Today will see The Star poker room host the latest final table on Season 6 of the Australia New Zealand Poker Tour as nine players return to the felt at The Star to fight it out for the ANZPT Sydney Main Event title and the $225,300 top prize.
Leading the way with 1,837,000 in chips is Jazz Mathers, while Peco Stojanovski and Nathan Sawyers aren’t too far behind. Rory Young, Steven Zhou, Joshua Redhouse, Oliver Gill and Milan Gurung are also alive and well and won't be giving up without a fight.
You can read all about what makes each of these players tick in the live reporting blog below.
Every one at the final table has already locked up $17,400, but each will of course be hoping to take home a fair chunk more than that. The full payout information can be found on the ANZPT Sydney prize pool page.
ANZPT Sydney Final Table
Seat
Player
Chips
1
Peco Stojanovski
1,167,000
2
Nathan Sawyers
1,318,000
3
Joshua Redhouse
994,000
4
Milan Gurung
283,000
5
Jazz Mathers
1,837,000
6
Steven Zhou
1,117,000
7
Rory Young
1,124,000
8
Oliver Gill
536,000
9
Brent Taunton
637,000
The final table will begin at 2:00 p.m. local time and we will be here all day long until a champion is crowned!
Well, that didn’t take long. On just the second hand, we’ve lost Brent Taunton from our final table.
Milan Gurung started things off with a raise to 50,000 from under the gun. Taunton called from middle position and Peco Stojanovski called on the button. The trio saw a flop of .
Action checked around the table to Stojanovski who bet 125,000. Gurung folded but Taunton announced a check-raise to 400,000 which represented most of his stack. Stojanovski thought briefly before announcing all in and Taunton called off his last chips.
Stojanovski:
Taunton:
It was top two pair for Stojanovski against the nut flush draw of Taunton with two cards to come. The turn was the and river an equally-bricky to see Taunton sent to an early exit.
Taunton takes home $17,400 for his 9th place finish as Stojanovski is now challenging for the chip lead with around 1.8 million in chips.
Peco Stojanovski was under the gun when he opened it up to 50,000. Nathan Sawyers was next to act and thought for quite some time before three-betting to 125,000. A flurry of cards went into the muck from all directions of the table before it was back on Stojanovski. It didn't take long for Stojanovski to four-bet to 250,000 - enough to see Sawyers muck.
Rory Young opened with a raise to 40,000 from middle position and picked up three callers to see a flop of .
Action checked to Young who continued for 51,000. Oliver Gill folded but Nathan Sawyers announced a raise in position on the button to 160,000. Milan Gurung folded from the blinds to bring the action back to Young.
“I can see you’re going to tilt me today,” sighed Young before folding. Sawyers flashed a and raked in the pot.
Sawyers is up to 1.4 million with Young down to 920,000.
Oliver Gill raised to 45,000 from middle position and Nathan Sawyers was again in the thick of it with a call in the cutoff. The flop landed and Gill tossed out 75,000 in chips which was enough to force a fold from his opponent.
“I had jacks,” said Gill after the hand. “Often I lie about these things, but this time I’m not.”
Gill is still the short stack with around 550,000 chips.