When it comes to poker festivals there is a lot on offer at the moment as more and more poker enthusiasts are willing to give their luck a try at The Star Sydney Championships which is currently in progress. One of the latest events which reached the last hands of the Final Table and granted Andy Lee with the big winner prize of A$64,406 is the two-day 6 Max Event. Bringing a well-deserved cash prize for Lee, this was an anticipated day for the winner.
Poker players who have chosen this path as their career of choice are willing to go above and beyond when it comes to tournaments and explore the vast array of offerings available on the international poker scene. Around this time of the year, Australia becomes one of the heated locations boasting attractive festivals and events. The first day of this sixth event managed to attract some 243 players willing to give their luck a try and thanks to their joint efforts the overall prize pool generated reached some A$243,000, surpassing the initially announced A$150,000.
In order to secure an attractive paycheck for the top positions on the leader board, this amount was set to be divided among the top 27 players on the official rank list. Among the players who decided to enter the event was Mostafa Haidary who made it far in the A$5k Challenge but could not make it to the cash payouts. Now he made a second attempt to reach further than the money bubble and made it all the way to the 11th position for some A$3,873. Nurlan Boobekov was another participant who entered the tournament and made it to the 6th position pocketing a total of A$9,904.
His name is familiar from the Turbo Event #3 of the championship as he managed to climb all the way to the 10th position and bag some A$1,729. From the overall number of participants registered for action, only 21 survived until the last level of Day 1 and progressed ahead towards the final day. The chip leader at the end of the day was Daniel Veljkovic who had some 362,000 in chips and the determination to reach far on Day 2. Andy Lee was still on the third position in the unofficial ranking with his chip stack of 257,500.
Lee’s First Place Comes Better Late Than Never
Portuguese player Bernardo Silva claimed the runner-up position with his 262,000 in chips. The second day of action welcomed back all remaining players well rested and prepared for action. Dustin Tran was the player who had to leave the action as soon as it began and was eliminated on the first hand. This brought him some A$2,174 for his deep run in the event. Nick Velcic was one of the active players willing to eliminate as many players as possible, Hauman Darbani being one of them. The other one was Veljkovic who had to eventually settle for the third position on the official leader board and A$27,682.
Slowly but surely poker action led to the Final Table which was set for six people. Boobekov was the first one to go following the battle against Veljkovic. Eventual winner Lee was then ready to eliminate Paul Gogia granting him a paycheck of A$13,812 for his good performance. Darbani was granted the fourth position after the duel against Velcic resulting in a payday of A$19,454. Lee, however, was a player worth consideration all the way to the top, climbing confidently over the span of several hands and maintaining the chip lead throughout most of the Final Table.
With swift moves, he increased his chip stack to 2,300,000 claiming lead before Velcic and Veljkovic. Confident with his performance, Velcic then moved forward to eliminating Veljkovic and placing him on the third position which was how poker action moved forward towards the heads-up duel between Lee and Velcic. Both convinced they deserve the throne and having proven it along the way, these two players were ready to fight for the first place. Lee is known for his determination and he was not shy to show his disappointment with how poker action went down at the A$5k Challenge event.
Velcic had to settle for the runner-up position on the official rank list which comes with a consolation prize of A$39,822 at the end of his deep run in the event’s structure. Now that the event has come to an end another two-day tournament which commences this Monday is on its way. The Omaha one would be the seventh tournament with a buy-in of some A$1,650. Players are sure to be in for some generous payouts at the end of the Final Table which is a motivation enough for them to register for participation.
