in Melbourne this week by topping a field of 44 entries to win the non-bracelet $50,000 High Roller NLHE event on Sunday.

The win netted Gruissem a payday of $825,000 and marks his third High Roller victory after winning the High Roller events at both EPT/UKIPT London and the EPT Barcelona event, both in 2011.

The official final table for this event was eight-handed, although only the top six spots made the cash. Gruissem and Elton Tsang occupied the top spots in the counts when the final table began. Kyle Cheong then went out in eighth, followed by Marvin Rettenmaier in seventh, both players falling in hands versus Joseph Cheong.

Eventually Cheong and Gruissem would meet heads-up, and at one point Cheong enjoyed a better than 3-to-1 chip lead against the German.  

But Gruissem won an all-in with Ac-Tc versus Cheong's Kh-8s after drawing a flush. Then not too long afterwards Cheong was all in and at risk with 7h-7s versus Gruissem's Qd-Jd, and when the board brought a queen and no sevens, Gruissem had won.

$50,000 High Roller results:
1st: Philip Gruissem (Germany) -- $825,000
2nd: Joseph Cheong (United States) -- $511,000
3rd: Paul Phua (Macau) -- $325,000
4th: Lo Shing Fung (Macau) -- $225,000
5th: Elton Tsang (China) -- $155,000
6th: Tom Hall (England) -- $115,000

Team Europe Wins Caesars Cup

Finally, it was Team Europe claiming the latest installment in the WSOP Caesars Cup by first defeating Team Asia Pacific, then Team Americas in the final in the non-bracelet, team-based event. 

Team Europe was captained by Sam Trickett and consisted of Marvin Rettenmaier, Philip Gruissem, Dominik Nitsche, and Sam Holden.

In the final, Trickett and Nitsche defeated Team Americas' Negreanu and Esfandiari in one doubles match, then Rettenmaier and Gruissem came back to beat Phil Ivey and Phil Hellmuth in the second to even the score.

That set up a heads-up final between Holden and 2012 WSOP Main Event winner Greg Merson. Merson built a big lead in the match, but Holden managed to score multiple double-ups to grab the advantage, then used 8h-8d versus Merson's Qh-4c to clinch the win.

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