button in SafariBeer We Go! Joseph Antar Wins Aussie Millions $5,000 Challenge
Over the past year, Aussie poker pro Joseph Antar has quietly put together one of the strongest runs in the country.
Since April 2025, Antar has achieved a string of impressive results, including victories in The Centurian at the APLPT for $39,835 AUD, The Trojan at the 2025 Australian Poker Open for $250,000 AUD, and the Sydney Champs High Roller for $113,823 AUD.
More recently, Antar had a runner-up finish in the Poker Palace Christmas Cup for $50,000 AUD and a third-place finish in The Titan at the 2026 Australian Poker Open for $45,000 AUD.
However, that run of success reached new heights at the Aussie Millions Poker Championship 2026 Presented by CrownBet, where Antar entered the $5,000 No Limit Hold'em Challenge and, after three days of play, emerged victorious over a 464-entry field to claim the $482,405 AUD top prize and his first Aussie Millions title.
Aussie Millions $5,000 Challenge Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Payout (AUD) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Joseph Antar | Australia | $ 482,405 |
| 2 | Jennifer Cassell | Australia | $ 290,280 |
| 3 | Michael Tomeny | United States | $ 188,895 |
| 4 | Kahle Burns | Australia | $ 141,725 |
| 5 | Michael Gathy | Belgium | $ 108,955 |
| 6 | Vincent Wan | Australia | $ 87,510 |
| 7 | Xiaosheng Zheng | China | $ 72,570 |
| 8 | Troy Sweet | Australia | $ 57,630 |
| 9 | Thijs Hilberts | Netherlands | $ 43,755 |
Winner's Reaction
The victory stands as the largest of Antar’s career and came against a field packed with poker talent. Antar ultimately outlasted them all, including the likes of Kahle Burns, Vincent Wan, Joe Hachem, and Jennifer Cassell (after a tough heads-up battle) en route to securing the title and cementing his place as a top pro on the Australian tournament circuit.
"This is what you play tournaments for, to win trophies"
Despite the magnitude of the victory, Antar remained composed in the moments following his victory and reflected on what the victory means to him.
“I mean, it means it all. This is what you play tournaments for, to win trophies,” Antar said. “So yeah — stoked. Stoked to run as well as I did and I played alright. But yeah, it was cool.”
While many players might point to a defining moment or turning point during a deep run, Antar instead credited a steady approach and a focus on process over outcome.
“Not really,” Antar said when asked if there was a point he felt the tournament was his to win. “I just felt like I was running really well, but I was never trying to get too attached to the idea I was going to win it or anything, because poker’s pretty volatile like that. I just tried to stay aware of the situations I was in and what was happening.”
Antar credits his recent run of results to a transition from cash games to tournaments over the past two years.
“I’ve mainly been a cash player, but I’ve been studying tournaments for the past couple of years and that’s helped a lot,” he said. “I think my cash background gives me an edge in the early stages — I feel very comfortable in those spots. And then yeah, it’s just all come together. I’ve run well too.”
Lastly, Antar took time to emphasize the importance of having marquee events like the Aussie Millions return for players in the region.
"I think it's so important actually because these events were the reason I was playing at the start. It's your dream of playing the bigger events. When I started in pub poker, I wanted to someday play them. So yeah, it's great that it's back. Hopefully bigger and more events in the future for Aussie millions as well."
Day 3 Action
Just 26 hopefuls entered The Crown looking to make a run at the final table and become the latest Aussie Millions champion, with Luke Martinelli by far and away the chip leader.
Ehsan Amiri got off to a hot start after doubling up three times within the first two levels of play, including a hand where won a race against Day 1 chip leader Corey Kempson to leave him with just two big blinds. Kempson was unable to rally and was among the first batch of eliminations.
Aussie Millions Ambassador and WSOP Main Event Champion Hachem was also sent to the rail early after entering the day short and shoving with a suited ace preflop. Hachem ended up running into Ehsan's pocket jacks and was unable to improve to be eliminated.
Antar began to pick up steam following the first break by knocking out Billy Argyros, Linus Goh, and Jian Ting Cai in quick succession — all of whom were called by Antar after shoving preflop and ending up second-best regardless if they were behind or ahead.
A steady flow of eliminations followed that saw Wan surge up the counts by eliminating both Romain Morvan and Rehman Kassam. Surprisingly, Martinelli didn't claim a single elimination on Day 3 as all of his preflop all in confrontations ended with him doubling up his opponent. Despite having a monster chip lead to start the day, Martinelli was sent to the rail in a disappointing 11th place after getting all in against Burns and losing a race holding ace-queen against pocket eights.
Despite his initial good fortune, Amiri would bubble the final table after getting into a flip against Antar. Amiri held jacks against Antar's king queen and flopped a set, but Antar made Broadway to bring the tournament down to nine finalists.
The final table began with Thijs Hilberts as the only real short stack and he didn't take long to take a stand holding pocket eights against Antar's ace-nine suited. Antar ended up hitting an ace on the runout and Hilberts was the first to be eliminated.
Antar wasted little time putting his newfound chips to work, and he left Troy Sweet short after extacting some thin value from him. Unable to recover, Sweets exited in eighth and was followed out the door by Xiaosheng Zheng in seventh shortly thereafter.
Defending Aussie Millions Main Event champion Wan would be next to go after clashing with Burns in a massive pot that saw Burns river a straight against Wan's top pair. Wan couldn't get away and had to settle for a sixth-place finish after calling a shove from Burns and getting shown the goods.
While Burns asserted himself with well-timed aggression to extend his chip lead, Michael Gathy fell short and exited in fifth place. An unassuming Michael Tomeny then took an unexpected chip lead after putting a beat on Burns with ace-king after getting all in on the flop against Burns pocket jacks. Tomeny caught a pair of kings on the river and from that point, Burns went from a likely favorite to win it all to out in fourth place after committing his stack with sevens and getting outlfopped by Antar's ten-deuce.
Another key had for Antar occurred after catching Tomeny in a gutsy bluff. Tomeny was left short following the ambitious play and ended up shoving preflop with king-ten only to get run down by Antar's nine-seven to set up a heads-up battle between himself and Cassell.
Antar enjoyed a 2.5:1 chip advantage over Cassell at the start of their duel, but Cassell still plenty of fight in her. After slipping to a 3:1 deficient on the first hand of heads-up, Cassell battled back and won a series of pots to close the gap.
Cassell then lost a big pot after Antar turned top pair and got a couple streets of value, but Cassell refused to go quietly. After winning a couple more medium-sized pots, Cassell pulled herself to within 20 big blinds of Antar with no clear end to their battle in sight.
However, just a few hands later, Antar picked up pocket aces and raised on the button. Cassell defended her big blind with ace-seven and called bets on both the flop and turn before the river brought a seven, giving her a pair.
After checking, Cassell faced an all-in from Antar, sending Cassell deep into the tank. She eventually committed her remaining chips into the middle only to be shown the bad news.
The call sealed her fate, and just like that, Antar was crowned champion.
This concludes PokerNews coverage of the event. For more live updates from the $25,000 Challenge and Main Event, be sure to check out our live reporting hub here.
