Happy Heinecker wins Asian Millions
Saturday, 8 June 2013
German pro Niklas Heinecker is poker's latest multimillionaire after taking down the PokerStars GuangDong Ltd. Asian Millions.
Jonathan Duhamel might have been leading one of the richest tournaments outside of the WSOP, after Day 1, but as the 51 players returned to felt on Day 2 it was Isaac Haxton who dominated.
As each player eyed up the 8th place bubble – worth $750,000 – Haxton used his high stakes experience to gain a sizeable chip lead in the early stages of the session. Indeed, after just a couple of hours of play he’d managed to eliminate a handful of players and lead the way as the bubble approached.
After whittling the field down to nine, Day 2 came to a close after Rono Lo one of the most unfortunate bubble boys in history. With just nine players left in contention, a short stacked Lo made a stand with Qc Tc but after watching Pratyush Budigga call from the button with pocket aces he knew his chances of survival were slim.
As the board ran out: 5d 2h 8d 3h 6c, the pot was pushed towards Buddiga, while Lo headed for the rail to contemplate what could have been.
After closing Day 2, today’s final session got underway earlier and in the early stages of the game it was bubble executioner Budigga who hit the rail first. After moving all-in with pocket eights, Budigga was unlucky to run into Igor Kurganov whose Qs 7h managed to connect with the 6c 2c Qc 4s Td board.
Following Buddiga to the rail in today’s finale was Anson Tsang, Igor Kurganov, Isaac Haxton, Zheng Tang and Sorel Mizzi all hit the rail.
Heads-up it was Niklas Heinecker who held the lead and after just two minutes of play the German pro was able to clinch the top prize.
After limping on the button with Ah 9h, Heinecker made the quick call after Rossiter moved all-in with Qd Td.
As the board developed, Heinecker’s slight advantage increased and, by the time the dealer had finished spreading the community cards, he’d earned not only the pot but a top prize of $4,457,295.
"This is easily the greatest day of my poker career!" said the understandably delighted 28-year old pro. No wonder considering his previous best life score was $106k for a 80th place finish in the 2007 WSOP Main Event.
1 Niklas Heinecker $4,457,295
2 Jeff Rossiter $3,156,117
3 Sorel Mizzi $2,074,081
4 Zheng Tang $1,613,532
5 Isaac Haxton $1,314,014
6 Igor Kurganov $1,069,263
7 Anson Tsang $921,112
8 Pratyush Budigga $772,961