177% up to 5BTC + 77 Free Spins!
New players only. Exclusive Welcome Bonus of 177% + 77 Free Spins
Local Sydney man Michael Kanaan has been crowned 2017 WSOP Sydney Main Event winner to claim nearly $300,000 in cash.
The A$2,200 buy-in WSOP circuit at the Star Poker Room in Sydney attracted a total of 1,067 players and featured four opening flights.
In the post-match interview, Kanaan said that the critical hand from him was the pocket Kings vs. pocket Queens against Sam Hassan, who finished at 7th position. As he took down the massive pot with his K-K, it catapulted him into the chip lead. The delighted Kanaan said that Hassan was running away with an enormous lead and he needed to take chips from him as he has had crazy runs in the tournament so far.
The Sydney pro made a start at the live poker scene in 2011 and got a reckoning after taking down the ANZPT Sydney Tournament for $203,202. The WSOP Sydney Main Event win is Australian’s biggest win to date. The win has taken his total live tournament cash winnings above $1,2 million.
In the last few weeks at the Star Poker Room, the eliminations happened quite quickly once the final table was played. At the final table, it took more than a full hour before the first player got knocked.
Kanaan faced Michael ‘Popsy’ Fraser in the heads-up play for the title. The latter had to settle with second position after losing to A-K suited Kanaan. Fraser took home over $183,753.
After the win, Kanaan revealed that he focussed on staying disciplined through the course of the tournament. He added that earlier he used to have a lot of trouble spewing off the stack with bad choices. He credited keeping composure at the table and making right decisions for the win.
Among other winners from the final table are third-placed John Patchos who took home $136,554 in winnings, fourth positioned Nabil Edgtton who took $102,656 while Sean Lannon finished fifth to win $78,061 in cash.