Steven Zhou Wins the 2019 WSOPC The Star Sydney Main Event After Four-Way Deal
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After four grueling days of poker, the 2019 World Series of Poker International Circuit The Star Sydney Main Event has a champion, with Australia's Steven Zhou triumphing over a 1,124-strong field to take the title, the WSOP Circuit Ring and AU$260,904 (~$178,305) in cash, with a total of 117 players cashing for a share of the AU$2,248,000 (~$1,537,570) prize pool.
While the top prize was initially AU$410,264 (~$280,650), Zhou, Edwin Chiu, John Zwaine, and Lior Segre reached an accord when play became four-handed, deciding on an ICM chop to flatten out the top four payouts. After Zwaine busted in fourth (AU$239,007), long-time chip leader Chiu finished in third place and took home the lion's share of the four-handed deal with AU$269,550.
Zhou entered the heads-up against opponent Lior Segre with a commanding 3-to-1 chip lead and the match was over in a single hand, with Segre committing the last of his chips pre-flop with eight-three offsuit and Zhou making the call with jack-nine offsuit. Both players missed the board by miles, meaning Zhou's jack-high was good.
Lior took home AU$224,114 for his runner-up finish, improving on his 11th place result in the previous year's Main Event, while Zhou took down his first major title and career-best tournament score.
"I wasn't going to play this tournament, I was just waiting for a cash game, but ended up getting sucked in and playing in the Main Event for four days," joked Zhou immediately after his victory.
2019 World Series of Poker International Circuit The Star Sydney AU$2,200 Main Event Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize (AU$) | Prize (~US$) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Steven Zhou | Australia | $260,904 | $178,305 |
| 2 | Lior Segre | Australia | $224,114 | $153,170 |
| 3 | Edwin Chiu | Australia | $269,550 | $184,215 |
| 4 | John Zwaine | Australia | $239,007 | $163,340 |
| 5 | Chao Duan | China | $107,837 | $73,768 |
| 6 | Duy Vu | Australia | $83,086 | $56,837 |
| 7 | Huss Hassan | Australia | $64,765 | $44,304 |
| 8 | Adrian Attenborough | Australia | $51,052 | $34,923 |
| 9 | Trevor Saunders | Australia | $40,689 | $27,834 |
Early Final Table Action
It was Edwin Chiu to return with the chip lead after topping both the Day 2 and Day 3 counts, but it was Duy Vu to draw first blood, sending short-stack Trevor Saunders to the rail just 15-minutes into the final table. Adrian Attenborough, who was playing his second final table in the space of a week after finishing runner-up to Shivan Abdine in the $5k Challenge for AU$160,610, was left short after a car crash of a hand against John Zwaine. Attenborough was left with a paltry seven big blinds to drop to the bottom of the counts, departing shortly afterwards at the hands of Chiu.
Huss Hassan dropped down the counts over the next 60-minute level played after a brassy bluff backfired against Zhou, with the latter finishing the job shortly after the first break after Hassan committed the last of his chips under-the-gun with king-jack and Zhou woke up with pocket aces.
"I wasn't going to play this tournament, I was just waiting for a cash game, but ended up getting sucked in and playing in the Main Event for four days."
The next level saw the next elimination with Vu also running into a hail of bullets, three-betting pre-flop over the top of a Chiu cutoff open and moving all-in on an eight-high single heart rainbow flop with queen-ten of hearts. Chiu called immediately with aces, which held to send Vu to the rail in sixth and saw Chiu take close to 50% of the total chips in play.
There was a lull in the action before the dinner break with the final table's only international player, China's Chao Duan, get short and then bust at the hand of an increasingly active Zhou. Duan moved all-in for his last 12 big blinds with ace-four and Zhou woke up with pocket jacks in the small blind to hold and eliminate the former.
Four-Handed Deal Struck, Chips Start Flying
Chiu still held the lead at this point, but Zhou was not far behind in the counts, with Zwaine and Segre sitting third and fourth respectively in the pecking order and the remaining four players then decided on the ICM deal.
Following this, the action increased dramatically and the next level saw the tournament wrap up. Segre hit a straight flush in a hand against Zhou to overtake Zwaine in the counts.
Zwaine then committed his last 10 big blinds from under-the-gun with pocket nines, with Zhou looking him up from the big blind with queen-jack offsuit and winning the race to take play three-handed.
This put Zhou in the box seat, giving him the chip lead for the first time in the tournament and not long after he clashed in a big pot with Chiu with the latter moving all-in from the button with king-queen offsuit and Zhou making the call from the blinds with ace-three offsuit, which held up when both players missed the board to take play heads-up.
The heads-up took just one hand, with Zhou besting Segre with jack-high after both players ran their rags into the middle. Segre walked away with AU$224,114 while Zhou received AU$260,904 as well as the coveted ring.
That concludes PokerNews live coverage from the WSOP International Circuit at The Star Sydney, and we hope you enjoyed all the scintillating poker action as much as we did. Until next time!
