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

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

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

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