Watson and Nemeth Win Australian Poker Open Events

The Australian Poker Open is running at The Star Gold Coast and has already crowned its first two champions.

Australian poker has been in the spotlight in 2020 thanks to Aussie Millions being a roaring success. Kahle Burns’ impressive Main Event victory brought the curtain down on proceedings at the Crown Melbourne. Now dozens of high rollers have headed to the Gold Coast for the Poker Central Australian Poker Open.

Seven tournaments with buy-ins from A$10,000 to A$100,000 are scheduled, drawing in some of the game’s greats. Two of those elite grinders have already kicked the Australian Poker Open off in style, Mike Watson and Andras Nemeth.

Mike Watson Takes Down Australian Poker Open Opening Event

Fifty-nine players exchanged A$10,000 in the opening event of the 2020 Australian Poker Open and only nine received prize money.

Lucas Greenwood won a British Poker Open event in September but couldn’t repeat those heroics in Australia. Greenwood had to, instead, make do with the A$17,700 ninth-place prize after becoming the first casualty of the final table.

Former World Series of Poker Main Event finalist Ben Lamb fell next. Lamb’s eighth-place exit netted him $23,600. The Las Vegas is usually found playing nosebleed-stakes cash games, but is a regular in Australia this time of year.

Elio Fox was the next to fall, cashing in seventh-place for a A$29,500 addition to his already ample bankroll. Hungarian star Andras Nemeth finished sixth for A$35,400. Nemeth would later take down Event #2 of the Australian Poker Open.

Jamie Lee and Turkey’s Orpen Kisacikoglu busted to leave only three players in the hunt for the title. Two of this trio hailed from Australia so had home-field advantage, yet it was Watson who shone.

Benjamin Shannon fell in third for A$82,600 leaving Watson and Michael O’Grady to battle heads-up. Watson emerged victorious, resigning O’Grady to A$118,000 and collecting the A$177,000 top prize for himself.

Australian Poker Open Event #1: A$10,000 NL Hold’em Final Table Results

Place	Player	Country	Prize (AUD)	Prize (USD)
1	Mike Watson	Canada	$177,000	$120,836
2	Michael O’Grady	Australia	$118,000	$80,557
3	Benjamin Shannon	Australia	$82,600	$56,390
4	Orpen Kisacikoglu	Turkey	$59,000	$40,279
5	Jaime Lee	United States	$47,200	$32,223
6	Andras Nemeth	Hungary	$35,400	$24,167
7	Elio Fox	United States	$29,500	$20,139
8	Ben Lamb	United States	$23,600	$16,111
9	Lucas Greenwood	Canada	$17,700	$12,084

Andras Nemeth Secures A$10,000 PLO Title

Hungary’s Andras Nemeth is an absolute beast of in online poker tournament player. Known as “probirs” in online circles, Nemeth terrorizes his opponents with his fearless style of play. He’s better-known for his hold’em game, but is obviously no slouch at pot-limit Omaha!

Nemeth was one of 43 entrants in the Australian Poker Open A$10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha event. Only even players finished in the money due to the compact field.

The controversial figure of Chino Rheem netted A$21,500 when he crashed out in seventh. Rheem has undoubted talent, although his life choices leave little to be desired.

Another two Americans fell by the wayside and headed to the showers. The legendary Erik Seidel and Sean Winter being that duo.

partypoker-sponsored pro Joni Jouhikimainen prefers four hole cards and it showed here. Jouhkimainen is a superb PLO player but had to make do with the A$43,000 fourth-place prize in this event.

Mike Watson, shortly after winning the Australian Poker Open event, finished third for A$64,500. This left Nemeth and Najeem Ajez to fight one-on-one for the title. Ajez is a PLO specialist who finished third in the A$25,000 PLO event at the Aussie Millions. That result banked him A$198,240, but he couldn’t get the job done here.

Nemeth was the last player standing and got his hands on the A$146,200 top prize. Ajez had to console himself with the A$93,600 consolation prize.

A$10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Event Results

Place	Player	Country	Prize (AUD)	Prize (USD)
1	Andras Nemeth	Hungary	$146,200	$99,811
2	Najeem Ajez	Australia	$93,600	$63,901
3	Mike Watson	Canada	$64,500	$44,034
4	Joni Jouhkimainen	Finland	$43,000	$29,356
5	Sean Winter	United States	$34,400	$23,485
6	Erik Seidel	United States	$25,800	$17,614
7	Chino Rheem	United States	$21,500	$14,678

Matthew Pitt

If it’s something you can play online for real money, chances are Matthew knows a bit about it. He’s been writing about slots, craps and poker for the better part of the last decade. He’s written for PokerNews, PartyPoker and many other respected online gambling websites during the last nine years.

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