Christine Hia Wins the Sydney Championship Ladies Event (A$7,353)
Malaysia's Christine Hia is going to have to buy herself an Akubra and some RM Williams Boots because it is time for her to call Australia home.
Hia won her third title at the Star Poker Room after shipping the 2018 Sydney Championships Event #2: A$330 Ladies Event for A$7,353 ($5,432). The other two titles for Hia both came at the WSOP Sydney but for Hia, the Ladies Event title was probably the most fun.
"I really enjoyed playing this event," Hia said to the Star Poker Live Reporting Team. "It is always great to play here in the Star Poker Room but the thing that I liked most were the Ladies in the tournament. It was a really great group of ladies from Start to finish and playing with them made things a lot of fun."
Hia began the final table second in chips behind chip leader, Rebecca Kinnane. The two big stacks ended up being the final two when the tournament finished but they took very different roads to go there.
While Hia had a relatively quiet final table the same was not true for Kinnane as she eliminated most of the other final table players and amassed a monster stack. When heads-up play began, Kinnane held a 5:2 chip advantage over Hia.
The duo battled back and forth in an exciting, but quick heads up battle.
The key hand that would completely shift the momentum was when Hia managed to win a big race. She moved all in with ace-queen and was called by Kinnane with pocket eights. An ace appeared on the flop and to add insult to injury a queen appeared on the river leaving Kinnane decimated with just five big blinds.
Both players moved all in on the next hand and Hia was crowned our champion with queen high, quite fitting for the Ladies Event.
With 70 runners, the event was a great success and shows the growth of Ladies Poker in Sydney. Based on the skill of some of the players in this tournament, it wouldn't be surprised to see the ladies make some serious waves in the mixed company events throughout the rest of the series.
Sydney Championships Event #2: A$330 Ladies Event Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize | Prize in US$ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Christine Hia | Malaysia | A$7,353 | $5,432 |
| 2 | Rebecca Kinnane | Australia | A$4,542 | $3,355 |
| 3 | Lagi Tupua | Australia | A$3,011 | $2,224 |
| 4 | Miki Wan | Australia | A$2,131 | $1,574 |
| 5 | Mele Poulivaati | Australia | A$1,605 | $1,186 |
| 6 | Marianne Crane | Australia | A$1,280 | $946 |
| 7 | Emily Zaiter | Australia | A$1,078 | $796 |
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