Congratulations to Ross Parkhill, Winner of the $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em Bounties ($119,500)
Ross Parkhill, from Ireland, is the 7th Gold Ring winner at this year’s Aussie Millions Championships after he defeated Michal Polchlopek in a very short heads-up battle and claimed the $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em Bounties tournament. A long battle was expected as both players had similar stacks that were around 65 big blinds deep. One thing that was going to end it quickly was a cooler, and that’s what we got.
Parkhill flopped a set and rivered a full-house on the paired river that also made trips for his opponent. Parkhill managed to find a check on the turn and that helped the chips to go in much easier on the river. He takes home a whopping $119,500 AUD to Ireland and Polchlopek had to settle for second fiddle and a cheque for $73,000 AUD.
The final eight players came together with an average stack of 50 big blinds so there was a lot of play to be had. Not so for the short-stacked James Obst. He got his chips in good versus Mark Betts but could only watch on as his opponent made two-pair to eliminate him.
Adam Cusenza followed in 7th after he got the last of his chips in with a dominated ace versus Sam Capra. Oliver Speidel was caught bluffing by Betts in a pot and from there-on things didn’t go well for him. He got short, pushed with 
, and ran into Polchlopek’s 
in the big blind to bust. Jamie Pickering was the next out of the door. The first phase of the day went well for him, but he never seemed to find his stride once he reached the final table. He was busted by Betts after trying to bluff all-in with jack high, called by his opponent with pocket threes.
There was a plateau in play at this point as the chips were traded from one player to another. Betts was the next to crack after he called a Polchlopek raise whilst in the big blind and went on to check-raise in to his opponent’s full-house. He was called down and shown what he was up against, and mucked to leave himself with just 14,000 chips. He busted the next hand.
It wasn’t too long before the tournament reached heads-up. Capra committed the last of his chips with an open-ended straight draw, but he ran into Parkhill’s trips and failed to catch-up.
Overall this tournament was great value for the $1.500 AUD entry fee. A great structure with bounties and different formats kept everyone fresh through the long hours it took for 315 players to become one.