ANZPT -- Paren Arzoomanian Wins Inaugural Sydney Main Event

Author’s Note: All monetary values are AUD





The initial PokerStars Australia-New Zealand Poker Tour stop in Sydney, Australia, attracted 493 players to the $2,000+$200 buy-in no-limit hold’em main event at Star City Casino and created a prize pool worth $986,000. The top 45 players walked away with prize money, and all 26 players returning on the final day would leave with at least $6,902, with $246,500 going to the champion. It took four hours of play for the final 26 to shrink down to a final table of nine. Here is the seating chart at the start of the final table, with chip counts:





Seat 1: Lisa Walsh, Gold Coast, Qld, Australia (1,481,000 in chips)


Seat 2: Billy Argyros, Melbourne, Vic, Australia (789,000 in chips)


Seat 3: David Zhao, Melbourne, Vic, Australia (456,000 in chips)


Seat 4: Joel Dodds, Sydney, NSW, Australia (483,000 in chips)


Seat 5: Chris Kittos, Sydney, NSW, Australia (1,287,000 in chips)


Seat 6: Paren Arzoomanian, Sydney, NSW, Australia (2,065,000 in chips)


Seat 7: John Caridad, Sydney, NSW, Australia (638,000 in chips)


Seat 8: James Newhan, Sydney, NSW, Australia (989,000 in chips)


Seat 9: Majed Haddad, Sydney, NSW, Australia (1,689,000 in chips)





Zhao Xin was the first to fall at the final table in ninth place ($16,762) before the dinner break. His A-10 ran into jacks and he was unable to come from behind to survive. Lisa Walsh then eliminated two players in a row. She knocked out James Newhan in eighth place ($24,650) with pocket kings, and then she busted Joel Dodds in seventh place ($34,510) when she spiked an ace on the flop with A-J in the hole.





The most well-known player was the next to fall when Billy “The Croc” Argyros had his kings cracked by queens up. He was eliminated in sixth place and took home $44,370 in prize money. Walsh then continued her rush by taking down a pot worth 4.6 million against Majed Haddad, which left him crippled. Haddad was eliminated in fifth place ($55,709) a short time later when he was forced to move all in on a short stack with 6-5 suited.





Walsh scored her third knockout at the final table when her pocket threes won a race against the A-K of Chris Kittos. Kittos was eliminated in fourth place ($69,020) and action was down to three players. Walsh found herself in an all-in situation once again a few hands later, and this time she held the A-K. John Caridid held A-8, and the board ran out 10-3-2-7-J. This gave Walsh 4.1 million to take into the heads-up match against Paren Arzoomanian and his 5.6 million.





Walsh was able to take the chip lead briefly in the final match, but she fell back behind and eventually found her stack getting short. On the final hand, she moved all in preflop with K 9. Arzoomanian made the call with A 5 and the board was dealt J 8 8 5 A to decide the tournament. Walsh was eliminated in second place, and she took home $162,690 in prize money. Arzoomanian was the champion of the very first ANZPT Sydney main event, and he took home the $246,500 first-place prize.





The next ANZPT event will take place in Melbourne, Australia, at the Crown Casino from May 25-27.

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