New Zealand's [Removed:17] dominated the final table on the way to capturing the 2016 Aussie Millions Poker Championship Event #6: $1,150 Six-Max No-Limit Hold'em title at the Crown Entertainment Complex on Wednesday.
By the time they reached three-handed play, the Kiwi a held 3:1 lead on the other two players combined and agreed to a deal, taking $117,000 in prize money.
Ashish Gupta earned $66,235 for a third-place finish and Francesco Sergi took $68,000 for second while Yan went on to win the LK Boutique Aussie Millions Championship ring, ultimately defeating a field of 534 players over two days.
The tournament played down to the final 16 Monday and returned with Yan in the lead.
When Tang Peng busted seventh, fellow Aussie Sam Steindl took the lead into the six-handed final and Yan sat in the middle of the pack. But after Steidel got his kings cracked, doubling up Gupta, Yan moved into the top spot, sending American Derek Wolters home sixth.
Yan was relentlessly aggressive the rest of the way and got the cards when he needed them, holding with pocket jacks against a suited ace to felt Max Chin fifth, and ending Steindl's run in fourth when the latter ran tens into his queens.
After the deal was made, he picked up pocket aces to eliminate Gupta and simply leaned on Sergi until he had secured his first Aussie Millions title.
The last few hands all followed the same principle. Francesco Sergi limped in, [Removed:17] moved all in and his opponent folded. The stack of Sergi was reduced to only 10 big blinds when Yan pushed and received a call:
Sergi:
Yan:
On the flop , Yan paired up and "MissOracle" held onto the lead with the turn and river as last two community cards. Both players shook hands and Sergi was eliminated in 2nd place for a payday of A$68,000 as agreed by the deal.
Max Chin open shoved for 435,000 and [Removed:17] pushed all in behind for heaps more.
The rest moved out of the way and Chin was in big trouble with the versus Yan's . Chin got no love from the board and hit the rail fifth as Yan extended his chip lead.
In the very first hand of the unofficial final table, Tang Peng raised to 60,000 from the cutoff and Sam Steindl three-bet to 165,000 from one seat over. The action folded back around to Peng and he started with a bang by moving all in for 700,000. Steindl asked the dealer to verify the stack size and then made the call.
Peng:
Steindl:
The flop came and Peng looked up briefly from his phone with a wry smile on the face. Neither the turn nor the river improved his hand and Peng was sent to the rail in 7th place for a payday of A$12,150.
The Crown Entertainment Complex is inviting the world to join in Lunar New Year Celebrations on the property this year.
The festivities kick off Thursday January 21, 2016 at 11 am in the Atrium at Crown Towers. Chinese tennis star and Crown Ambassador Li Na will be on hand and there will a Hawker's Bazaar and traditional Diem Jing 'Dotting of the Eyes' ceremony.
There will also be an elaborate Chinese arial structure with oriental flowers, lanterns, light projections, lucky charms and lucky red Ang Pao envelopes and gold coins.
It's the Year of the Monkey and a five metre monkey sculpture is the centerpiece of the Atrium display.
Celebrations at Crown will run through February 21 and all are welcome to join in through the Aussie Millions Poker Championship and beyond.
Ashish Gupta raised to 35,000 from the button and Chance Kornuth moved all in from the small blind for 281,000. Sam Steindl folded in the big blind and Gupta quickly called.
Kornuth:
Gupta:
There was no help for the American pro on the board , however he picked up the second cash in Melbourne after just arriving here a few days ago and then successfully jumping into the Shotclock Shootout.