Weekly AU Poker news 8-14 September
Lynn Gilmartin announced as World Poker Tour lead anchor.
The World Poker Tour (WPT) has announced that Australia’s Lynn Gilmartin will replace Kimberly Lansing as the lead anchor for the main WPT television broadcast.
Gilmartin was not long ago unveiled as the host of the World Poker Tour’s new Alpha8 high roller series. The opening Alpha8 has taken place but Gilmartin will now take over as the lead anchor of the official broadcast for WPT’s main tournament series which is shown live on Fox Sports. Kimberly Lansing hosted the weekly-televised coverage of the WPT for three seasons that has included some of the world’s most notable professional tournament players. Lansing was the first female anchor of a major poker series who will hand over her hosting duties to Gilmartin who has been blazing a trail through the poker world ever since she made her debut on pokernews.com.
WPT President Adam Pliska said following the announcement “Kimberly will always be part of the WPT family, even if she’s no longer sitting in the anchor’s chair. We are saddened by her departure as Kim helped define the anchor role and elevate the World Poker Tour episodes to another level. We’re thrilled that Lynn is able to step in and carry on the tradition of providing the expertise and fun Kim has brought to our events and broadcasts over the past few years.”
Gilmartin has become one of the most prominent faces of poker for over four years now following her extensive work with PokerNews.com and the Crown Casino Group before that. She has been representing Australia all over the world at some of the biggest and best poker tournaments from Melbourne to Las Vegas. Gilmartin will be most recently remembered for her role has host of the 2013 Aussie Millions event.
Lynn Gilmartin said after the news broke “Joining the WPT team for Alpha8 was a dream come true. Kimberly is someone I’ve admired since I first started working in poker and now, to follow her on the WPT, I have some huge shoes to fill and am overwhelmingly honoured to be given this opportunity.”
FTR and I want to wish Lynn Gilmartin well in her new role. Viewers can see Lynn on Fox Sports when the WPT Alpha8 airs in the New Year.
Bill Argyro wins big at the APPT Melbourne
The Asia Pacific Poker Tour (APPT) Melbourne Main Event came to an end Monday as Billy “The Croc” Argyros claimed the coveted trophy and AU$134,500 first place prize. Argyros, Bowdy Tolhopf and David Yan all made a three-way ICM deal which saw a reduced pay-out to the winner with all three playing hard to earn the trophy and title of APPT Melbourne Main Event winner. The final day saw plenty of action with chips changing hands and leaders rising and falling all day with the final table pay-out results below.
APPT Melbourne Final Table results
- 1. Billy Argyros – $134,500 **
- 2. Bowdy Tolhopf – $166,000 ***
- 3. David Yan – $133,000 *
- 4. Ashley Mason – $58,400
- 5. Robert Damelian – $45,900
- 6. Joe Cabret – $37,550
- 7. Phi Luu – $29,200
- 8. Ravi Maravar – $22,920
- 9. Jazz Mathers – $16,650
*** – denotes three-handed ICM deal.
The Final Day began with short stack Jazz Mathers heading to the rail first collecting $16,650 for his Main Event efforts. Mathers was quickly followed by Ravi Maravar who was eliminated by eventual ICM’er David Yan pocketing $22,920 for his 8th place finish. Phi Luu was next to fall in 7th position with Joe Cabret not long after in 6th place, again being eliminated by Yan, collecting $29,200 and $37,550 respectively.
After only an hour’s worth of play five players remained with David Yan out in front as chip leader. Robert Damelian was next to fall after Bowdy Tolhopf flopped an Ace to take down a huge pot and eliminate Damelian in 5th place ($45,900).
A long stretch of play followed as all four players battled hard to claim any sort of chip lead. Ashley Mason would eventually succumb to the pressure as Billy Argyros ended the talented Brit’s APPT Melbourne, finishing up in 4th position and $58,400 richer. The remaining three players did not waste much time in striking a deal based on chip counts, leaving $29,500 in the middle for the eventual winner. As anyone who is familiar with poker deals based on chip counts (ICM), players who make these deals tend to want to close up the contest relatively quickly, making bold bets and calling cards they would never usually call during normal play. So to have this event go on for a further four and a half hours comes as quite a surprize. Short stack David Yan would eventually wind-up finishing 3rd following a great battle against Bowdy Tolhopf. Yan pushed all-in with A-K (off suit) while Tolhopf called with A-9 (off suit). The table would run 8-5-3-2-9 gifting Yan $133,000 for his Main Event efforts.
The heads-up battle between Argyros and Tolhopf saw both players holding relatively the same number of chips, which saw a second ICM deal take place, splitting the remaining $29,500. Argyros would take $14,500 and Tolhopf $10,000 with $5,000 staying in the middle to be award to the winner. As this second deal was struck many in attendance were hoping that another four and a half hours were not going to pass before a champions was crowned and thankfully, it did not. The Croc quickly finished off Tolhopf following some heads-up pot collections. Tolhopf shoved all-in with A-10 (off suit) which Argyros called with 8-8. The board would fall 4-9-3-6-3 to bring Melbourne and the APPT its winner following a bizarre Main Event.
For more information on the APPT visit online or alternatively stay tuned to FTR for all of the news and results from around the poker world.
2013 ACOP Schedule finalised
The official schedule for the Asia Championship of Poker (ACOP) 2013 has been released which will take place at PokerStars Live at City of Dreams, Macau from 18 October to 3 November.
The ACOP is set to be the largest major poker series in Asia as the HK$100,000 (US$13,000) Main Event has a guaranteed HK$20million prize pool, which is more than double from 2012’s Main Event. The ACOP will be the Grand Final for Season 7 of the Asia Pacific Poker Tour (APPT) as the 17-day event offers 18 tournaments, 12 of which are ACOP Title Events, with a combined total of over HK$30million in guaranteed prize money on offer.
For full ACOP tournament listings visit Asia Championship of Poker 2013.
The 2012 ACOP attracted some of the world’s biggest poker names as Phil Lvey, Johnny Chan, John Juanda, Oliver Spiedl and other notable Team PokerStars Pros all came across. 2,757 players took part last years with more than HK$46.2million ($5.9million) being awarded in prize money.
APPT President Danny McDonagh said following the announcement “Last year’s ACOP was a great success but it was still just Year 1. The awareness is so much greater this year and we expect the 2013 ACOP to break the previous APPT records.”
This year the ACOP will no doubt create some of the richest tournament events ever recorded in Asia as the hype and anticipation is reaching unprecedented levels. FTR will be running a daily rundown of the winners, losers and ACOP records throughout the contest so stay tuned for all the news and results.
Western Classic Poker Championship 2013
The Western Classic Poker Championship 2013 is set to begin on the 12 September at the Crown Poker Rooms Perth, Australia, with Satellites for the Main Event running until 19 September.
The Main Event week is set to have an estimated AU$500,000 prize pool with qualification to the Main Event on offer for as little as AU$65. A large crowd is expected at the Crown Perth which could see the overall prize pool increase greatly.
For more information and tournament breakdown for the Western Classic Poker Championship Visit Crown Perth or alternatively stay tuned to FTR for all the latest news and results from around the poker world.