Simon Watt Wins 2009 PokerStars.net APPT Auckland Main Event!

The final day of the 2009 PokerStars.net APPT Auckland Main Event saw our final nine competitors return to the SKYCITY Casino for their shot at the NZ$209,085 first place prize and a place in poker's history books.

 

The day started out rather slowly, thanks to the APPT "40 Big Blinds Rule" which saw the clock wound back to the 6,000/12,000/1,000 level to ensure that the average chip stack would still have 40 big blinds when play commenced.

 

Ke Sijia found an early double up while Richard Lancaster stormed to the early chip lead thanks to a triple barrel bluff by the aggressive Michael Shinzaki.

 

Ultimately Shinzaki's aggression was his downfall as he pushed his into the of Gerome Guitteau, only to see the board run out to see him depart in 9th place for NZ$14,202.

 

Lance Climo was a popular local hope but he was next to exit when he committed his short stack with but found himself dominated by Simon Watt's .  The board ran out and Climo collected NZ$18,936 for his 8th place finish.

 

Richard Lancaster took a big blow when he ran his into the of Ke Sijia, but the last Australian hope Assadour Assadourian, father of Eric, was the next player to be eliminated. Assadour had put in a great showing in this event, but succumbed in 7th place when his top pair on the flop ran into Gerome Guitteau's for two pair.  The turn was the and river the and Assadour collected NZ$23,670 for his tournament.

 

The defiant short stack of German Jens Walther was next to go in a classic preflop race against the giant-killing Frenchman Gerome Guitteau. In a battle of the blinds, Walther went with his against Guitteau's but the board bricked out to see him exit in 6th place for NZ$31,560.

 

Richard Lancaster was now the short stack of the field but looked set to double up when his last chips went into the middle preflop holding against the of Gerome Guitteau.  The flop was a safe but the turn was the perfect sweat card as Guitteau picked up a heap of outs.  One of them was the that hit the river to complete his Broadway straight, much to the disappointment of the locals on the rail as Lancaster was eliminated in 5th.  He'll pocket NZ$42,606.

 

With the players prepared to play big pots, the bustouts kept coming.  In a rare limped pot, on a flop of , Ke Sijia fired 70,000 before being check-raised to 200,000 by Gerome Guitteau.  Sijia made the call and the hit the turn.  Guitteau moved all in and Sijia made a quick call with however he'd need to improve against Guitteau's .  It wasn't to be as the river gave Guitteau another scalp as Sijia collected NZ$55,230 for his 4th place finish.

 

After a quick chat, the play kicked up another gear as Jason Brown shoved all in over the top of an opening raise by Simon Watt, who insta-called with to have Brown's in deep trouble.  Another king on the flop was more than enough to give the two million chip pot to Watt and leave Brown crippled.  Brown was eliminated soon after in 3rd place for NZ$82,845 and suddenly we found ourselves heads up.

 

Gerome Guitteau held a narrow advantage over Simon Watt and maintained the aggression with several three-bets preflop.  It didn't take long for Watt to make a stand as he four-bet to 525,000 in total with Guitteau making the call out-of-position to see the flop.  Guitteau checked and with over one million chips already in the middle, Watt decided to move all in.  Guitteau insta-called with for pair and straight draw to have Watt in a world of hurt with his .  Incredibly Watt's only saviour hit the turn when the gave him the lead.  The river was the and Watt had most of the chips in play as Guitteau was crippled with just 540,000 chips.

 

Moments later the Frenchman moved them in preflop with and Watt made the call with and the board ran out to eliminate Guitteau in second place for NZ$142,020 in prize money.

 

The cash and the trophy once again remains in New Zealand as the local 26-year old software developer in Simon Watt is crowned the 2009 PokerStars.net APPT Auckland champion.  After qualifying through a $22 rebuy tournament on PokerStars, Watt pockets a life-changing NZ$209,085 in prize money and establishes himself as a force to be reckoned with on the Australasian poker circuit!