It was a protracted weekend in Australia and what better strategy to celebrate the birthday of Her Majesty than with a friendly game of poker. It is a game designed for royalty, as kings and queens were tossed across the felt with effortless precision this afternoon. Fifteen loyal servants came together, but they dropped away one-by-one until just one man remained. That man is Sammy Huang and he's now the King of Canberra!

As many kings and queens that we saw at the felt of the Casino Canberra today, it was the unnerving selection of aces that ended up within the hands of Sammy Huang that ultimately was the tale of the day. Flying the flag for the Canberra locals, Huang was a dominant force on a tricky final table through a mix of aggressive play and many those wicked aces! His win was well-deserved and it's great to peer the ANZPT Canberra trophy staying in home territory.

We started off this afternoon with Germany's Khiem Nguyen leading the way in which with all eyes at the short stacks to peer who would fall first. Naz Sabaei and Mario Ljubicic were quick to go, before young gun Jarred Graham made a shockingly rapid fall from grace. Graham was unlucky when his ace-king was outdrawn by the ace-jack of Takahiro Morooka and not recovered. Morooka couldn't benefit from his chips after a ruling technicality went against him to peer him next to the cashier. Brett Chalhoub was equally unlucky and when David Gorr was eliminated with a king-high flush against Khiem Nguyen's full house, our final table line up was set within 70 minutes of play.

Khiem Nguyen maintained the chip lead and was always a deadly force at the final table. James Broom entered because the short stack but was relentless in his attack as he endured a rollercoaster ride that will give the weak heart palpitations. Broom needed to come from behind on several all-in clashes including surviving with king-ten against Andrew Watson's ace-queen, after which king-queen against George Graziani's dominant ace-queen.

It was the latter hand that left Graziani crippled and resulted in our first elimination of the general table. Graziani was all in with A♣6♥ against Tristan Bain's Q♥Q♣ and Tony Kambouroglou's K♥K♣ with the Toothpick taking the pot to land an early double knockout blow.

Andrew Watson lost a race with A♥Q♣ against Khiem Nguyen's pocket sevens to be eliminated in seventh place, before a card-dead Luke Edwards couldn't survive with Q♣J♦ against Leigh Warne's K♠5♣ to go away in sixth.

While the selection of players were quickly decreasing, Sammy Huang's stack was just getting bigger and bigger, as his overbetting style was playing havoc with the small ball approach of Khiem Nguyen and James Broom. Huang picking up pocket aces with some regularity was also helping the cause, as Nguyen was showing visible signs of frustration.

Leigh Warne was next to move went Toothpick Tony aroused from sleep with another big pair when his Q♠Q♥ proved too strong for Warne's A♥Q♣ to depart us four-handed.

Huang was the massive stack and Broom was still nursing the fast stack as a good four-way battle ensued. The shorties were forced to transport all in on multiple occasions, but they couldn't find any callers because the establishment remained for over an hour. Something needed to give.

As the blinds ticked over, it was Germany's Khiem Nguyen who finally cracked when he three-bet shoved with 4♠4♦ but Sammy Huang aroused from sleep along with his favourite hand, A♠A♣ and made a very easy call. Nguyen couldn't discover a four as his impressive tournament was halted in fourth place.

James Broom found some swagger when play reached three-handed along with his nemesis in Nguyen now at the rails. Broom spread out his game and caught Toothpick Tony red-handed when he squeezed excessive of a raise and speak to. Broom tabled A♦8♦ as Toothpick sheepishly showed 5♦4♣. The board ran out 9♦T♦K♠J♥T♣ to eliminate Toothpick in third place as we entered heads-up play with the title at the line.

James Broom had a two-to-one chip disadvantage against Sammy Huang and despite a unusual Canberra heads-up rule that has the blinds in reverse to normal, Broom was confident in his heads-up game. However he forgot that Huang held all of the aces!

After a preflop raise, and bet at the flop, Huang overbet shoved all in at the activate a J♥9♦Q♥7♦ board. Broom deliberated for a while before making the decision with Q♦5♦ for high pair and flush draw, but Huang again opened A♠A♥. Broom was on the lookout for a queen, five or diamond however it wasn't to be because the 7♠ bricked the board to eliminate him in second place and crown Sammy Huang as our ANZPT Canberra champion!

The Canberra local qualified for this event through some of the $22+R 3xTurbo online satellites on PokerStars for the investment of just $42. He's now turned that right into a whopping $73,700 in prize money!

Congratulations to Sammy on a fantastic achievement that's certain to create a buzz for poker in our nation's capital.

PokerStars.net ANZPT Canberra Main Event results

1st Sammy Huang (Australia) (PokerStars Qualifier) - $73,7002nd James Broom (Australia) - $46,9003rd Tony Kambouroglou (Australia) - $27,4704th Khiem Nguyen (Germany) - $22,7805th Leigh Warne (Australia) - $18,7606th Luke Edwards (Australia) (PokerStars Qualifier) - $15,4107th Andrew Watson (Australia) (PokerStars Player) - $12,7308th Tristan Bain (Australia) - $10,0509th George Graziani (Australia) - $8,040----10th David Gorr (Australia) - $6,03011th Brett Chalhoub (Australia) (PokerStars Qualifier) - $6,03012th Takahiro Morooka (Australia) (PokerStars Qualifier) - $6,03013th Jarred Graham (Australia) - $4,69014th Mario Ljubicic (Australia) - $4,69015th Naz Sibaei (Australia) - $4,690

So now it is time to close up and head home (subject to volcanic ash) following an unbelievable long weekend in Canberra. We've really enjoyed our time here and the poker site appear to really embrace the ANZPT that's fantastic. Many way to the tournament staff, dealers and the hospitality crew on the Casino Canberra for making us feel welcome and part of the team.

Also many way to Cole Bennetts for his superb final table photography.

That's all we have now for you from Canberra. If you are craving more tournament action, you'll have heard of a wee tournament happening in Las Vegas in this day and age. They call it the arena Series of Poker. Keep on with the PokerStars Blog for the entire latest news and updates from there.

On the local scene, we've got a six-week break before we head to Melbourne's Crown Casino for the primary event of Season 5 of the PokerStars.net Asia Pacific Poker Tour. The APPT Melbourne might be a spectacular event with the primary Event running from July 29th until August 1st with online satellites running now on PokerStars.

Thanks for following our coverage at home and we glance forward to seeing you in Melbourne. Until then, goodbye from Canberra!

Read More... [Source: PokerStars Poker Blog :: Tournaments]