This Week in Poker -- Poker Tournament News Jan. 24-30

Check out CardPlayer.com every Friday for a weekly wrap-up of the news from the live poker tournament trail.

Card Player Player of the Year Update

1: Poorya Nazari — 3,000
2: Anthony Gregg — 2,500
3: Benjamin Spindler — 2,000
4: Stewart Scott — 1,920
4: Moritz Kranich — 1,920
6: Steve Weinstein — 1,800
7: Allen Carter — 1,680
8: Peter Rho — 1,600
8: Arnaud Esquevin — 1,600
10: Alexandre Gomes — 1,500

POY Movement

Five new residents take their place in the top 10 this week, and the highest new arrivals are tied for fourth place. One is the newly crowned champion of the Aussie Millions Poker Championship $10,500 AUD no-limit hold’em main event, Stewart Scott. Scott became the first Austalian to win the event, and he took home $2 million AUD and 1,920 points for the win. He topped a field of 681 players to take home the title. The other fourth-place holder is the winner of the PokerStars European Poker Tour stop in Deauville, Moritz Kranich. The young German took home the title in the €5,300 no-limit hold’em main event, beating a field of 645 players. This gave Kranich 1,920 points, as well.

A pair of the top finishers at the events in Australia and France took over the bottom half of the leader board in a tie for eighth place. Aussie Millions runner-up Peter Rho took home $1 million AUD and 1,600 points. The second-place finisher at Deauville, Arnaud Esqeuvin, also took home 1,600 points and €495,400 in prize money.

Steve Weinstein was the only player to jump into the top 10 thanks to a win in North America this past week. He won the $3,000 no-limit hold'em championship event at the Borgata Winter Open on Thursday. He topped a huge field of 1,017 players, and he took home $658,405 for the win. Weinstein was also awarded 1,800 points, which carried him to the sixth spot on the leader board.

This Week in Poker

Card Player Live Coverage Event — Aussie Millions Poker Championships

Stewart Scott Wins Aussie Millions Main Event

The final table at the 2009 Aussie Milions Poker Champioinship $10,500 AUD no-limit hold'em main event began today at 12:30 p.m. and eight players returned to stake their claim at a first-place prize worth $2,000,000 AUD. Barny Boatman was joined by a group of relative unknowns to start the day, and the final table was a wide-open oppurtunty for one player to grab poker stardom. Play was slow to start things off, and Boatman took advantage. He grew his stack up to 800,000 early, but he eventually became the first player to fall in eighth place ($100,000 AUD). The late-arriving Richard Ashby was the second player to hit the rail; he fell just a short time after Boatman in seventh place ($150,000 AUD). The players then decided to go to an early dinner break just four hours into the final table.

When they returned, it wasn't too long before back-to-back eliminations struck again. First, Zach Gruneberg hit the rail in sixth place ($210,000 AUD), and he was followed by a short-stacked Sam Capra, who busted in fifth place ($300,000 AUD). After that flurry of activity, eliminations came far and few between. A battle took place during four-handed action that finally saw the fall of perennial big stack Rajkumar Ramakrishnan in fourth place ($400,000). An even longer battle ensued after that, and action charged late into the night three-handed. Shortly before midnight, Elliot Smith finally met his doom. Smith had doubled up multuple times during the final table to make a deep run, and he earned a hard-fought third-place victory ($700,000 AUD).

The heads-up battle was much shorter between Stewart Scott and Peter Rho. It lasted just 13 hands and featured an exciting conclusion. Scott held pocket aces in the final showdown, and they held up to eliminte Rho in second place ($1,000,000 AUD). Scott was the champion, and he became the first Australian champion of the Aussie Millions. He was awarded $2,000,000 AUD and an Aussie Millions main event champion gold bracelet for the win.

Full Aussie Millions Main Event Final-Table Recap
 

Card Player Live Coverage Event — PokerStars EPT Deauville

Moritz Kranich Wins EPT Deauville Main Event

Author's Note: Tournament report courtesy of Brendan Murray

Moritz Kranich has won the PokerStars.com European Poker Tour Deauville, beating 644 opponents in the €5,000 buy-in main event to collect the top prize of €851,400. The 28-year-old qualified on PokerStars.com, and his previous best result was a $77,000 third-place finish in the $1,050 World Championship of Online Poker Second Chance event. Here is a look at the final-table results:
 
1: Moritz Kanich — €851,400
2: Arnaud Esquevin — €495,400
3: Tristan Clemencon — €284,800
4: Andrea Benelli — €219,800
5: Jonathan Azoulay — €182,700
6: Jorn Walthaus — €142,400
7: Bruno Launais — €108,300
8: Thomas Delattre — €77,400

The next event will take place on Feb. 17 and run until 21 in Copenhagen. This will be hard to beat, but with all of the Danish players in tow, and many prodigal players returning to the EPT from places like Australia and the U.S., it should make for one explosive event.

Full EPT Deauville Final-Table Recap
 

Borgata Winter Open

Steve Weinstein Wins the Borgata Winer Open Championship Event

Author's Note: Tournament report courtesy of Julio Rodriguez

Previously known as a top-notch cash game player and backer for some of the online world's best players, Steve "Thorladen" Weinstein can now add live tournament champion to his résumé after taking down the Borgata Winter Poker Open. Weinstein has previously experienced some success in main events, but fell just short of the final table in two World Poker Tour championships. This time, he dominated the field of 1,017 players and closed it out when it mattered most.

Here were the final table results:

1. Steve "Thorladen" Weinstein — $658,405
2. Todd Terry — $434,767
3. Anthony Merulla — $236,452
4. Robert McLaughlin — $205,942
5. Michael Contessa — $175,432
6. Frank Caldwell — $144,922
7. Ory Hen — $114,412
8. Carl Pion — $83,902
9. Charles Marchese — $61,020

Full Borgata Winter Open Final-Table Recap

Selected Tournament Results:

LAPC — Event No. 2 (no-limit hold’em)

Buy-in: $500
Number of Entries: 473
Total Prize Pool: $229,405
First-Place Prize: $59,640
Places Paid: 45

Final-Table Results:

1: David Plastik — $59,640
2: Khoa Tran — $34,640
3: Goran Gigoc — $22,941
4: Calvin Phan — $15,829
5: Michael Decock — $11,700
6: Ovenson Benoit — $9,176
7: Bourgoyne David — $6,882
8: Ardavan Yazdi — $5,047
9: Charlie Sayles — $3,670

Looking Ahead

L.A. Poker Classic

Tournament Series Preview
Event Schedule
Preliminary Update Part I

Asian Poker Tour – Manila, Phlippines

Event Schedule
Event Preview Story

World Series of Poker Circuit Event – Tunica

Event Schedule

Dom Classics – Amsterdam

Event Schedule

Caesars Mega Stack Series

Event Schedule

Venetian Deep Stack Extravaganza

Event Schedule

PokerStars Australia New Zealand Poker Tour Adelaide

Event Schedule

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