Simon Watt, a 26-year old Software Developer from New Zealand, blazed through the main event of the 2009 PokerStars Asia Pacific Poker Tour in Auckland and came out on top, earning himself the title as well as the $209,085 NZD prize.
A Rocky Start
There were nine competitors who came back on the last day to play at the final table, namely Gerome Guitteau, Jason Brown, Michael Shinzaki, Richard Lancester, Lance Climo, Jens Walther, Ke Sijia, Asadour Assadourian, and Simon Watt. Among them, Gerome Guitteau was in the lead with more than 1 million in chips. Jason Brown was at second place with just over 700k. However, the APPT “40 Big Blinds Rule” caused the action to be rather slow and sluggish, but it at least ensured that the average chip stack would have about 40 big blinds when the real action starts.
An Explosive Ending
When it did begin, though, the action was intense. This was mostly thanks to Michael Shinzaki, who can be as aggressive as a poker pro can get, making daring and thoroughly impressive moves. However, like most aggressive players, it was an either win big or lose big scenario for Shinzaki early on. Not being the luckiest bloke on the table, he was the first in the final 9 to make his exit. Following him shortly was Lance Climo who ended up in a heads up match with Simon Watt. Watt, of course, dominated Climo’s AC10S with his ADKC quite easily, and Climo too had to make his exit. Then Assadour Assadourian, from the father-and-son Assadourian Duo, was next to fall despite putting on a very good fight against Guitteau. Jens Walther, who had a short stack, also fell in the hands of Guitteau when the board came up in favor of the latter.
Guitteau’s “killing spree” continued as he managed to eliminate Lancaster next. But he didn’t stop there; as if eliminating the other players wasn’t enough, Guitteau had to add Sijia to his list. Sijia was holding 10H9H while Guitteau had JD7D. The flop was JH2D10D and the turn was 3H. A flush could go either way depending on the river, and apparently lady fortuna was on Guitteau’s side as a QD came out. Watt reentered the action when he won a 2 million chip pot against Brown, a decisive victory that caused Brown to be eliminated next. Finally, it was a face-off between Guitteau and Watt, with Guitteau holding a narrow chip lead. Guitteau was aggressive, but Watt was able to hold his own until he won another decisive pot which left Guitteau with only 540,000 chips. It didn’t take long before Guitteau was eliminated and Watt was declared the winner of the title and the $209,000 NZD prize.
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