The AU$20,000 WSOP Sydney High Roller Event came to an end, with Andy Lee emerging as a winner. The local player performed excellently over the past 12 months, leaving his mark in some of the largest live poker tournaments.
This year, he took the runner-up position in the only other AU$20,000 buy-in event that was hosted in the Star Poker Room as part of the Star Sydney Championships. He also occupied the second position in the ranking of the AU$5,000 Challenge which took place earlier in 2017 during the Star Poker Festival.
Now, he managed to take down the AU$20,000 buy-in WSOP Sydney High Roller Event, winning a monetary prize of AU$273,600 and leaving Martin Finger second in place. Lee had what he called “the longest heads-up battle” in his poker career so far, but eventually scooped the lion’s share of the AU$608,000 guaranteed prize pool as well as a WSOP Gold Ring.
Course of Play
The first day of the WSOP Sydney High Roller Event gathered a total of 36 entries, including a number of re-entries. The event saw some popular high-rollers join, including German poker professional Marting Finger, who eventually got second, Brendon Rubie, Tolly Sakellariou and Andy Lee.
As a matter of fact, it was exactly Sakellariou who spent most of Day 1 as chip leader, but Andy Lee managed to reshuffle the positions after he managed to gather a massive chip stack towards the end of Day 1. Approximately ten hours of play were necessary to the remaining players who reached Day 2 of the event until the final table was formed.
At the time when the nine-player final table of the AU$20,000 WSOP Sydney High Roller Event was reached, it was exactly Andy Lee who got the chip lead, holding 518,500 in chips. Martin Finger followed on the second position, holding 328,500 in chips, while Tolly Sakellariou was third in chips, with a total of 287,500. Only the first four players were to get a cash portion of the guaranteed prize, leaving five players empty-handed.
The first one to leave was Michael Addamo, followed by three other players. Michael O’Grady remained on the fifth position, becoming the bubble boy after being eliminated by Martin Finger. Then, David Wang and Tolly Sakellariou got the next to leave, leaving the last two players standing fight for the AU$20,000 WSOP Sydney High Roller’s title.
As mentioned above, the heads-up battle was a fierce and lengthy one. At the time when the heads-up table was formed, Lee had nearly 2:1 lead over Martin Finger, holding 1,005,500 in chips against Finger’s 607,000. Over the next four hours, Finger’s stack went up and down, until finally Lee’s hand left him on the second position.
With Andy Lee on the first place, scooping a cash prize of AU$273,600, Martin Finger remained second. His efforts were rewarded with a monetary prize of AU$182,400. The third position was occupied by Tolly Sakellariou for AU$91,200, while David Wang remained fourth, winning a prize portion of AU$60,800.
