AU$2,200 Main Event
Day 4 Completed
2019 WSOP International Circuit The Star Sydney
AU$2,200 Main Event
Day: 4
Steven Zhou Wins the 2019 WSOPC The Star Sydney Main Event for AU$260,904/$178,305
Level 32
: 120,000/240,000, 240,000 ante
After four gruelling days of poker, the 2019 World Series of Poker International Circuit The Star Sydney Main Event has a champion, with Australia's Steven Zhou triumphing over a 1,124-strong field to take the title, the World Series Circuit Ring and AU$260,904 (~$178,305) in cash, with a total of 117 players cashing for a share of the AU$2,248,000 (~$1,537,570) prize pool.
Zhou came into the heads-up confrontation against opponent Lior Segre with a commanding 3-to-1 chip lead and the match was over in a single hand, with Segre committing the last of his chips pre-flop with eight-three offsuit and Zhou making the call with jack-nine offsuit. Both players missed the board by miles, meaning Zhou's jack-high was good.
Lior took home $224,114 for his runner-up finish, improving on his 11th place result in the previous year's Main Event, while Zhou took down his first major title and career-best tournament score.
"I wasn't going to play this tournament, I was just waiting for a cash game, but ended up getting sucked in and playing in the Main Event for four days," joked Zhou immediately after his victory.
While the top prize was initially AU$410,264 (~$280,650), Edwin Chiu, Zhou, John Zwaine and Lior Segre reached an accord when play became four-handed, deciding on an ICM chop to flatten out the top four payouts, with the final table paying out as follows:
WSOPC The Star Sydney Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize (AU$) | Prize (~US$) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Steven Zhou | Australia | $260,904 | $178,305 |
| 2nd | Lior Segre | Australia | $224,114 | $153,170 |
| 3rd | Edwin Chiu | Australia | $269,550 | $184,215 |
| 4th | John Zwaine | Australia | $239,007 | $163,340 |
| 5th | Chao Duan | China | $107,837 | $73,768 |
| 6th | Duy Vu | Australia | $83,086 | $56,837 |
| 7th | Huss Hassan | Australia | $64,765 | $44,304 |
| 8th | Adrian Attenborough | Australia | $51,052 | $34,923 |
| 9th | Trevor Saunders | Australia | $40,689 | $27,834 |
Final Table Action
It was Edwin Chiu the man returning with the chip lead after topping both the Day 2 and Day 3 counts, but it was Duy Vu the man to take first blood, sending short-stack Trevor Saunders to the rail just 15-minutes into the Final Table action.
Saunders went out swinging, three-betting all-in with ace-jack suited over the top of a Vu open with the latter making the call with pocket eights and winning the race to send Saunders to the rail in ninth for an AU$40,689 payday.
Adrian Attenborough, who was playing his second final table in the space of a week after finishing runner-up to Shivan Abdine in the $5k Challenge for AU$160,610, was left short after a car crash of a hand then played out against John Zwaine; Attenborough turning the nut flush on a paired board. Unfortunately for Attenborough the card that brought in his flush also give Zwaine, holding pocket sevens, a full house.
Zwaine climbed into the top three while Attenborough was left with a paltry seven big blinds to drop to the bottom of the counts, departing shortly afterwards at the hands of Chiu after the latter ran out a backdoor heart flush with seven-six suited to best Attenborough's ace-six suited. Attenborough collected $51,052 for his eighth-place finish.
Huss Hassan dropped down the counts over the next 60-minute level played after a brassy bluff backfired against Zhou, with the latter finishing the job shortly after the first break after Hassan committed the last of his chips under-the-gun with king-jack and Zhou woke up with pocket aces. Hassan took home AU$64,765 for his seventh-place finish.
The next level saw the next elimination with Vu also running into a hail of bullets, three-betting pre-flop over the top of a Chiu cutoff open and moving all-in on an eight-high single heart rainbow flop with queen-ten of hearts. Chiu called immediately with aces, which held to send Vu to the rail in sixth for $83,086 and saw Chiu take close to 50% of the total chips in play.
There was a lull in the action before the dinner break with the final table's only international player, China's Chao Duan, get short and then bust at the hand of an increasingly active Zhou. Duan moved all-in for his last 12 big blinds with ace-four and Zhou woke up with pocket jacks in the small blind. Duan collected $107,837 for his fifth-place finish.
Chiu still held the lead at this point, but Zhou was not far behind in the counts, with Zwaine and Segre sitting third and fourth respectively in the pecking order and the remaining four players then decided on the ICM deal.
Following this, the action increased dramatically and the next level saw the tournament wrap up. Segre hit a straight flush in a hand against Zhou to overtake Zwaine in the counts.
Zwaine then committed his last 10 big blinds from under-the-gun with pocket nines, with Zhou looking him up from the big blind with queen-jack offsuit and winning the race to take play three-handed.
This put Zhou in the box seat, giving him the chip lead for the first time in the tournament and not long after he clashed in a big pot with Chiu with the latter moving all-in from the button with king-queen offsuit and Zhou making the call from the blinds with ace-three offsuit, which held up when both players missed the board to take play heads-up.
That concludes the PokerNews live coverage from the World Series of Poker International Circuit at The Star Sydney, and we hope you enjoyed all the scintillating poker action as much as we did. Until the next time.
Lior Segre Eliminated in 2nd Place (AU$224,114/~$153,170)
Level 32
: 120,000/240,000, 240,000 ante
The heads-up confrontation between Lior Segre and Steven Zhou lasted all of one hand with the two deciding to gamble it up immediately.
Lior Segre: 
Steven Zhou: 
Zhou had the best of it with jack-high and the final runout in the 2019 World Series of Poker The Star Sydney Main Event came down 
.
Lior Segre got up and shook Steven Zhou's hand before heading off to collect the AU$224,114 (~$153,170) he had locked up for his deep run, and a reluctant Steven Zhou sat down to take the obligatory winner's phote.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
33,720,000 | 7,800,000 |
|
Busted |
Edwin Chiu Eliminated in 3rd Place (AU$269,550/~$184,215)
Level 32
: 120,000/240,000, 240,000 ante
The action ratcheted up to ridiculous levels, with some crazy chip shifts resulting. Edwin Chiu opened the action to 525,000 and an increasingly active Steven Zhou, who had edged in front of Chiu, ripped it in from the small blind.
"Oh my God!" said a taken aback Chiu before pitching his cards into the muck
The next hand Zhou straddled blind to 500,000 on the button and after Lior Segre folded Chiu made the call to take play heads-up to a flop of 
where the action went check, bet 500,000 call.
The 
turn saw exactly the same betting pattern, with Chiu checking, Zhou betting 500,000 and getting called and the dealer revealed the 
river.
Both players checked and chopped the pot with queen-six offsuit, Chiu holding 
and Zhou holding 
.
Two hands later Chiu was out. On the button, Chiu raised to 500,000 with Zhou moving all-in and finding an immediate call.
Edwin Chiu: 
Steven Zhou: 
Zhou was ahead and Chiu was the man at risk, with the board running out 
and the Main Event was down to heads-up. Chiu headed off to collect the AU$269,550 (~$184,215) agreed upon for his deep run and Steven Zhou will be bringing in a commanding lead of 25.92 million to Lior Segre's 7.8 million.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
25,920,000 | 13,845,000 |
|
|
7,800,000 | -1,000,000 |
|
Busted |
Segre Doubles Through Zhou
Level 32
: 120,000/240,000, 240,000 ante
Steven Zhou raised to 500,000 from the button. Lior Segre and Edwin Chiu called from the blinds.
The flop came and Segre bet 500,000. Chiu folded. Zhou moved all in which covered Segre. Segre called with 3,525,000 in his stack.
Segre: 
Zhou: 
The board ran out the and giving Segre the pot with a pair of tens.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
12,075,000 | -4,025,000 |
|
|
8,800,000 | 2,400,000 |
John Zwaine Eliminated in 4th Place (AU$239,007/~$163,340)
Level 32
: 120,000/240,000, 240,000 ante
John Zwaine moved all in for his remaining 2,400,000 from under the gun. Steven Zhou called from the big blind.
Zhou: 
Zwaine: 
The board ran out 
, improving Zhou to two pair, resulting in Zwaine being eliminated in 4th place.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
16,100,000 | 2,900,000 |
|
Busted |
Zhou Doubles Through Chiu
Level 32
: 120,000/240,000, 240,000 ante
Edwin Chiu raised to 525,000 from the button. Steven Zhou raised to 2,000,000 from the small blind. Chiu then shoved for around 20,000,000. Zhou snap-called with a total of 6,400,000 in his stack.
Zhou: 
Chiu:
The board ran out 
, awarding Zhou the pot and the double, after his superior kicker proved the difference.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
14,100,000 | -5,550,000 |
|
|
13,200,000 | 6,600,000 |
Chiu Pressures Zwaine
Level 32
: 120,000/240,000, 240,000 ante
The rich are getting richer, with Edwin Chiu pushing John Zwaine off a sizable pot to further increase his stranglehold on the tournament.
It was Zwaine who was the pre-flop raiser, making it 600,000 to go from under-the-gun with both Chiu and Steven Zhou making the call from the small and big blind respectively.
The 
flop saw both Chiu and Zhou check the action over to Zwaine, who continuation bet 1.3-million, only to see Chiu reach for raising chips, sliding out two towers of dark blue for a check-raise to 4-million in total.
Zhou's cards hit the muck immediately and Zwaine paid and an extremely lengthy visit to the think tank. After a few minutes there, he began to quiz Chiu to gauge his strength.
"Edwin, do you want me to call?"
Chiu sat still as a statue, giving nothing away and eventually Zwaine decided to let his hand go, dropping to 2.85-million, leaving Chiu free to scoop the sizable pot.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
19,650,000 | 1,750,000 |
|
|
2,850,000 | -1,750,000 |
Chiu Takes From Zhou
Level 32
: 120,000/240,000, 240,000 ante
Edwin Chiu raised to 525,000 from under the gun. Steven Zhou called from the button followed by Lior Segre in the big blind.
All three players checked the 
flop before the 
dropped on the turn.
The action checked to Zhou who slid out 2,000,000. Segre folded. Chiu thought for a minute then called.
The completed the board and both players checked.
Zhou tabled for ace-high. Chiu revealed and took down the pot with the superior kicker.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
17,900,000 | 4,900,000 |
|
|
6,600,000 | -3,500,000 |
Segre Makes Straight Flush
Level 32
: 120,000/240,000, 240,000 ante
The pace of play has increased considerably since the players made their deal and John Zwaine and Lior Segre have changed places in the pecking order after the latter made a monster hand in a pot against Steven Zhou.
It was Zwaine the man driving the action originally with a raise to 500,000 from the cutoff, with Segre making the call from the button and Steven Zhou coming in from the big blind to take play heads-up to a flop of 
.
Steven Zhou bet the flop, with Zwaine folding and Segre making the call. The players are now playing so fast its tough to keep up with all the action, though come the 
turn and river Segre had won the pot with a river bet, flashing the table for a straight flush after Zhou folded.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
13,000,000 | 2,275,000 |
|
|
10,100,000 | -2,200,000 |
|
|
6,400,000 | 350,000 |
|
|
4,600,000 | 600,000 |