For the second time in a month, some of the top- and arguably craziest- poker players in world, willingly put up $100,000 each to compete in a poker tournament with the hopes of beating the best and earning millions.
A little over two weeks ago the first of these events was held at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, where organizers attracted an impressive 38 entrants, and awarded a grand prize of $1,500,000 to New York’s Eugene Katchalov.
Of course that was at the PCA, one of the biggest events of the year, few would expect as good of a turnout when they started a similar event at the 2011 Aussie Millions this weekend. That would have been crazy, and sure enough the Aussie Millions $100,000 Challenge was unable to attract an equal or better 38 entrants; it attracted one less, but made up for it with a grand prize worth about $15,000 more.
That AUD$1,525,000 top prize was taken down by professional player Sam Trickett, who not only outlasted a field that included such world-class talent as Erick Lindgren, Tom “durrrr” Dwan and Sorel Mizzi, but also a final table that held Chris “Jesus” Ferguson, David Benyamine and Erik Seidel.
Unlike Ferguson, who fell just outside the money in eighth place, Seidel went deep for a big payout, but still landed two out of the big marquee spot behind Trickett and second place’s Tony Bloom. Famous WSOP Main Event runner-up Seidel earned AUD$625,000 for his third place finish, or about $621,000 American.
The payout positions for the 2011 Aussie Millions $100,000 Challenge were as follows:
1st. Sam Trickett- $1,525,000*
2nd. Tony Bloom- $975,000*
3rd. Erik Seidel- $625,000*
4th. David Steicke- $325,000*
5th. James Obst- $200,000*
6th. David Benyamine- $150,000*
*All totals expressed in Australian Dollars.