PokerNews Cup Day 5: Andrew Jeffreys Claims Second Win in Two Days
Yesterday saw the original 169 players of the 2009 PokerNews Cup Tony G Celebrity Bounty Event reduced to just a final eight who returned today at the Crown Casino at 4:00 p.m. When all was said and done, Andrew "Adgee" Jeffreys won the coveted trophy, title of champion, and the $20,520 (Australian dollars) first prize.
Once play kicked off, Jeffreys didn't waste any time taking down a few early pots to climb the leaderboard while Bruce Nguyen held onto his lead amid the action.
Riku Koivurinne went first when he moved all-in preflop holding A?Q? against Nguyen��s 6?6?, and after the board bricked, Koivurinne collected $2,280 AUD for his eighth-place finish. Nick Haidaris, William Skountzos and George Dionisopoulos doubled up courtesy of Nguyen before Dionisopoulos finally fell in seventh place when his pocket queens ran into Ben Savage's pocket kings.
One-time chip leader Nguyen exited next when his A?8? were outdrawn by Jeffreys�� Q?J? when the board ran out 5?6?9?2?4?. Nguyen collected $3,800 AUD for his efforts.
In a battle of the blinds, Haidaris was eliminated next when his middle pair failed to improve against the dominant top pair of Angelo Prifti. Savage, fresh off his win in the PokerNetwork.com Live vs Online Challenge from the previous evening, was the next to be knocked out, finishing in fourth place for $6,460 AUD when he was outdrawn by Jeffreys.
Angelo Prifti committed all his chips on a A?6?8? board with 10?8?, but unfortunately, he ran into Jeffreys�� A?J?. The turn and river blanked out with the Q? and J? falling to the felt to see Prifti eliminated in third place for $9,880 AUD.
When heads-up play began, Skountzos held a slim 55,000 chip lead over Jeffreys and on the second hand of the duel, Jeffreys claimed a huge advantage when on a board reading 7?10?A?8?, Jeffreys moved all-in over the top of a Skountzos raise with A?5? and was called by Skountzos and his K?K?. The river landed the 8? and Jeffreys left Skountzos with just 25,000 in chips.
The final hand saw Jeffreys�� Q?6? outdraw Skountzos�� K?10? on a final board reading 4?J?3?6?J?, which eliminated in second place for which he collected $14,440 AUD for his great run in the tournament.
This was the second tournament victory for Jeffreys in as many days after being victorious in the heads-up part of the $1,100 AUD PokerNetwork.com Live vs Online Challenge. Lynn Gilmartin caught up with the champ after the event.
The Crown Poker Room also saw another tournament kickoff today �� Event 7, the $550 no-limit hold'em six-handed �� which began at noon. Grant Levy, Stewart Scott, Clonie Gowen, Tony Hachem, Kristian "Bada Bing" Lunardi, Jonathan "xMONSTERxDONGx" Karamalikis, Ben "CNT_CRUSHER" Delaney, Matthew "OnMyVPlates" Pearson and Dean "dinhjo" Nyberg were just a handful of notables in the 160-player field.
Play reached the money with the final 18 players battling into the early morning hours, all hoping to get their hands on the $18,500 AUD first-place prize. We'll give you the full results during tomorrow's recap.
The 2009 PokerNews Cup Main Event begins tomorrow with the opening flight expected to draw a big field as the estimated first-place prize of $250,000 AUD has lured players from all over the world.
The action kicks off at 12:10 p.m. local time, so stay tuned to PokerNews.com for all the the live updates.
