Joshua McSwiney Wins the 2025 WPT Prime Gold Coast Championship

A winner has been crowned in the 2025 WPT Prime Gold Coast AUD$2,000 Championship Event. In an all Aussie duel, Joshua McSwiney came out on top against Patrick Yazbeck to become the latest winner of the popular global mid-stakes tour at The Star Gold Coast. Both players secure the biggest piece of the AUD $1,918,500 (US $$1,203,091) prize pool in a field of 1,106 entries.

Joshua McSwiney Wins the 2025 WPT Prime Gold Coast Championship

It was a topsy-turvy final table for both as they were all-in and at risk multiple times prior to and during the final duel for the WPT Prime Championship trophy. Ultimately, McSwiney received the top prize of AU$283,336* (~US $177,680*) and the $10,400 seat for the 2025 WPT World Championships at the Wynn Las Vegas in December. Runner up Yazbeck walked away with AU$250,000 (~US $156,775) according to the deal both players struck in heads-up.

For the third year in a row, the tournament attracted a four-figure attendance with most of the participants hailing from Australia and New Zealand, while Asia also had several well-known pros in the mix as well. Across the four starting days, a total of 154 players advanced and the money bubble burst early into Day 2.

Among the casualties returning to their seats and having to leave without anything was WPT anchor Lynn Gilmartin when she ran ace-jack into ace-king. On the money bubble itself, Banipal Babana and Oleg Ivanchenko were eliminated on separate tables to split the min-cash.

Notables In The Money

Notables to follow to the payout desk soon after were the Malcolm Trayner, Romain Morvan, Travis Endersby, David Kozma, and Hamish Crawshaw. Others made it to the top 100 such as Ricky Kroesen, recent WPT Cambodia Player of the Festival Amin Riyazati, Toby Joyce, and Sean Ragozzini. Taiwan’s Justin Chu bowed out in 42^nd place and fellow compatriot Chih Wei Fan fell on the final four tables after being near the top of the leaderboard for a while.

Natalia Rozova was the last woman in contention and her run came to an end in 25^th place when she flopped two pair but Michael Egan improved from an open-ended straight draw on the flop to broadway. Australia-based Dutchman Thijs Hilberts saw his tournament conclude in 13^th place and Japan’s Hiroyuki Noda also missed out on the final by two spots before Anthony Russo was the final casualty on Day 2.

Final Table Race

The nine-handed final table was then a duel between three New Zealanders and six Aussies, but that was very quickly a lop-sided affair, as Wiremu Renata and Matthew Woodhall became the first two casualties. Woodhall earned a pay jump despite returning with only six big blinds.

Rising young gun Yongjia “Gary” Lin was the next to fall. He first lost a crucial flip for most of his stack with pocket jacks agains the ace-queen of Joshua McSwiney and failed to come back from that. Jiaxu “Josh” Chen dominated the late stages of Day 2 and early stages of the final table before he dashed out doubles to Joseph Antar and Daniel Klinger.

What followed was a period of frequent changes on the leaderboard and Klinger’s run ended when his ace-king was crushed by the pocket kings of Patrick Yazbeck on a king-high flop. Egan then ran into pocket kings just two hands later and a few minutes later, the pocket eights of Antar were cracked by Chen’s sevens.

During three-handed play, McSwiney was the short stack but roared back despite not getting a full double with a straight flush against Chen’s queen-high flush. Ultimately, the last New Zealander in the field got it in with ace-ten suited against Yazbeck’s pocket queens and the latter held to send Yazbeck with a two-to-one lead into heads-up play against McSwiney. Once both stacks were within one big blind each, the duo cut a deal and it was a one-sided affair for McSwiney thereafter.

Final Table Result

1st. Joshua McSwiney – AU$283,336* (~US $177,680*)
2nd. Patrick Yazbeck – AU$250,000 (~US $156,775)
3rd. Jiaxu Chen – AU$157,726 (~US $98,910)
4th. Joseph Antar – AU$117,802 (~US $73,874)
5th. Michael Egan – AU$88,892 (~US $55,744)
6th. Daniel Klinger – AU$67,773 (~US $42,500)
7th. Gary Lin – AU$52,218 (~US $32,746)
8th. Matthew Woodhall – AU$40,659 (~US $25,497)
9th. Wiremu Renata – AU$32,001 (~US $20,068)

Other Festival Results

The festival kicked off on March 13 and ran until March 26 with nearly two dozen trophies up for grabs. Three of the tournaments also offered a WPT Prime package on top of the cash prizes and the first of them was snatched up by Johan Lees in the AUD$ 1,000 Opening Event, which drew a total of 308 entries. Among others, Craig Blight and Amin Riyazati were also on the final table as well but Lees earned the AUD$ 71,981 top prize.

Bobby Zhang earned the second package in Event #10 AUD $1,350 Mystery Bounty in a field of 378 entries with the likes of Robert Damelian, Adam Thaggard, and Hilberts all reaching the final table. Hilberts finished as the runner-up for AUD$ 43,212 while Zhang claimed AUD$ 67,709 for his efforts.

Last but not least, on the final day of the series it was Mishel Anunu who earned the last of the three packages. He had previously finished as the runner-up in Event #6 Big Bounty but was not to be denied in the AUD$ 1,150 Mini Champs, which drew a total of 267 entries. Jianke Li bowed out in second place and Anunu was the last man standing to earn a top prize of AUD$ 64,929.

Anthony Russo, who ran deep in the Main Event and narrowly missed the final table, chopped Event #20 AUD $880 PLO with Eng Siong, while Germany’s Timon Prill defeated Peter Robertson and Patrick Barba in Event #23 Closer out of a field of 183 entries after a three-way deal. Robertson earned the biggest cash of AUD $16,378 but the trophy and AUD $11,555 went to Prill.

On the final day of the festival, Neng Zhao also had reason to celebrate. The finalist of the 2025 WPT Cambodia Championship Event a few weeks ago found no luck in the other events but had a nice trip saver at the very end. With only the final nine paid in the AUD $5,000 Super High Roller, Zhao made it count and denied Hilberts a trophy once again to claim the AUD $84,523 top prize.

Hilberts rounded up a very solid series with a consolation prize of AUD $73,016 and finished second on the Player of the Year leaderboard with several close calls and reaching the final two tables of the Championship Event. That’s because aforementioned Blight had locked up the top spot with his third place, which came with AUD $42,011 for the efforts. Along with several other deep runs, Blight also won the 110-entry strong AUD $2,500 Event #9 for AUD $74,248 after defeating Robert Spano, Chih Wei Fan and Kyutae Park on the way to victory.

Another notable winner was none other than Daniel Neilson, who took down Event #14 AUD $3,000 High Roller from a field of 100 entries. Sebastian Trisch, Corey Kempson, Steven Zhou, Bert Perry and Kenji Hata could not stop the Aussie on home soil and Neilson earned AUD $82,349 for his win.

Noel Jaber was the luckiest in Event #18 AUD $1,100 Elite Turbo after overcoming Hamish Crawshaw and Travis Endersby, then cutting a deal three-handed for a AUD $20,140 payday. There was also a deal in the AUD $1,000 Survivor Event in a field of 200 entries, in which Karsten Kobbing walked away with AUD $25,000, while Guangyu Wang finished in second place for a consolation prize of AUD $21,000.

Next up for the World Poker Tour in the Asia-Pacific region is WPT Prime Taiwan, scheduled to take place in August. Players can expect more announcements to come with a likely return to Australia in the cards for Autumn.