The inaugural Australian Poker Open $1,500 Heads Up Championship drew 32 Aussies eager to display their heads-up prowess. After three quick rounds of nonstop action here at Club Marconi at Doltone House Western Sydney — just four players remain to compete for the title of APO Heads Up Champion.
Tom Mcguire, Ricardo Bono, Aaron Li, and Andrew White will return tomorrow at 6 p.m. local time to compete for the lion's share of the A$43,200 prize pool. Each player has already locked up A$6,350 by making it to the semifinals, but A$17,600 and the championship trophy await the player who wins it all.
All four semifinalists are regulars in the Australian tournament scene with over six figures in live-tournament earnings across many events. However, none of them have won a recorded heads-up tournament — something that is now well within reach.
APO Heads Up Championship Payouts
| Place | Prize ($A) |
|---|---|
| 1 | $17,600 |
| 2 | $12,900 |
| 3 | $6,350 |
| 4 | $6,350 |
Day 1 Highlights
Short levels with rapidly escalating blinds ensured an action-packed Day 1, and sure enough, the first casualty of the day occurred just a few hands into Day 1 after White got all in with pocket aces against Georgina Vuksanovik's pocket eights. Vuksanovik was left short after the clash and was eliminated on the very next hand.
Several players had already been eliminated by Level 4 and Li had a back-and-forth battle against Liam Jehu, which ultimately went Li's way largely due to doubling through Jehu with kings.
In round two, Bono won a largely one-sided match against Yongjia Lin, which immediately went Bono's way after picking up pocket tens against Bono's pocket nines to take a chunk out of Lin's stack. Bono would finish Lin off after flopping trips against Lin's two-pair.
Joseph Antar and Mcguire were the last to finish in round two, with Antar navigating a short stack for quite some time before getting all in preflop with a dominated king and failing to improve.
The third and final round was a rough one for Travis Endersby, who suffered a brutal beat early on when Mcguire spiked two pair on the turn after getting all in with a dominated pair on the flop. Endersby reloaded, but couldn't hang on and was eliminated after making a light call against Mcguire, who had rivered the nuts.
Bono advanced over Jon-Peter Rounce Sue not long after and then White claimed victory in his match by making trips against Geetinder Singh's top pair.
The match between Li and Dale Marsland surpassed all the others in length by several levels, with both players content to try and outmaneuver each other in small pots.
Marsland and Li exchanged the chip lead a couple of times, but Li began pulling away as the increasing blinds drove the action. Despite managing to double up once with fives against Li, Marsland found himself all in preflop again with king-queen suited. Li called off with an ace and held up to secure his spot in the semifinals.
Plan For Day 2
The semifinals are scheduled to begin on Wednesday at 6 p.m. with the same structure as Day 1. Each player will start fresh with three bullets worth 50,000 each and can be introduced into play at any point between hands or before the start of a match. Levels will remain 15 minutes each and breaks will be contingent on players and tournament staff.
Just two more matches are all that separate each of the remaining players from the claiming APO heads-up glory. Be sure to keep it with PokerNews as we bring you all the action right up until the final card is dealt!
