If you had any doubt over the popularity of the $100,000 Sit & Go Challenge event, it would have been dispelled last night as interest demanded not one but two tables in the “winner take all” event that has become one of the most highly anticipated among the high stakes crowd. 20 players put up the $10,200 to take their place in the field, which was run as two separate tables with the winner to take home the $100,000 first prize.

The ‘honour’ of the first to be eliminated went to Sam Khouiss on Table 2, who got his all in on a low board, but ran into the of high stakes regular Jason Gray, giving Gray a big early chip lead.

Action on Table 1 was a bit slower, but they soon lost their first player when Bill Jordanou moved in preflop but his was no match for the of Warwick Mirzikinian.

Gray continued on from his good start, taking down Aytunc Tezay in 9th place with a set of fours and building a commanding lead, while Billy “The Croc” Argyros and Karim Jomeen were splashing around in pots without much success, both having some nervous moments with all-in action, early in proceedings. Crocky’s fortunes would not improve in a hurry as his couldn’t get the job done against an all in from Tino Lechich – Lechich’s making a flush to keep him alive.

On Table 1, “Lucky” Tony Dunst was not exactly living up to his moniker, having trouble getting anything going, and he finally exited in 9th when Harry Demetriou’s got the better of Dunst’s .

The acction was starting to heat up, with Julian Powell, Ralph Burd and Michael ‘Sticky’ Guttman not receiving any help from the poker gods as they were eliminated from their respective tables, but former Aussie Millions champ Lee Nelson was having more luck, tripling up with to get himself back in contention.

Jason Gray continued to run Table 2, and next to exit was Roy Vandersluis. Vandersluis got his stack in with and would have been feeling happy against Gray’s when the hit the flop, but a two-outer in the form of the hit the turn to send Vandersluis out in 6th spot. Gray was to lose his chip lead soon after however, when Argyros took up against Gray’s and doubled through with the river !

Table 2 was reduced to just four players when Van Marcus lost a race with against Tino Lechich’s . At this stage, the four remaining players decided to chop the $100k prizemoney based on chip counts, led by Tino Lechich with $34k. One hand was played all-in blind to determine the ‘official winner’ – an honour which fell on Karim Jomeen. Karim however was to leave the table with the least prize money, being the shortest stack on the table.

Prize Money:
Tino Lechich - $34,000
Jason Gray - $28,300
Billy ‘The Croc’ Argyros - $21,300
Karim Jomeen - $16,350

This focused attention over to Table 1, which would quickly be reduced to six players when Mirzikinian was all in and severely short-stacked with and David Steicke put him out of business with his own . He was quickly followed by Harry Demetriou, who shoved his chips in preflop with but was caught by Lee Nelson with . Two aces on the flop sealed Demetriou’s fate in 6th place, and Nelson added some more chips to his increasing stack.

How quickly things can turn however – Nelson would be the next eliminated in 5th place when he took a big draw to war against Jamie Pickering. Pickering raised from the button and Lee Nelson made the call out of the blinds with . On the flop of , Nelson check-raised Pickering’s continuation bet all-in, but couldn’t hit any of his outs against Pickering’s .

This left us with four – Jamie Pickering, Emanuel “Curly” Seal, Peter Aristidou and David Steicke. Aristidou was next to be all in with his tournament life on the line, but his was good enough to outdraw Steicke’s by landing a Queen on the river, leaving Steicke with a very short stack.

Steicke would not give up without a fight though – doubling up twice soon after until a good call from the big blind went unrewarded. Jamie Pickering moved in from the small blind with , and Steicke was in pretty good shape to double up again with . A on the turn however changed that pretty quickly and Steike went to the rail in 4th.

Not long after play became heads-up as we lost ‘Curly’ Seal in 3rd position. All three players limped in to see a cheap flop of . Emanuel Seal moved all in, with Peter Aristidou making the call. Jamie Pickering then moved all in over the top, forcing Aristidou out of the pot. Seal showed , while Pickering showed for a meager queen-high. However that became a pair of queens with the river , knocking out Seal and giving Pickering the chip lead entering the heads-up battle for the trophy.

Aristidou set to work about making inroads on his chip disadvantage, and was able to double up pretty quickly with as Pickering took a shot to finish things with . He couldn’t draw out though, and Aristidou improved to 40k in chips, still trailing Pickering’s 60k.

Soon after Aristidou landed another blow – his proving too much for Pickering’s when all the chips went in preflop. Aristidou now held a 9 to 1 chip advantage and had one hand on the trophy.

That one hand would become two very quickly when Pickering moved all in blind from the button and Aristidou called. Pickering was ahead with to Aristidou’s , but the on the turn sealed Pickering’s fate and delivered Aristidou the trophy and first place prize!