Steven Zhou Wins Wsop Circuit Sydney Main Event

The 2019 edition of the World Series of Poker Circuit stops at The Star Sydney casino is in the books. There were 14 winners of the 14 tournaments on the WSOPC International schedule stop, including Steven Zhou, who won the Main Event.

Preliminary Results

When the series was announced, players immediately made plans to travel to The Star Sydney. And it wasn’t all about the WSOP Circuit Main Event. The preliminaries are just as popular with many players looking for ways to win a WSOP gold ring.

Let’s look at the preliminary events and their results…with the exception of Event 1, as the WSOP shows erroneous information on its website for the Event 1 results.

Event 1: $1,100 NLHE Monster Stack ($450K guaranteed)

• 441 entries
• $450K prize pool
• Unknown winner

Event 2: $500 NLHE Turbo ($130K guaranteed)

• 301 entries
• $135,450 prize pool
• Hunter Song wins for $31,829

Event 3: $600 Short Deck NLHE ($80K guaranteed)

• 101 entries
• $80K prize pool
• Nebojsa Blanusa wins for $24K

Event 4: $500 NLHE Classic ($500K guaranteed)

• 1,132 entries
• $509,400 prize pool
• Curtis Smith wins for $92,964

Event 5: $1K NLHE 6-Handed ($250K guaranteed)

• 242 entries
• $250K prize pool
• Nathan Susnig wins for $66,245

Event 6: $500 NLHE Masters ($80K guaranteed)

• 167 entries
• $80K prize pool
• Ali Ghezelbash wins for $21,600

Event 7: $550 NLHE Teams ($100K guaranteed)

• 183 entries
• $100K prize pool
• Daniel Embleton wins for $26K

Event 8: $5K NLHE Challenge ($1M guaranteed)

• 203 entries
• $1M prize pool
• Shivan Abdine wins for $260K

Event 9: $330 NLHE Ladies ($20K guaranteed)

• 101 entries
• $30,300 prize pool
• Michelle Psarras wins for $9,089

Event 11: $1,650 PLO 6-Handed ($240K guaranteed)

• 177 entries
• $265,500 prize pool
• Chi Truong wins for $74,341

Event 13: $550 Omaha ($100K guaranteed)

• 260 entries
• $130K prize pool
• Roy Vandersluis wins for $31,851

Event 14: $660 NLHE Bounty ($150K guaranteed)

• 373 entries
• $150K prize pool
• Ryan Bownds wins for $33K

Karamalikis Wins High Roller Title

One of the last tournaments on the schedule – Event 12 – was one for the high-stakes players. The High Roller event required a $20K buy-in, offered unlimited reentries, and a $1 million prize pool guarantee.

A total of 53 entries brought the prize pool just past the guarantee to $1,007,000, out of which only the top six finishers were to be paid.

Day 1 played down toward the final table as Corey Kempson and Jarred Graham busted out, leaving nine players to return for Day 2. Ryan Otto was the chip leader at that point with 630K chips, and well-known Aussie poker pro, Jonathan Karamalikis has only 128,000, second-to-last in chips.

Bernie Stang was the first player eliminated on Day 2, followed by Tom Rafferty, and then Julien Sitbon on the money bubble. Otto then busted Michael Egan in sixth and Mladen Vukovic in fifth, but Karamalikis took out Qiang Fu in fourth. Otto eliminated Roger Teska and took 2,127,000 chips into heads-up play against the 537K of Karamalikis.

Over the first hour of two-handed play, Karamalikis managed to take over the lead and then turn on the pressure. Otto doubled his short stack hours later and did it again to retake the lead, but Karamalikis took it back. Finally, Karamalikis and his Q-8 hit a straight on the 10-9-5-J-10 board to win.

• 1^st place:  Jonathan Karamalikis ($377,625)
• 2^nd place:  Ryan Otto ($233,624)
• 3^rd place:  Roger Teska ($153,064)
• 4^th place:  Qiang Fu ($105,735)
• 5^th place:  Mladen Vukovic ($77,539)
• 6^th place:  Michael Egan ($59,413)

Zhou Wins WSOP-C Main Event

Check some online casinos in Australia. The Main Event of the series was a No-Limit Hold’em tournament with a $2.2 million guarantee. The tournament offered four starting days, and players were allowed one entry per flight.

Ultimately, the tournament garnered 1,124 entries, which pushed the prize pool to $2,248,000. That was enough to pay the top 117 finishers.

Day 2 brought 182 first-flight survivors into play, and it didn’t take long to bring the majority of them into the money. When that long day finally ended, there were just 24 players left in action. Edwin Chiu was the chip leader, and in 17^th place on the leaderboard was Steven Zhou.

Day 3 slimmed the field tremendously toward the final table, which was set when Moustafa Haidar busted in 10^th place for $32,798. Chiu remained the chip leader, but Zhou had moved to second in chips.

The first player to go on Day 4 was Trevor Saunders in ninth place, and Chiu did the honours of sending Adrian Attenborough out in eighth. Duy Vu doubled through Zhou, but the latter climbed back and then busted Huss Hassan in seventh place. Chiu stepped back in to bust Vu in sixth. Zhou then doubled through Chiu, and Segre did it, too. Zhou busted Chao Duan.

The final four players took time to discuss a payout deal for the remaining money, and they made an agreement to chop-per ICM. They continued to play for the ring, which saw Zhou double through Chiu, eliminate John Zwaine, and then bust Chiu in third place.

Zhou took 25.92 million chips into heads-up play against Lior Segre with 7.8 million. On the very first hand, Segre moved all-in with 8-3 against the J-9 of Zhou, and the jack-high hand won.

• 1^st place:  Steven Zhou ($260,904)
• 2^nd place:  Lior Segre ($224,114)
• 3^rd place:  Edwin Chiu ($269,550)
• 4^th place:  John Zwaine ($239,007)
• 5^th place:  Chao Duan ($107,837)
• 6^th place:  Duy Vu ($83,086)
• 7^th place:  Huss Hassan ($64,765)
• 8^th place:  Adrian Attenborough ($51,052)
• 9^th place:  Trevor Saunders ($40,689)