There's high rollers and there's Richard Yong. The "Macau businessman," as he's been called over the years, plays almost exclusively in the biggest buy in events all across the world and today he's at the final table again.
Yong made three earlier final tables in huge buy-in events adding his total money won up to $2,683,332. All of that came in 2012 when he made the biggest final table in poker history. Yong finished eight in the The Big One for One Drop and cashed $1,237,333. This was Yong's biggest cash to date but he can elipse that cash with a victory today!
Sam Trickett might be the one player with the fondest memories of the Aussie Millions out of this group together with Erik Seidel. Back in 2011 Trickett had an amazing run when he won the $100,000 event followed by a second place finish in the $250,000 just a few days later. In just one week Trickett won over $2.8 million and has been adding to that ever since.
The past summer Trickett finished second in The Big One for One Drop cashing over $10 million. This makes him the fourth most winning tournament poker player in the history of the game. Trickett would jump up to second place if he wins this event today.
Fabian Quoss will enter the final table third in chips behind fellow Germans Tobias Reinkemeier and Igor Kurganov. To say that this could be the year of Team Germany would be a very promising prediction.
Quoss has over $2,000,000 in live tournament earnings and three years on his record with over $500,000 in cashes. Quoss' best result came in 2009 when he took second place in the World Series of Poker's $5,000 No-Limit Hold'em event for $427,911. The biggest victory of his career was in 2010 wen he won the English Poker Open for £220,650.
Germany's Tobias Reinkemeier has over $4.4 million in live tournament winnings and is second on the German all-time money list. He's more of the silent killer on the felt, much like Patrik Antonius, and everyone in the poker world has nothing but good things to say about both his game and his personality.
Hong Kong's Winfred Yu is the second shortest stack entering the final table, so his work will be cut out for him. One thing is for sure, Yu isn't going to shy away from the money or be scared to put his money on the line. He has a lot of experience in big buy-in events including a third-place finish in the Aspers £100,000 High Roller in London for £330,000.
In total, Yu has over $820,000 in live tournament earnings, and he's coming off his best year in 2012 where he won $672,029. Also last year, Yu took second in the APT Asian Series Macau Main Event for $131,019.
Igor Kurganov is a regular on the European Pour Tour, and he's no stranger to high roller events. With that said, it was no surprise to see him travel to the Southern Hemisphere for the 2013 Aussie Millions.
Most of Kurganov's winnings have come in big buy-in events like this one. In May of 2011, he took second in the €10,000 High Roller Turbo at the EPT Grand Final in Madrid for €123,000. He then went on to finish third in the EPT Tallinn High Roller for €40,450 and second in the EPT London High Roller for £318,300 after losing to Philipp Gruissem.
Just a couple days ago, Kurganov took second in the $100,000 Challenge here at the Aussie Millions for AU$610,000. If he's able to pull off the victory here, his performance could rival that of Sam Trickett's a couple years ago when he won the $100,000 Challenge and took second in the $250,000 Challenge.
Kurganov will enter the final table second in chips.
Erik Seidel is no stranger to the poker scene, and he's especially no stranger to high buy-in events like this one. In fact, Seidel won the $250,000 Challenge in 2011 for AU$2,500,000.
Seidel boasts a career tournament record of over $17,000,000, and over $4,500,000 of that comes from the Oceania region where he just seems to kill it. Here at the Aussie Millions alone, Seidel has seven cashses, and all of those cashes are finishes in the top four of the event.
In 2003, Seidel took fourth in the AU$2,000 Limit Omaha Hi/Lo event for AU$9,200, then took second in the AU$1,000 Pot-Limit Hold'em event for AU$35,000. In 2007, Seidel placed second in the $100,000 Challenge for AU$550,000 and topped that earning the next year when he came runner-up in the Aussie Millions Main Event for AU$1,000,000. He then won the AU$10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha in 2010 for AU$120,000 in 2010, but 2011 proved to be his best year ever Down Under.
In 2011, Seidel first placed third in the $100,000 Challenge for $625,000 and then went on to win the $250,000 Challenge for $2,500,000. Needless to say, Seidel crushes Australia.
Seidel will enter with the shortest stack at the final table, but we all know he's got the experience to make the comeback happen.
In order to play events the size of this one you already need to have a very substantial bankrol, that's without question. But one player is going to walk away a whopping AU$2,000,000 payday. The seven-player field is star studded and everyone is looking to catch the runaway chip leader Tobias Reinkemeier.
The Germans came out in full force during this and three of the four are now at the top the chart. Only Phillipp Gruissem did not make it through to the final table, but his three friends will almost certainly get some revenge for his early bustout.
High Roller regulars Sam Trickett and Erik Seidel were very successful in previous Aussie Millions and even with their short stacks they still pose a big threat to the other players. Winfred Yu and Richard Yong are the two so called "Macau High Rollers" and the money won't bring extra pressure to their playing style, that's for sure!
So there you have it, a very wel balanced and interesting line up that's bound to bring some fireworks to Crown today! Play is supposed to start at 4:00 PM local time and we will play down to a winner!
