Gus Hansen Wins 2007 Aussie Millions Main Event

The River Room, a convention space in the massive Crown Hotel and Casino complex, served as the appropriately named site of the 2007 Aussie Millions final table. On the high-tech FSN televised set, complete with giant flat-screens and a wall-sized map of Australia, seven players gathered for a shot at the $1.5 million first-place cash prize of the Southern Hemisphere's richest poker tournament.

The chip counts for the final table were as follows:

1. Jimmy "Gobboboy" Fricke - $5,175,000
2. Gus Hansen - $4,845,000
3. Andrew Black - $2,100,000
4. Kristy Gazes - $1,050,000
5. Julius Colman - $785,000
6. Marc Karam - $535,000
7. Hans Martin Vogl - $455,000

Play began at 1 p.m. with $15,000-$30,000 blinds and $5,000 antes.

In a strong showing for tournament sponsor Full Tilt, three of the online site's representatives (Gus Hansen, Andrew Black, Kristy Gazes) reached the final table, and the day's first elimination featured a match-up between two of those pros.

The action started when Gazes raised $100,000, and Hansen, after asking for a chip count, reraised to $380,000. Gazes went into the tank, then moved all in for her last $660,000. Hansen called and a race situation developed as Gazes turned over A Q and Hansen showed 9 9. The J 8 5 2 4 board brought Gazes no help, and the final female participant in the 2007 Aussie Millions exited as the seventh place finisher ($220,000).

The short stack for most of his final table experience, Marc Karam became the next player to drop out of contention. Karam, who finished sixth at the 2006 North American Poker Championship, pushed all in from under the gun and received a call from, who else?, "The Great Dane" Gus Hansen.

With all his chips in the pot, Karam found his K J an underdog to Hansen's A 9. The Full Tilt pro paired his 9 on the turn, and Karam earned his second sixth-place finish ($300,000) at a major tournament in the last four months. The win gave Hansen a $4.7 million chip stack, second only to Fricke's $6 million.

While Hansen and Fricke dominated play (and butted heads on a number of occasions), German player Hans Martin Vogl fought to survive at the bottom of the leader board. Despite doubling up through Hansen, Vogl's stack remained below the $1 million mark.

Soon after the blinds moved to $30,000-$60,000 (with $5,000 antes), Vogl called all in on a $1 million Jimmy Fricke reraise. Vogl's A 9 gave him the lead over Fricke's K J, and he stayed ahead when the 9 8 5 and Q came on the flop and the turn. But Fricke paired his jack on the J river (it's the River Room, remember) and Vogl's tournament run ended with a 5th place finish ($400,000).

The last Australian still standing at the 2007 Aussie Millions, Julius Colman received no favoritism as the Melbourne native served a 10-minute penalty for acting out of turn (his second offense).

When Colman, a self-proclaimed amateur player, returned from his sentence, he found himself as the table's prohibitive short stack. Down to his last $525,000, Colman moved all in preflop with A 6, only to have Andrew Black call him with pocket queens. The A A Q flop gave Colman trips, but also boated up Black. When Colman's hand failed to improve, the tournament's last indigenous player walked off the final table set as the fourth place finisher ($500,000).

"I was just rapt to be there," Colman smiled after his elimination. "Rapt to make the final table, rapt to be the last Australian standing, gob-smacked to come fourth."

As the action moved to three-handed, Fricke took control of over 50 percent of the chips in play when his $1.6 million reraise netted him $1.3 million from Hansen. Fricke followed up the victory by scooping an $800,000 pot after he called Black on a A Q 4 A 10 with 7 4 and Black mucked.

The table's big stack, Fricke continued to dominate play by taking down a number of pots with large raises and reraises. Ten minutes after doubling through Fricke (K-10 against 6-5), Black moved all in again against the chip leader. Black's second run-in put him in a hole as he turned over K Q and Fricke showed the dominant A Q. After the 7 7 3 9 10 board, Black became the second Full Tilt pro to finish in the top of the 2007 Aussie Millions ($700,000).

Black's elimination left the championship title to be decided between Jimmy "Gobboboy" Fricke, a 19-year-old PokerStars online qualifier, and Gus Hansen, a four-time WPT champ and one of modern poker's most feared tournament players.

The chip counts going into heads-up play were as follows:

Jimmy "Gobboboy" Fricke - $11,175,000
Gus Hansen - $3,770,000

Despite the deficit, Hansen wasted little time in leveling the one-on-one play when he moved all in on an A K 7 8 board with A 2, and Fricke, holding K Q, called. After the 5 landed on the river, Hansen doubled up to within $240,000 of Fricke. On the next hand, Hansen took the chip lead, and netted over $700,000 from Fricke, when his all in reraise on the Q J 8 flop forced the 19-year-old to fold.

Moments later, the fans watching the action via a live feed witnessed the Aussie Millions final table's most dramatic hand. Hansen started the action when he raised $425,000 and Fricke called. After a J 10 10 flop, Hansen bet $500,000. Fricke immediately moved all in. Hansen talked himself through the hand, finally saying, "I could be up against that…I could be up against that…this could be the worst call ever…he could have that…wow…wow…I call."

The read proved to be right as Fricke turned over K Q and Hansen flipped up A K. Fricke's situation remained dire as the 10 came on the turn, but The River Room lived up to its name when the 9 river gave Fricke the miracle straight.

Gobboboy held the chip lead for only a few minutes. With the board showing the K J 6, Hansen called Fricke's all-in bet, and his K 10 put him ahead of Fricke's Q 9. When the 5 and 6 landed on the turn and river, Hansen raked the pot, and took back the leader board's top spot.

At 9 p.m., and after eight hours of play, Hansen bet $1 million on the Q 8 6 flop, and immediately called when Fricke reraised all in. Fricke reluctantly turned over 9 7, and he frowned as Hansen showed A A. The 2 turn gave Fricke more outs, but the 2007 Aussie Millions ended with the 9 river.

Fricke earned $1 million for his runner-up finish.

As for Hansen, he received $1.5 million and the Aussie Millions trophy. His win also gave Full Tilt the unique privilege to crown one of its own players as the champion of the site-sponsored tournament.

While Hansen said he enjoyed the prize money and title, he also felt that the victory served as a much-needed return to form. "I haven't been playing my best poker in recent tournaments," Hansen admitted. "But this win changes all that."

Welcome back, Mr. Hansen.

Quote of the Day: "Four different nationalities. Four different ages. Four different men. Four different visions. Well, maybe all the same vision" - Andy Black on the Aussie Millions final four participants.

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