Niklas Heinecker Wins GuangDong Asia Millions For $4.5 MillionGerman Pro Takes Lion's Share Of Second-Largest Tournament Prizepool Ever Outside Of Las Vegas |
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The City of Dreams Entertainment Resort in Macau, China played host to the second largest in history outside of Las Vegas this week, the PokerStars GaungDong Limited Asia Millions. The HK $1,000,000 ($130,000 USD) buy in event attracted 71 entrants, 54 of whom exercised their option to rebuy, creating a massive HK $119 million prize pool ($15.4 million).
Despite the fact the the first week of the World Series of Poker was happening half a world away, a number of tournament poker’s biggest names turned out for this gigantic event. After three days of play, German high-stakes online pro Niklas “ragen70” Heinecker emerged victorious, capturing the title and the gigantic $4,456,885 first-place prize. The 28-year-old German pro also earned 840 Card Player Player of the Year points, moving him into 90th place in the overall standings.
Poker pro Mike “Timex” McDonald, who was in the commentary booth for PokerStar’s broadcast of the event, described Heinecker as, “probably one of the top five poker players in the world.” Even with that vote of confidence from one of tournament poker’s most respected stars, Heinecker admitted that the sheer size of this particular event took even him a bit out of his comfort zone.
“Of course, this is just sick,” he said. “This is by far the biggest day of my poker career…I don’t think this is business as usual for anyone, and not for me definitely. It’s far from what I’m used to. It’s a really big thing.”
Heinecker topped a tough final table that featured notable international pros like Sorel Mizzi (3rd – $2,073,868), Isaac Haxton (5th – $1,313,879), and Igor Kurganov (6th -$1,069,137). Local Chinese players Zheng Tang (4th – $1,613,367) and ‘Anson’ Yan Tsang (7th – $921,004) also made the final table.
Here is a look at the payouts and POY points awarded at this final table:
| Place | Player | Earnings | POY Points |
| 1 | Niklas Heinecker | $4,456,885 | 840 |
| 2 | Jeffrey Rossiter | $3,155,887 | 700 |
| 3 | Sorel Mizzi | $2,073,868 | 560 |
| 4 | Zheng Tang | $1,613,367 | 420 |
| 5 | Isaac Haxton | $1,313,879 | 350 |
| 6 | Igor Kurganov | $1,069,137 | 280 |
| 7 | ‘Anson’ Yan Tsang | $921,004 | 210 |
| 8 | Praytush Buddiga | $772,870 | 140 |
*Photos courtesy of PokerStarsBlog.com
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