The 2013 Aussie Millions poker tournament is off to an cracking start with English poker pro Rupert Elder claiming the main prize in the A$1,100 buy-in No-Limit Hold�EUR™em event against a field of 1,337 entrants at the Crown Casino in Melbourne.
Elder earned himself a bank-account boosting prize of A$250,000 after emerging victorious from a tough heads up against German ace Martin Finger in the first event of the tournament.
Elder's latest win tops up career earnings of well over Euro 1.5 million, most notably from his first placing in 2011's EPT San Remo.
Facing Elder & Finger at the final table were Fabian Craib, Dusan Stoevski, Brendon Rubie, Ted Nguyen, Marwin Nassif, Phillip Libeau, Ashley Warner & Nali Kaselias.
Last year's winner Brendon Rubie gave a good account of himself but was busted out in fifth place this year.
Going into heads play Elder had a 7.5 to 1 chip advantage but his German opponent put up a strong fight, although the disparity in chip counts was just too big for him to recover & it was a brief affair. Nevertheless, he takes home a worthwhile second placing prize of A$160,000.
The event was a great appetiser for the rest of this always rivetting series, which runs through to February 3 with a variety of interesting events embracing several poker genres.
23/1/2013, 8:51 pm