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Melbourne Poker Championship: Jordan Westmoreland wins Main Event for AU$177,563

After two weeks of intense poker action, the Melbourne Poker Championship is at an end. Numerous varied events have been playing out across Crown Casino through the course of the series, with hundreds of thousands of dollars being won.

Here is a recap of the events which have concluded in the second week.

Event 11 – AU$2,300 Main Event – Winner: Jordan Westmoreland

Jordan Westmoreland
Jordan Westmoreland – Photo Crown Melbourne

The AU$2,300 (US$1,559) Main Event is the event everyone has been waiting for during this series and it did not disappoint, with 471 entries helping to bring the prize pool up to AU$965,550(US$654,450). The field was chasing a top prize of over AU$200,000, not to mention the trophy and glory that come with it.

146 players were able to navigate their way through the minefield of day 1 starting flights to take their seat for day 2. After another hour of activity, just 32 were left to dispute the top prize. Jordan Westmoreland led the way and would go on to carry a strong stack into the late stages, before sliding back to 6th with 10 players left.

As the final table wore on however, Westmoreland clambered back up the ladder and was almost level with Sam Korman, who had started the final table with the chiplead. Before long, two more had fallen, and the final three players began trading pots. Michael Egan found some early momentum and was able to hurt Korman, while Westmoreland continued to look strong.

Before much longer, Korman headed to the rail and the final two players struck a deal for most of the money with their chip stacks being near equal. The event was over soon afterwards, with Jordan Westmoreland taking the win.

The final payouts are as follows:

1st – Jordan Westmoreland (USA) – AU$177,563 (US$120,352)
2nd – Michael Egan (Australia) – AU$175,838
3rd – Sam Korman (Australia) – AU$84,005
4th – Mingbao Yin (Singapore) – AU$63,730
5th – Tam Truong (Australia) – AU$46,350
6th – Samuel Ingham (New Zealand) – AU$36,690
7th – Vasken Demlakian (Australia) – AU$28,970
8th – Ashish Gupta (Australia) – AU$24,145
9th – Arthur Maggs (Australia) – AU$19,315

Event 9 – AU$5,000 High Roller Shot Clock Challenge – Winner: Ehsan Amiri

1EhsanAmiri
Ehsan Amiri wins the $5K High Roller – Photo by Crown Poker

The AU$5,000 (US$3,389) High Roller event was another highlight of the Melbourne Poker Championship, attracting a total field of 55 entries, which generated a prize pool of AU$261,250. The players would spend the next two days staking their claim to the top prize, with only 7 players going on to get paid.

As the tournament reached the latter stages, the local players were not having things all their way, with two New Zealanders and a Canadian player also reaching the final table and going on to get paid. Once everyone was in the money, players began to fall a little swifter, with New Zealand’s Natalia Rozova finishing 7th, followed soon after by Jason Pritchard in 6th. Fellow Australians Jarred Graham and Ben Richardson were next to go, falling in 5th and 4th, before New Zealand’s Charlton Hawes exited in 3rd to bring the action heads up.

Canada’s Joshua Humphries did what he could to make a fight of the heads-up duel, but Ehsan Amiri showed composure and quality to press his advantage and eventually complete his triumph.

Here are the final payouts:

1st – Ehsan Amiri (Australia) – AU$86,215 (US$58,411)
2nd – Joshua Humphries (Canada) – AU$54,865
3rd – Charlton Hawes (New Zealand) – AU$36,575
4th – Ben Richardson (Australia) – AU$28,735
5th – Jarred Graham (Australia) – AU$20,900
6th – Jason Pritchard (Australia) – AU$18,285
7th – Natalia Rozova (New Zealand) – AU$15,675

Event 8 – AU$1,100 NLH 6-Max Shot Clock

1AshishGup
Ashish Gupta wins the $1,100 6-Max – Photo by Crown Poker

This event saw 150 entries step forward to contest this title, with the AU$1,100 (US$746) helping to create a prize pool of AU$150,000 (US$101,670). 17 players went on to cash, with almost AU$40,000 claimed by the winner.

The latter stages of the tournament saw familiar faces flying high in the chip counts. Players who had either won an event already or made a final table were among the frontrunners for a time, and some interesting names made it to the money. One such player, Eugene Portlen could have had two titles had he won this one, as he later went on to win event 12, but he fell just short in this event, busting in 5th place.

The final stages saw New Zealand’s Samuel Ingham fall in 4th for AU$12,750 with Mitchell Bognar being the next to step away from the table in 3rd. That left Benjamin Pockett to battle it out with Ashish Gupta, a task which was always going to be difficult for Pockett given Gupta’s advantage in experience. Without too much fuss, Gupta closed out the event, adding to his career cashes and bringing them up to almost US$700,000.

The final payouts are as follows:

1st – Ashish Gupta (Australia) – AU$39,750 (US$26,931)
2nd – Benjamin Pockett (Australia) – AU$27,000
3rd – Mitchell Bognar (Australia) – AU$17,250
4th – Samuel Ingham (New Zealand) – AU$12,750
5th – Eugene Portlen (Australia) – AU$9,000
6th – Christopher Colaneri (Australia) – AU$6,375

Other events

Event 6 – AU$400 PLO Terminator
Entries: 178
Prize Pool: AU$62,300
Winner: Luke Tsapazis (Australia) – AU$11,100 (US$7,520)

Event 7 – AU$550 NLH 6-Max
Entries: 270
Prize Pool: AU$135,000
Winner: John Overbeek (Australia) – AU$34,370 (US$23,296)

Event 10 – AU$550 NLH Bounty
Entries: 176
Prize Pool: AU$88,000
Winner: Benjamin Tantau (Australia) – AU$20,665 (US$14,007)

Event 12 – AU$300 PLO hi/lo
Entries: 95
Prize Pool: AU$23,750
Winner: Eugene Portlen (Australia) – AU$6,415 (US$4,348)

Event 13 – AU$400 NLH Shot Clock Terminator
Entries: 202
Prize Pool: AU$70,700
Winner: Georgios Kuribilis (Australia) – AU$12,630 (US$8,561)

Event 14 – AU$550 PLO
Entries: 95
Prize Pool: AU$47,500
Winner: Xin Zhao (Australia) – AU$12,825 (US$8,693)

Event 15 – AU$550 NLH Deepstack
Entries: 329
Prize Pool: AU$164,500
Winner: Julian Cohen (Australia) – AU$38,640 (US$26,190)

Event 16 – AU$200 Last Chance Turbo NLH
Entries: 278
Prize Pool: AU$44,480
Winner: Leigh Lewis (Australia) – AU$10,565 (US$7,161)

Article by Craig Bradshaw