Howard Lederer wins Aussie Millions $100k Event
Monday, 14 January 2008
The biggest buy in event in the 2008 Aussie Millions saw some of
the world’s top stars taking their seats in a bid to win the
$1,250,000 first prize. In the end it was Howard ‘The Professor’
Lederer who handed out his own poker lesson to the rest.
The biggest buy in event in the 2008 Aussie Millions saw some of
the world’s top stars taking their seats in a bid to win the
$1,250,000 first prize. In the end it was Howard ‘The Professor’
Lederer who handed out his own poker lesson to the rest.
The field included last year’s winner Erick Lindgren, Gus
Hansen, Phil Ivey, Eric Seidel and a whole host of top stars
including Chris Ferguson, Jeff Lisandro and Tony G. The online
community were well represented too, with Michael 'Timex' McDonald,
Tom 'durrr' Dwan and Jeff 'ActionJeff' Garza featuring in a field
which finished up with 25 entrants.
The structure for the event was Pot Limit pre-flop, No Limit
post-flop, with heads up action being entirely No Limit. The early
stages say a slow and steady start for most, with Gus Hansen being
one of the few early eliminations after he walked into Erick
Lindgren’s flopped set. Lindgren also put paid to Tony G’s
tournament, after all the money went in on a ten-high flop,
Lindgren’s Aces being ahead of Tony’s pocket Queens. No improvement
for Tony saw him join Gus on the rail.
Lindgren headed the final table of eight in his hunt for a
repeat victory, with the seating assignments looking like this:
Seat 1: Michael Sampoerna - 125,000
Seat 2: Nikolaus Jedlicka - 446,000
Seat 3: Howard Lederer - 202,000
Seat 4: Erick Lindgren - 574,000
Seat 5: Jeff Garza - 496,000
Seat 6: Mark Teltscher - 171,000
Seat 7: Jeff Lisandro - 192,000
Seat 8: Tom Dwan - 299,000
Internet stars Dwan and Garza were out in eighth and seventh,
and it was Lindgren who ended up in sixth after his flopped set of
Kings were outdrawn by Sampoerna’s turned flush. Jedlicka, a new
recruit to the Full Tilt team ended in fifth, with the remaining
four players now making a profit on their entry fee.
During the bustouts, Lederer had quietly built himself a chip
lead, and this continued all the way to heads up play against
Teltscher, who had taken out Lisandro in fourth and Sampoerna in
third. The final hand saw The Professor win with runner-runner two
pair besting the flopped two pair of Sampoerna. The bet on the flop
of 9c-8c-7d was called by Lederer’s nut flush and gutshot draw with
the Ac-Jc. The Ah on the turn gave Howard the top pair as well now,
and with the Jh on the river, Lederer’s hand finally got there,
although perhaps not in the way he would have anticipated.
The pot gave Lederer the trophy for Event #9 and the $1.25
million first prize, the second largest winner's cheque in Aussie
Millions history.