Seat 1: Matt Wakeman, Australia -- 165,000
One of Australia's premier poker talents, Matt "mjw006" Wakeman is a 27-year old from Newcastle with a formidable online poker record. After getting started in home games with friends, Wakeman has dominated mid-high stakes tournaments online for the past five years, amassing more than USD$1.2 million in career winnings and earning the honour of Australia's #1 ranked online player.
Wakeman says that he has loved everything about his time here in Queenstown and is thankful for hitting a two-outer with pocket threes against Dave Allan's pocket jacks to help him reach this final table. Wakeman is a keen rugby league fan, he enters the final as one of the shorter stacks.
Bio courtesy of PokerStars.