Victorian Poker Championships: Jonathan Karamalikis wins Main Event; Zach Tay is High Roller Champion

Crown Melbourne’s Victorian Poker Championships (VPC) has been bringing a dash of drama to the Australian live tournament scene over the past week, with the festival in full swing and champions being crowned daily.

With the final events now wrapping up, Somuchpoker.com can now bring you all the latest results.

Event 10 – AU$2,300 Main Event – Winner: Jonathan Karamilikis

The VPC’s Main Event carried an AU$2,300 (US$1,579) buy in and attracted 422 runners, creating a total prize pool of AU$865,100 (US$593,973). The top prize was set at almost AU$200,000 and 45 runners would go on to get paid.

The latter stages of the Main Event saw a few interesting names going deep, including Sean Ragozzini and Roy Agresta, who have both won titles at this festival already. The final table also featured Jonathan Karamalikis who is a renowned online star who plays under the name xMONSTERxDONGx. The final stages saw Ragozzini and Karamalikis both remain standing as the action got down to three-handed. Ragozzini’s challenge faltered soon after however, and he hit the rail leaving Karamalikis and Raymond Ou heads-up. The quality of Karamalikis soon allowed him to pull ahead in the match before closing it out to take the title and the top prize.

The final payouts are as follows:
1^st – Jonathan Karamalikis (Australia) – AU$198,970 (US$136,612)
2^nd – Raymond Ou (Australia) – AU$125,440
3^rd – Sean Ragozzini (Australia) – AU$77,860
4^th – Milton Trickey (Australia) – $61,420
5^th – Mark Longhurst (Australia) – $45,415
6^th – Luc Meritan (Australia) – $36,765
7^th – Tanya Hill (Australia) – $28,115
8^th – Peter Frazis (Australia) – $23,790
9^th – Julius Colman (Australia) – $19,895

Event 9 – AU$5K High Roller Shot Clock Challenge – Winner: Zach Tay

The High Roller Shot Clock Challenge brought together a field of 40 players, with each contributing AU$5,000 (US$3,433) to the prize pool, which ultimately grew to AU$190,000 (US$130,453). Just 5 players would go on to reach the money with AU$76,000 set aside for the champion.

The early stages of the final table were tense and cautious as players sought to navigate their way into the money with a playable chip stack. When the bubble finally burst, Australian pro Alex Lynskey began to press, only to meet some unexpected resistance and bust out in 5^th place. James Broom followed in 4^th before Luke Martinelli made his way to the rail in 3^rd. That left Sam Ruha to face Zach Tay for the title, and despite putting up a spirited defence of his stack, Ruha’s chips eventually found their way into the hands of Tay.

The final payouts are as follows:
1^st – Zach Tay (Australia) – $76,000 (US$52,181)
2^nd – Sam Ruha (New Zealand) – $45,600
3^rd – Luke Martinelli (Australia) – $30,400
4^th – James Broom (Australia) – $22,800
5^th – Alexander Lynskey (Australia) – $15,200

Other events

Event 8 – AU$550 (US$378) NLH Freezeout
Entries: 155
Prize Pool: AU$77,500 (US$53,211)
Winner: Eugene Portlen – AU$19,755 (US$13,654)

Event 11 – AU$550 (US$378) PLO
Entries: 83
Prize Pool: AU$41,500 (US$28,494)
Winner: Xin Zhao – AU$11,205 (US$7,693)

Event 12 – AU$1,100 (US$755) Teams Event
Entries: 33 teams
Prize Pool: AU$33,000 (US$22,658)
Winner: Timothy Sheehan/Josh Foster – AU$6,600 (US$4,532) each

Event 13 – AU$200 (US$137) Hyper Turbo NLH
Entries: 217
Prize Pool: AU$34,720 (US$23,839)
Winner: Eden Reyes – AU$8,510 (US$5,843)

Event 14 – AU$550 (US$378) NLH DeepStack
Entries: 268
Prize Pool: AU$134,000 (US$92,004)
Winner: Dean Blatt – AU$31,800 (US$21,834)

Event 15 – AU$350 (US$240) PLO Hi/Lo
Entries: 81
Prize Pool: AU$24,300 (US$16,684)
Winner: James Truong – AU$6,560 (US$4,504)

Event 16 – AU$400 (US$274) PLO Terminator
Entries: 66
Prize Pool: AU$23,100 (US$15,860)
Winner: Neil Correa – AU$5,445 (US$3,739)

Event 17 – $200 (US$137) Last Chance NLH Turbo
Entries: 197
Prize Pool: AU$31,520 (US$21,641)
Winner: Neil Bird – AU$7,865 (US$5,400)

Article by Craig Bradshaw