Steicke Wins Aussie Millions $100K Poker Tournament

January 20, 2009

After a couple of days on the felt in one of the priciest poker tournaments in the world, David Steicke was crowned the 2009 Aussie Millions $100k No Limit Hold’em Challenge champion.

Steicke, a trader from Hong Kong via South Australia, was one of 23 ballers to put up the $100,000 AUD ($66,336.76 USD) on Saturday, creating a $2.3 million AUD ($1.5 million USD) prize pool. Only the top four would get paid, with $1.2 million AUD going to the winner crowned on Sunday. Chris Ferguson, Phil Ivey, Gus Hansen, Tony G and 2008 Aussie Millions champ Alexander Kostritsyn were among those that bought in, but didn’t make the money.

By the time Bill Jordanou was out on the bubble, Steicke was the only player above the 1 million chip mark. He would add to that lead by knocking Dan Shak out in 4th when his 77 found quads on the flop to ice Shak’s pocket threes. JC Tran would then get the rest of his stack in with K6, dominated by the KJ of Steicke. No miracles for Tran meant he was out in 3rd, worth $300k AUD.

Steicke would enter heads-up play with a 10-1 chip lead over Tony Bloom. After just a few hands, Bloom would shove with A4. Steicke would call with 10s4s. The board would run out 7-7-6-6-10 and with a rivered pair, Steicke would send Bloom out in 2nd, worth $600k AUD.

Final results:

1st — David Steicke — 1,200,000 AUD ($795,685.40 USD)

2nd — Tony Bloom — 600,000 AUD ($397,904.55 USD)

3rd — J.C. Tran — 300,000 AUD ($198,952.27 USD)

4th — Dan Shak — 200,000 AUD ($132,634.85 USD)

Meanwhile, the third and final Day 1 flight of the Aussie Millions $10K Championship event is currently underway. Last year, 780 entrants created a $7.80 million prize pool and a first prize of $1.65 million AUD. This year, the winner is guaranteed no less than $2 million AUD.