Two More Winners Crowned at 2020 Aussie Millions
Table Of Contents
A stunning display of heads-up poker helped Freek Scholten to victory in Event #4: No-Limit Hold'em Mix Max here at the 2020 Aussie Millions.
The event attracted 342 players with just 35 advancing to the final day. With eight left, the tournament was redrawn into four heads-up matches depending on chip stacks. At that point, Scholten was the short-stack and was drawn against chip leader Karim Kamal who held almost a 6:1 chip lead over the Dutchman.
However, Scholten turned the tables to eliminate Kamal, and would go on to defeat Xiaqing Ji and then Nino Ullmann heads-up to win A$86,575.
Event #4: No Limit Hold'em Mix Max Results
| Place | Player | Payout (AUD) | Payout (USD) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Freek Scholten | $86,575 | $59,737 |
| 2 | Nino Ullmann | $56,955 | $39,299 |
| 3 | Xiaqing Ji | $28,500 | $19,665 |
| 4 | Jaxon Byrne | $28,500 | $19,665 |
| 5 | Nauvneel Kashyap | $11,850 | $8,177 |
| 6 | Karim Kamal | $11,850 | $8,177 |
| 7 | Keiron Laifoo | $11,850 | $8,177 |
| 8 | Justin Capra | $11,850 | $8,177 |
Winner's Reaction
After wrapping up the victory, Scholten told PokerNews that it was an "amazing feeling" to win his maiden ANTON Jewellery Championship ring.
"It's an amazing feeling. I mean, winning tournaments is such a good feeling, but especially when it's live with a special prize like a ring added. It's a good feeling."
Now living in Vienna, Scholten excelled at full ring, 6-max and heads-up poker to close out victory, battling back from a heavy chip deficit in the quarter final. Despite his strong showing in that portion of the tournament, he denied being a heads-up specialist.
"I wouldn't call myself a specialist in heads-up, I'm mostly just a tournament player. I feel like I had an edge on most players that were left, but with a 6:1 deficit to make up, there's some luck involved. We were flipping on the fourth hand and I could have busted in eighth place, but after I won that one the stacks were more even and it was more like a level playing field."
Approaching the heads-up portion of the tournament, Scholten said he was all to aware of the implications should he be the short stack with eight players remaining.
"You know if you're going to be in eighth place you're going to have to battle the chip leader, so you don't want to be there! But in this case the jump from ninth to eighth was quite big, so there was no room to gamble to get into eighth place.
"You just play things hand by hand. I wasn't happy that I was eighth against the big stack, but you can only hope to win!"
Final Day Action
The eliminations came thick and fast to start the final day, with the six-max format boosting the action at all tables. Players eliminated in the money included Sven McDermott (34th - A$2,800), Pierce McKellar (30th - A$3,150), Dylan Wilkerson (25th - A$3,150),Gautam Dhingra (23rd - A$3,500), Marc Macdonnell (17th - A$4,030) and Aymon Hata (13th - A$4,030)
Start-of-day chip leader Benny Glaser was eliminated one place short of heads-up after running jacks into tens to bust in ninth for A$7,010.
Heads-up Matches
| Match | Player (Seed) | Chip Count | Player (Seed) | Chip Count |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Karim Kamal (1) | 863,000 | Freek Scholten (8) | 148,000 |
| 2 | Nauvneel Kashyap (2) | 581,000 | Nino Ullmann (7) | 215,000 |
| 3 | Jaxon Byrne (3) | 512,000 | Justin Capra (6) | 346,000 |
| 4 | Xiaqing Ji (4) | 381,000 | Keiron Laifoo (5) | 380,000 |
The story of the quarter-finals was the two short stacks who eliminated the two big stacks in the shame of Karim Kamal and Nauvneel Kashyap. Kashyap was the final player to bust at the quarter-final stage, with all players eliminated at this stage taking home A$11,850.
Scholten's reward for his upset was a chip lead against Xiaqing Ji who had emerged from a quarter-final match with just 1,000 chips between the two players at the start of play. Meanwhile, Ullmann again came in as the short stack but managed to eliminate opponent Jaxon Byrne before Scholten sent Ji to the rail with both players taking home A$28,500.
Heads-up, and again with the lead, Scholten looked in control for large portions of the final heads-up match against Ullmann. On the final hand, Ullmann check-raised the turn on a board with two kings and shoved the river. Scholten called with a king for trips, picking off a bluff from Ullmann who missed a gutshot.
The German takes home A$56,955 for his runner-up finish as Scholten became the second Dutch player in three years to win the Mix Max after Bas de Laat's victory in 2018.
Matthew Edwards Wins Aussie Millions Event #3: A$1,150 Pot Limit Omaha (A$83,185)
Meanwhile, a dominant final table performance from Matthew Edwards in Event #3: A$1,150 Pot Limit Omaha saw him crowned the winner, topping a field of 349 entries to win A$83,185.
At the 2019 Aussie Millions, Edwards finished third in the Opening Event for A$195,000 after a three-handed deal, but turned his attention to the four-card variant over the last few days, reaping the rewards as he swept aside a final table that featured bracelet-winner and former ANZPT Main Event winner Martin Kozlov.
Event #3: A$1,150 Pot Limit Omaha Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Payout (AUD) | Payout (USD) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Matthew Edwards | $83,185 | $57,398 |
| 2 | Matthew Sheils | $52,765 | $36,408 |
| 3 | Claudio Celenza | $33,090 | $22,832 |
| 4 | Sherif Derias | $25,935 | $17,895 |
| 5 | Ryan Hong | $18,780 | $12,958 |
| 6 | Quan Zhou | $15,205 | $10,491 |
| 7 | Martin Kozlov | $11,985 | $8,270 |
| 8 | Mick Franky | $10,195 | $7,035 |
| 9 | Michele Guzzardi | $8,405 | $5,799 |
Final Day Action
With 15 players at the start of the day, just six needed to be eliminated before the final table was reached. Short stacks Chi Truong and Elias Harala would head to the exit, as well as Australian Poker Hall of Famer Mel Judah.
Roman Valerstein was a surprise exit short of the final nine. After coming into the day third in chips, he was eliminated as Matthew Edwards closed the gap on start-of-day chip leader Claudio Celenza. By the time the final table was reached, both players sat on over 700,000, more than 300,000 chips clear of the nearest competitor.
Final Table Action
Edwards quickly went to work, working his big stack to great effect, chipping up to over a million in chips as Michele Guzzardi and Mick Franky would bust in ninth and eighth place respectively.
Martin Kozlov was looking for his first Aussie Millions ring after runner-up finishes in both 2011 and 2012, but he would exit in seventh for his seventh career Aussie Millions cash.
After Quan Zhou bust in sixth, Edwards was up to over 1.6 million in chips. Behind him came Celenza with just under a million, with the remaining three players all under 400,000.
Ryan Hong would bust next as Edwards padded his chip stack even more, with now with more chips than the other three players combined. Sherif Derias bust next, with start-of-day chip leader Celenza not far behind him.
That left Matthew Sheils, the player who had started the final table as the shortest stack as the last player able to stop the Edwards juggernaut. It was not to be. All in all it took Edwards five hours to go from starting the final table to becoming the latest winner of an ANTON Jewellery Aussie Millions Championship ring.
There's still a lot of poker to be played at the Aussie Millions this year, and you can stay up-to-date with it all right here on PokerNews
| Event | Dates |
|---|---|
| $25,000 Pot-Limit Omaha | January 13-14, 2020 |
| $25,000 Challenge | January 15-16, 2020 |
| $50,000 Challenge | January 17-18, 2020 |
| $10,600 Main Event | January 17-24, 2020 |
| $100,000 Challenge | January 22-23, 2020 |
Based in the United Kingdom, Will started working for PokerNews as a freelance live reporter in 2015 and joined the full-time staff in 2019. He graduated from the University of Kent in 2017 with a B.A. in German. He also holds an NCTJ Diploma in Sports Journalism.
