James Obst Wins World Poker Tour Australia Championship

James Obst took a couple of years off from professional poker starting in 2018 to pursue his dream of a tennis career. He returned to the live poker scene in 2023, and has seemingly not missed a beat despite his hiatus from the game. He has recorded 14 cashes since last summer, including a fourth-place finish in the 2023 World Series of Poker $50,000 Poker Players Championship and a win in this year’s WSOP $10,000 seven card stud championship for his second career bracelet.

The Australian poker pro’s latest triumph saw him best a field of 396 entries in the 2024 World Poker Tour Australia Championship $8,000 AUD buy-in no-limit hold’em event. The Adelaide native earned his first WPT title and $398,512 for his victory on home soil.

“It’s honestly just insane. It’s happened too quick to process it,” Obst told WPT reporters after coming out on top. “I’m thankful for all the support that my friends showed off and got in the photos with me, and everyone who’s reached out afterwards to congratulate me. Yeah, just feeling fantastic.”

Obst also secured 1,200 Card Player Player of the Year points as the champion. This was his second POY-qualified score of the year, joining the 600 he earned for his win at the series. With 1,800 points, he now sits inside the top 200 in the 2024 POY standings presented by Global Poker.

This event ended up with a $1,984,126 prize pool which was paid out amongst the top 50 finishers. Among those who ran deep included bracelet winner Angel Guillen (47th), 2023 WSOP Paradise main event third-place finisher Daniel Neilson (17th), and 2024 WSOP Mystery Millions champion Malcolm Trayner (8th).

Obst entered the final day with the chip lead among the final six. Dillan Patel (6th – $82,168) and Matthew Wakeman (5th – $108,264) lost preflop coin flips early to narrow the field to four. A battle of the blinds then spelled the end of Oleg Ivanchenko’s run, with his Q-10 suited unable to overcome the A-2 of Daniel Murphy. Ivanchenko’s small-blind shove was called and ace high remained the best hand by the river. Ivanchenko walked away with $144,281 for his fourth-place showing.

The next knockout also pitted the blinds against each other. Travis Endersby shoved from the small blind with A3 and Murphy called out of the big blind with 88. An ace-high flop gave Endersby the lead, which he maintained through the river. Murphy was awarded $194,483 as the third-place finisher.

Heads-up play began with Obst holding 15,800,000 to Endersby’s 4,000,000. Just a few hands into the final showdown, Endersby limped from the button with KJ. Obst raised to 375,000 with AK from the big blind and Endersby three-bet shoved for 4,115,000 (41 big blinds). Obst quickly called and the board came down Q1075K to give him top pair and a winning ace kicker. Endersby settled for $265,157 as the runner-up, the second-largest score of his career.

Here is a look at the payouts and POY points awarded at the final table:

Photo credit: WPT.

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