Alexander Kostritsyn Wins Aussie Millions Event 1Tonight we are coming to you live from the Crown Hotel & Casino Poker Room in Melbourne Australia, it is the 2009 Aussie Millions $10k (AUD) buy-in H.O.R.S.E. Event.

Today’s event is taking place at the same time as the Main Event Final Table, we are expecting a very small field probably no more then 4 tables (32 players 8 per table). We are expecting to see some familiar faces here today, thus far we have Chris “Jesus” Ferguson (FullTiltPoker.com & 2000 Main Event Champion WSOP), Lee Nelson (PokerStars.com), Joe Hachem (PokerStars.com & 2005 Main Event Champion @ WSOP), Ivan Demidov (PokerStars.com & Runner-up in 2008 Main Event WSOP & 3rd Place 2008 WSOPEurope), Alexander Kostritsyn (2007 Aussie Millions Main Event Champion), Tony G, Jeff Madsen (FullTiltPoker.com) & Michael Binger. That is a scary field!

The Tournament Staff here have announced that upon the conclusion of the registration period we have 25 players all vying for this title, of which 5 players will leave here today with a piece of the $250,000AUD Prize Pool. They Payouts will be as follows:

1st $95,000AUD
2nd $65,000AUD
3rd $40,000AUD
4th $30,000AUD
5th $20,000AUD

One of the local hopefuls here today Tony Bloom is our first player to be eliminated. He was followed by Ivan Demidov shortly there after, who was the first in a string of big names to vacate including Tony “G” and Mel Judah. David Morton has just been eliminated; Morton is the defending H.O.R.S.E. Champion @ The Victorian Poker Championships held here at the Crown Hotel & Casino. Morton along with Tony “G” and Jeffery Lisandro had to be Australia’s best shot at keeping this title in the “family”.

One of the downsides to a H.O.R.S.E. Event is that it inherently is a slow moving event due to the fact that it is always a limit structure, and the fact that two of the 5 games are split pot games. We head to the dinner break here tonight with just 15 players remaining, and of those there are a few players on the short stack.

The players will take the time to either relax, or analyze play thus far or they can take in the hospitality of The Crown Hotel & Casino’s 2009 Aussie Millions Players Party. Shortly after the players have returned we have seen a slew of eliminations due primarily to the fact the blinds are climbing and the pressure is on the short stacks to double up or hit the rail.

We are down to just 12 players left and the word from the tournament staff here is that we will play to the final 5 (the money) and then call it a night. Ironically the top two chip stacks at the moment are the two former WSOP “Main Event” winners Joe “Pass the Sugar” Hachem (PokerStars.com) and Chris Ferguson (FullTiltPoker.com) with 63,500 and 63,000 respectively. With the elimination of Jeffery Lisandro Australia’s hopes now seem to ride with Joe Hachem (PokerStars.com), Lisandro had a major collapse in the span of less then 10 hands he went from the better half of middle of the field to done.

With the recent elimination of Jason Gray the final table of 8 players has been formed. The Tournament Staff has just stated that at the moment the plan to play to 5 will go ahead, however should we play 2 hours before losing 3 players we’ll stop there. They have rolled the blinds back 1 level (1 hour) for the start of final table action. The Final Table seat assignments and chip counts are:

Seat 1 Joe Hachem – 74,000
Seat 2 Michael Binger – 53,000
Seat 3 Jeff Madsen – 60,700
Seat 4 Chris Ferguson – 98,000
Seat 5 Zach Fellows – 80,500
Seat 6 Alexander Kostritsyn – 57,000
Seat 7 Lee Nelson – 37,500
Seat 8 Tino Lechich – 59,000

Just 30 minutes into Final Table play the Tournament Staff are making a good decision for once! They have just announced that they will actually stop the action at the completion of this level which is in 20 minutes. This decision has been made due to the fact the play is moving slow, which is a direct result of the fact the players have such deep stacks one more hour of play won’t make a difference. So as we bid you farewell from Melbourne for tonight the chips have been counted and bagged and the tallies are:

Chris Ferguson – 110,000
Joe Hachem – 84,800
Tino Lechich – 77,600
Zach Fellows – 66,300
Lee Nelson – 57,500
Jeff Madsen – 51,500
Alexander Kostritsyn – 42,200
Michael Binger – 23,700

It has been just over 12 hours since we left you last! The players have taken their seats here in the Crown Poker Room, and we will begin play very shortly. One of the stories of this final table is that Alexander Kostritsyn is still here! Early in this event he found himself on the short side of short stacked! But it is a testament to his skill that he was able to rebuild and make a drive for the final table.

Riding the high of just still being in the tournament he looks poised to make something happen. It didn’t take long for him to draw blood at the final table, as he Scooped a big hand in Stud 8 against Joe Hachem. This round of Stud 8 has not been kind to Joe Hachem as he dropped over 30k in chips in 3 hands, two of which were against Ferguson and the aforementioned one with Kostritsyn.

Kostritsyn and Madsen are men on a mission as they both have surged from among the short stacks to among the leaders both players are nearing the 90k chip mark. As we go into the first break of the Final Table we still have yet to lose a player and Kostritsyn is running away with this thing as he now sits at almost 170k in chips. To add emphasis to that Kostritsyn has just split the last hand before the break he took the High Pot with Quad Jacks! When your HOT YOUR HOT! What more can you say?

Upon return from the break we have seen some action begin to happen mostly in the form of heading for the Rail! In less than one hour we have watched Tino Lechich leave in 8th, Michael Binger in 7th and Aussie Poker Hero Joe Hachem on the bubble in 6th. One has to think this has to be a big blow to Hachem who has yet to have any real success on his native soil, and coming into today’s action had a real shot to win.

To most peoples surprise here our two chip leaders who continue to trade that honor are Alexander Kostritsyn (2008 Aussie Millions Champ) and Jeff Madsen (FullTiltPoker.com 2007 WSOP POY & 2-time WSOP Bracelet Winner). With the bubble burst one has to think we should now see one or two quick eliminations as there is no longer the added pressure of busting empty handed.

We have just made an unscheduled pause in play here tonight as Stewart Scott has just won the 2009 Aussie Millions Main Event. From all of us at PokerProp congratulations to Stewart Scott & All Australians you have a new hero!

As we had guessed prior to the break we have just seen Zac Fellows take leave us, however he unlike Joe Hachem leaves with some money $20,000AUD to be exact! Fellows got very unlucky against Kostritsyn when his Ah-As-2h-Qc was out flopped by Kostritsyn’s Ad-Qd-5c-3h (flop 2c-5s-4d-8h-Jc) on a hand of Omaha 8. Following the elimination of Fellows Lee Nelson is now feeling the pressure with just 30k in chips left he’ll have to make a timely double or he’ll be out in 4th. Lee Nelson got all his chips in on a Stud 8 hand with 3rd street reading:

Nelson: 2s-4c / 4h
Madsen: Ah-4d / 5c

Leaving Nelson in tough shape to get the hole pot as well as likely to get any piece of the pot, as Madsen although behind has him dominated in every aspect. The boards ran out as follows:

Nelson: 2s-4c / 4h-9h-Ks-6d / 3d
Madsen: Ah-4d / 5c-Ac-10h-Jc / As

With that Nelson was ousted in 4th place but will not leave empty handed, as he cashes for $40,000AUD to add to his totals for this years event. Following the Nelsons departure all eyes have shifted to Madsen to see if he could once again make a comeback from the brink of elimination as he sat with under 90k heading into 3 handed play. In the course of a couple hands Kostritsyn took a commanding chip lead in the last hand of Stud 8 and first few hands of Hold’em. First he took a big chunk from Ferguson when both players started with a pair Ferguson had 10’s and Kostitsyn had Ace’s, then in back to back hands he first crippled then eliminated Jeff Madsen in 3rd. In the first hand Kostritsyn drew out with his dominated Ax-5x against Madsen’s Ax-7x, and in the second hand Madsen got cold decked with 8’s vs. Kostritsyn’s Queens. 2008 WSOP Player of the Year Jeff Madsen is done here in the 10k H.O.R.S.E. Event. Heads-Up play will begin shortly between Kostritsyn and Ferguson the chip counts are:

Kostritsyn – 390,200
Ferguson – 109,800

Following the elimination of Madsen Ferguson took the time to make a rare wise crack! He had a sly laugh while saying “Thanks for doing all the work for me!”

When heads up play began one had to think it was only a matter of hands till Kostritsyn ended this event; however this is CHRIS “JESUS” FERGUSON!! And you can never count him out. Unfortunately the hole was just too deep for Ferguson; he managed to make a battle of it managing to last more then 70 hands before finally succumbing to a 4-1 chip disadvantage. On the final hand which was a Omaha 8 hand Ferguson started with a double pair against Kostritsyn’s two broadway and two bike cards:

Ferguson: 6h-6s-3d-3c
Kostritsyn: Kh-10h-2d-5h

And as has been the case through out Final Table play Kostritsyn hit the flop HARD!

Flop: Ah-Js-Qc

Leaving Ferguson drawing to running fullhouse or running low, the 8c came off the turn giving Ferguson hope to stay alive. However to make things even worse a low card came off the river but it was a 3s giving Ferguson a useless Set. That Set however did translate into $65,000AUD as part of a 2nd place finish.

Kostritsyn had a very poor showing at the 2009 Aussie Millions but he wasn’t going to go quietly into the night as he made a great final stand in one of the final events here. He managed to scrape out a win here tonight which is very impressive considering he was super short stacked early on! For his efforts he will receive an Allure Gold Championship Ring and $95,000AUD. From all of us at PokerProp goodbye AUSTRALIA!! At least till 2010!