Poker Unknown Beats Erik Seidel to win Aussie Millions

Chalk one up for the poker unknown against the poker professional. The Aussie Millions poker tournament was won by Alexander Kostritsyn, who had to defeat poker professional Erik Seidel to win the $1.65 million dollar (AUD) first prize.

Final-table action in the Aussie Millions began with Michael Chrisanthopoulos holding a huge lead with about $6.8 million in chips.

His nearest competitor was Antonio Casale who had just under $2 million in chips.  The rest of the final table had similar stacks with Peter Mobbs, Seidel, Kostritsyn and Nino Marotta all somewhere between $1 million and $2 million in chips. The short stack was Peter Ling who was just under $1 million in chips. Ling actually did well as the short stack moving up to finish in fourth place.

Mobbs was the first one out as he lost to Kostritsyn and finished 7th. Casale was eliminated in 6th place by Kostritsyn when his pocket Jacks ran into Kostritsyn’s pocket aces. Kostritsyn continued his run eliminating Marotta who went out in 5th place. Chrisanthopoulos eliminated Ling in fourth place. Chrisantopoulos was next to go as he lost with his A-6 versus Kostritsyn’s pocket 10’s. The heads up battle between Kostritsyn and Seidel lasted for more than two hours.

The final hand saw a flop of J-8-7 and both players ended up all-in as Seidel held the A-Q while Kostritsyn's had J-9. Kotstritsyn’s hand held up and he was the champion. Here is a look at the payouts and finishes for the 2008 Aussie Millions.

1st      Alexander Kostritsyn              $1,650,000
2nd    Erik Seidel                               $1,000,000
3rd     Michael Chrisanthopoulos    $700,000
4th     Peter Ling                                $500,000
5th     Nino Marotta                            $400,000
6th     Antonio Casale                        $300,000
7th     Peter Mobbs                            $225,000

In a side note to this poker tournament, American poker player Jason Potter, who finished in 30th place, was mugged just outside the casino and had $30,000 stolen from him. Instead of taking a check for his winnings, Potter took the cash which ended up being a mistake.