2010 PokerStars.net APPT Sydney Day 4: Karamalikis Shows 'Em Who's Boss!
The 2010 PokerStars.net APPT Sydney Grand Final is all said and done after an amazing final table wrapped up on Sunday night in Sydney, Australia. Jonathan Karamalikis finished as the last man standing, taking home a whopping first-place prize worth A$459,510 and the trophy!
Karamalikis was one of the handful of big names that made their way to this final table. He was joined at the beginning of the day by superstars Daniel Negreanu, who is also a Team PokerStars Pro, Roland de Wolfe, and Eddy Sabat. Those three finished in ninth, eighth and sixth, respectively.
The last man standing between Karamalikis and the title was PokerStars qualifier Benjamin McLean. When it got down to heads-up play, Karamalikis was down in chips, but not by much. The two battled back and forth with the chip lead changing hands multiple times over a couple of hours. Eventually, Karamalikis started to pull away before really crushing McLean in one key hand.
After Karamalikis turned the nut flush on a board of 9?7?3?A?J? with the K?10?, he was able to extract great value from McLean who held top pair, top kicker with the A?K?. That hand really crippled McLean as he was left with about 16 big blinds. From there, Karamalikis sensed blood in the water like a true shark and the end was just a few hands away.
Karamalikis finished things off shortly after on the final hand by winning a flip with the 5?5? against the A?6? that McLean hd made his last stand with. The board ran out Q?4?2?2?2? to give Karamalikis a full house. As the final card hit the felt, his cheering section roared and rushed down the stairs to greet the new champion. As one of Karamalikis' railbirds and good mates would say, "Like a boss!"
Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Prize (AUD) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jonathan Karamalikis | 459,510 |
| 2 | Benjamin McLean | 294,780 |
| 3 | Tom Rafferty | 164,730 |
| 4 | Peco Stojanovski | 121,380 |
| 5 | Antoine Amourette | 97,970 |
| 6 | Eddy Sabat | 79,765 |
| 7 | Manuel Hansimikali | 65,025 |
| 8 | Roland de Wolfe | 50,285 |
| 9 | Daniel Negreanu | 36,415 |
A great event was held once again at Star City Hotel & Casino in Sydney, Australia. A big thanks goes out to all the staff and players who made the event possible. If you have a chance to make it out there next year, we highly recommend you do so.
One last congratulation to all the winners and especially to the man they call "Dong" - Jonathan Karamalikis! Our very own Lynn Gilmartin caught up with him right after his big win and you can catch that interview below in the video.
There is still time to play in our final $15,000 Sunday Million Freerollon PokerStars in the current series, but hurry as you have to qualify this month.
