Richard Lee Wins WPT Australia Main Event for $550,000

The latest big-money event to hit Australian shores was the World Poker Tour Main Event. With a massive 600 entrants paying the $8,000 entry, six players gathered at the final table hoping to win over half a million U.S. dollars. Richard Lee conquered all before him to get his name on the Mike Sexton WPT Champions Cup, one of the biggest achievements in poker.

Debut Decider as Six Potential First-Timers Meet

The final table was one of celebration and played out as such at The Star Gold Cast on the final day of the WPT Australia festival. Richard Lee would earn the top prize of AUD $854,890, which included a $10,400 seat into the season-ending WPT World Championship, which will take place this December at the Wynn Las Vegas.

Getting your name engraved on the legendary Mike Sexton WPT Champions Cup – named in honor of the late, great WPT broadcasting legend and Poker Hall of Famer – isn’t easy. All six of the final table members had never done so before, meaning there was a fairly unique atmosphere, with everyone shooting for that first magical moment of winning a WPT Main Event for the first time.

There have been 21 seasons of action on the World Poker Tour, and this one has taken the WPT around the world in a way no other brand has, perhaps with the exception of Triton Poker given they are the high stakes specialist tour. At the start of the final table, Romain Morvan was the chip leader, but the Frenchman’s stack of 75 big blinds was closely followed by Martin Kozlov from Australia with 66 big blinds.

Behind the top two, Chinese player Gary Lin had 55 big blinds, the eventual winner Richard Lee sat with 46 big blinds and Nino Marotta had 43 big blinds. Local hero Ken Demlakian was the short stack, beginning the final table with just 20 blinds.

From Hero to Zero

Australian Ken Demlakian lived on the edge for some time before eventually busting in sixth place for $114,300. All-in earlier, he’d trebled back into contention, but never put himself among the upper limits of the leaderboard and eventually paid the price. All-in with on a board showing , trips were no good for Demlakian, as fellow Australian Martin Kozlov had . The kicker played after a landed on the river, and Demlakian was on the rail.

It had taken the best part of 30 hands for Demaklian to exit and almost the same time elapsed before the overnight chip leader cut a dejected figure. Six orbits after the final table was reduced to five, French player Romain Morvan, who had led with six remaining, was out. With 95% of his chips in the middle pre-flop, Morvan committed the rest on a flop of holding . That was ahead, but it ended up not being when Richard Lee’s flopped open-ender with struck gold on the turn. The river card of a ended the hand in the home player’s favor, and the two men embraced before Morvan headed to collect $149,800.

Lee was in the ascendancy but still had a little further up the mountain to climb. He got a big boost to his hopes when his doubled through Gary Lin’s , however, and Lin was on the rail soon after in fourth place for $198,600 when he saw a flop of and put all his chips in with . Lee called with and held through turn and river to take a healthy lead into three-handed play.

All Australian Finale Produces Late Drama

Pellegrino ‘Nino’ Marotta scored by far the biggest cash of his poker career in third place. The local player, far more used to playing tournaments with an average buy-in of between $500 and $2,000 excelled at the $8,000 price point here and is close to a million in tournament earnings after he won $266,400 here.

Marotta was all-in and at risk with , having called off with the shorter stack when Martin Kozlov shoved pre-flop with . A flop of looked great for Marotta, as did the insignificant on the turn. But the river was the and that was enough to see the passionate player Marotta throw his arms into the air in disgust (below).

Heads-up was set, and with 88 big blinds, Lee was in the lead. With just 34 big blinds, Kozlov needed to improve his stack. In the 95^th hand of the final table, he did his very best, calling off his stack with , but he started and ended the hand behind Lee’s as the board came and Richard Lee was pronounced the champion, earning an incredible $550,250. With a runner-up prize of $360,250, Kozlov will not be too downcast, but for Richard Lee, it was the moment of a poker lifetime, and it is his name that will be added to the Mike Sexton WPT Champions Cup!

Watch the final table take place in this replay from The Star Gold Coast cardroom: