2011 January 29, Elaine Chaivarlis, Elissa Harwood

The 2011 Aussie Millions Main Event has crowned a winner. David Gorr bested the 721 player field, taking home the title, and AUD$2,000,000.

At the start of the day on Saturday, eight players sat down with the hopes of walking away with the title, AUD$2 million first-place prize, and the trophy. Randy Dorfman went into the day as the chip leader, but didn’t hold on to it to finish the day. First to depart from the final table was Team Full Tilt’s Patrik Antonius. His kings were no match against David Gorr’s flopped two pair with queen-ten. Fourteen hands later, Chris Moorman moved all in after a flop of . He was up against David Gorr, who made the call, saying, “I won’t waste your time, I call.” Gorr had flopped trips. Moorman’s flush draw didn’t make it on the turn or the river and he was sent to the payout desk to collect seventh place prize money of AUD$175,000.

In sixth place, Sam Razavi was eliminated, taking home AUD$225,000. His ace-seven couldn’t improve against James Keys’ pocket sevens. Just six hands later, Gorr dispatched start-of-the-day chip leader Randy Dorfman. Dorfman led with his pocket tens the through the flop and the turn, but the river was what did him in, when an ace fell, pairing Gorr’s ace-nine.

On hand #142, after a five-bet shove from Jeff Rossiter, Michael Ryan made the call for his tournament life. Ryan tabled pocket nines against the ace-king of Rossiter, but much like in Dorfman’s elimination hand, the river was the cruel street, as Ryan was ahead and looking to double until the fell on the river to send him on his way. It took 60 hands to reach heads-up play. Jeff Rossiter was eliminated on the 202nd hand of final table play. All the chips went in the middle on a board reading . Gorr tabled for the nut flush and was credited with the elimination of Rossiter.

Gorr held just over a five-to-one chip lead over James Keys at the beginning of heads-up play. Just 153 hands into heads-up play, Keys had chipped away at Gorr’s stack and the two were just about even. Two hands later, Keys doubled after the two got it in on a board reading . Keys had flopped two pair with and Gorr held top pair with . The river brought the and all but 1.2 million of Gorr’s chips slid to the other side of the table in front of Keys. Though he was at nearly a twelve-to-one chip disadvantage, Gorr never relented and some how fought back and took the lead after 53 hands. Just four hands later, all the chips were on Gorr’s side of the table after he rivered a higher two pair, eliminating James Keys in second place.

Congratulations to David Gorr, 2011 Aussie Millions Main Event Champion!

2011 Aussie Millions Main Event Results

1. David Gorr – AUD$2,000,000
2. James Keys – AUD$1,035,000
3. Jeff Rossiter – AUD$700,000
4. Michael Ryan – AUD$450,000
5. Randy Dorfman – AUD$325,000
6. Samad Razavi – AUD$225,000
7. Chris Moorman – AUD$175,000
8. Patrik Antonius – AUD$130,000

Event #13: Australia Heads Up Championship

After four days and more twists and turns than a bestselling novel, the $10,500 Australia Heads-Up Championship has crowned a champion, one accustomed to seeing “First” by his name. Carlos Mortensen, yes that Carlos Mortensen, defeated fellow Full Tilt Red Pro Melanie Weisner, Terrence Chan, and Alexander Kostritsyn to make it through to the round-robin finals. Americans Dan “KingDan” Smith and Barry Woods also won three matches apiece to earn spots in the finals. All three returned this afternoon for a very unusual final day.

The top three played a round robin tournament format. The first player to win two best-of-three matches in a row would win the title. Mortensen beat Smith in the first match 2:1. Woods beat Mortensen in the first game of the second match and had a lead in the second. Then Woods flopped two pair and Mortensen turned a flush to double up and take all of the momentum from Woods. After that, Mortensen was unstoppable. He went on a tear to win the second and third games in record time and lock up the Championship title and AUD$130,000. Woods, who finished as runner-up last year, then beat Smith in a playoff to finish second once again, earning AUD$70,000. Smith took home AUD$40,000 for his efforts.

Event #17: $2,200 No-Limit Hold’em Six-Max

On Friday, 225 players entered Event #17 at the 2011 Aussie Millions, and by the end of the day, there were 18 players left, including Tony Dunst, Ben Delaney, Billy “The Croc” Argyros, and Leo Boxell. After close to 12 hours of play, a winner was crowned. Leo Boxell bested Simon Charette heads up for the title and the AUD$108,000 first-place prize.

Event #19: $1,650 No-Limit Hold’em w/ Bounties

The 19th event of the 2011 Aussie Millions attracted a field of 235, including Full Tilt Poker Red Pros, Matthew Jarvis, Nikolay Evdakov, Roberto Romanello, Simon Watt, and last year’s winner, Jonathan Karamalikis. Play started 10 handed at the tables, and when the final 32 players were reached, it turned into a four-table shootout, with the final 24 players making the money. Each bounty, there were 24 total, was worth AUD$1,000.

Martin Kozlov will take the most chips Sunday’s final table play, bagging 445,000 at the end of the night. Just behind him is Lindy Thornton, Jai Kemp, Jarred Soloman, and Milan Gurung, rounding out the top five. Gerasimos Deves, Shao Liu, and Mel Judah are also still in the hunt for the title. They will all come back Sunday at 4:00 p.m. local time to play down to a winner, to see who will take home the AUD$80,500 first-place prize.

If you want to check out any of the updates from Saturday’s action at the 2011 Aussie Millions, then you should head on over to the PokerNews Live Reporting Blog.

Remember to follow us on Twitter for up-to-the-minute news.

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2011 January 28, Elaine Chaivarlis

You’ve made it to another weekend. You can look forward to Sunday, though, because you’ll be able to rail the third installment of the PokerStars SuperStar Showdown. We’ll give you the details on that, the World Poker Tour Southern Poker Championship, and more. Read this and go enjoy your weekend!

In Case You Missed It

Wondering how you can win your seat to the NBC National Heads Up Championship? Kristy Arnett fills you in in the latest edition of the Sin City Series.

The 2011 World Series of Poker schedule was released this week and we’ve decided to take a look at some of the events. Here’s a closer look at the hold’em events, which comprise more than half of the events on the docket.

While there was plenty of high-stakes tournament action at the 2011 Aussie Millions this week, that doesn’t mean that the high-stakes action online diminished. Check out the Online Railbird Report for more on Gus Hansen and Daniel Cates’ big week.

Soon after he busted the $250,000 Super High Roller at the 2011 Aussie Millions, Tom Dwan tweeted that poker needed to have a series of super-high-roller events. In our latest PokerNews Op-Ed, Rich Ryan takes a look at why this is a good idea.

PokerStars SuperStar Showdown III

The third installment of the PokerStars SuperStar Showdown has recently been announced. Viktor “Isildur1″ Blom will take on Daniel “w00ki3z” Cates on Sunday, Jan. 30 at 5:30 p.m. EST. If you aren’t familiar with the format, the two must play 2,500 hands across four tables at $50/$100 or higher. On Sunday, Blom and Cates will play four $50/$100 no-limit hold’em tables. Blom is one and one in the SuperStar Showdown, losing to Issac Haxton in the first match, but winning against Tony G in the second.

We don’t know who is going to take this match, but we do know that it’ll finish before the “durrrr” Challenge will.

If you want to rail the match, you’ll need a PokerStars account, so why don’t you sign up for one.

World Poker Tour Southern Poker Championship: Alexander Kuzmin Wins

At the start of the fifth day of the World Poker Tour Southern Poker Championship, six players took their seats with one thing in mind: taking home the title and $600,000+ first-place prize. Alexander Kuzmin led the way at the start of play, but Allen Carter was close behind him. Carter had the chance to make history because no player has ever won the same WPT event. Carter won the WPT Southern Poker Championship in 2009.

Carter just barely missed out on history this time when he was eliminated in third place, taking home $218,471. Though Kuzmin didn’t hold on to the chip lead the whole day, he held on to it when it counted, and after a heads-up match with Leif Force that lasted 60 hands, Kuzmin was crowned champion of the WPT Southern Poker Championship. He took home $601,469, a WPT bracelet, and a Beau Rivage bracelet — not to mention the $25,000 buy-in to the WPT World Championship that was included in the first-place prize.

WPT Southern Poker Championship Results

1. Alex Kuzmin – $601,469
2. Leif Force – $315,790
3. Allen Carter – $218,471
4. Shannon Shorr – $144,985
5. Pat Mahoney – $113,208
6. Ryan Hughes – $89,375

If you want to check out the play-by-play, head on over to WorldPokerTour.com.

Bwin Shareholders Approve Merger

On Friday, Bwin’s shareholders unanimously approved the proposed merger with PartyGaming. If PartyGaming also approves the merger, the company will be renamed bwin.party Digital Entertainment Plc.

The decision to merge was announced on July 29, 2010. In a prospectus released to PartyGaming shareholders in December, it was suggested that both companies would retain their core existing brands but would operate under bwin.party Digital Entertainment Plc, which would be headquartered in Gibralter and listed on the London Stock Exchange. Bwin shareholders are expected to hold 51.6 percent of shares and the current PartyGaming shareholders would have 48.4 percent.

If you’d like to read more on the merger, you can do so on EGRMagazine.com.

First Inside Deal of the Year

ESPN’s Inside Deal crew is back, but there’s been a change in the lineup. Laura Lane is no longer hosting the show. Instead, ESPN MMA Live’s Jon Anik has taken over those duties and joins Andrew “the Feld” Feldman and Bernard Lee to discuss the 2011 World Series of Poker schedule. They also speak with Annie Duke about the pro poker league that was announced recently, and they talk with Galen Hall about his win at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure.

Looking for that Edge?

Have you ever considered using an imitation blogger to get that little edge in a tournament? Check out the video “guide” by Lynn Gilmartin, Donnie Peters, and Tim Duckworth. And just in case it’s not crystal clear in this video, PokerNews does not support cheating of any form.

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