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Joel Dodds wins the WSOP Sydney Main Event

 Joel Dodds  just became the WSOP Syndey Main Event Champion after overcoming a  field of 1,097 total entries.

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Joel Dodds (WSOP Sydney)

Starting days

The three day 1 flights of the WSOP Sydney Main Event generated a field size of 1,097 and a prize pool of AU$1,974,600. After a hectic first day of chipping up and chipping out, just 303 players remained in contention for the AU$360,000 1st prize.

Day 2

Day 2 was equally efficient at cutting the field down to size, with only 39 hopefuls emerging with their tournament life intact at the end of play. Vincent Liu led the way overnight, having amassed 2.168 million chips. He was closely followed by Khal Fayad with 2.011 million. James Obst had continued his impressive WSOP form by making it deep in this event, but would eventually fall shortly before the end of the second day.

Final Day

The final day was largely devoid of what you would describe as star names, but many talented players were still in the mix. As the day rolled on, 39 soon shrank to a final table, with Sydney resident and former WSOP bracelet winner Gary Benson exiting in 18th place.

The final table was mostly made up of Australians who are regulars at local events, but Joel Dodds brought a more significant amount of experience with him. The Australian posted many cashes totaling almost $700,000 from around the world between 2008 and 2012, but had been a little off radar until today.

As the final table action unfolded, our final female player in the field Suzy Khoueis fell in 6th while Bradley Hawkins and Joel Dodds seized the momentum. Sadly for Hawkins, his gains were short-lived and he eventually fell in 4th place, leaving us with Mahn Tran, Darwin Lai, and the ever busy Joel Dodds.

Within a couple of hours, Tran had been ground down and was dispatched by Darwin Lai, giving him the chiplead going into heads-up play. Lai held 19 million to Dodds’ 13.5 million as play began, but in the course of a match which swung back and forth for a few hours, Dodds eventually grabbed the upper hand.

Having taken a substantial chiplead, he swiftly finished off Lai to claim the AU$360,364 1st prize and a WSOP ring. Lai takes home AU$222,575 for his runner-up finish.

Final table payouts:

1st: Joel Dodds – AU$360,364
2nd: Darwin Lai – AU$222,572
3rd: Mahn Tran – AU$165,392
4th: Brad Hawkins – AU$124,000
5th: Manuel Hansimikali – AU$94,785
6th: Suzy Khoueis – AU$72,981
7th: Michael Seymour – AU$56,888
8th: Andrew Starr – AU$44,843
9th: Michael Tran – AU$35,740

Article by Craig Bradshaw


More: WSOP Syndey Coverage