Jimmy Fricke, the young American poker player who finished second to Gus Hansen in last year’s Aussie Millions championship event, now has an Aussie Millions title.
Fricke won $16,800 for outlasting the 95 other entrants who bought into the third event of this year’s Aussie Millions series, a $500 seven-card stud/seven-card stud eight-or-better/razz event. He was the only non-Australian player at the final table. Last year, when he was 19 years old, he nearly beat Hansen to win the championship title.
Fricke, who plays online as “Gobboboy,” is a former Magic: The Gathering card game player who gravitated to poker as he grew older. He built his bankroll by playing $1 multitable tournaments online. His $800,000 cash at last year’s Aussie Millions is his biggest cash to date.
The Aussie Millions continues with a preliminary event each day until the end of the month. On Saturday, the AUD $100,000 buy-in event takes place, followed by the six-day AUD $10,000 championship event that starts Jan. 14.