The Aussie Millions Main Event ended earlier this week with a victory for Alexander Kostritsyn, a young poker player hailing from Russia. The Aussie Millions Main Event was held at the Crown Casino in Melbourne, Australia, where the first prize was $1.65 million. Kostritsyn had a strong run at the final table, eliminating a majority of the players who had survived up to the point where they tangled with him. To win the tournament, Kostritsyn had to defeat eight time WSOP bracelet winner Erik Seidel in heads-up play.
At the beginning of the final day, there were seven players remaining. The day got off to a quick start when Peter Mobbs, holding the second shortest stack at the table, decided to risk everything on [As][Js], raising and being reraised by Alexander Kostritsyn, who forced Mobbs all-in while bearing a hand of [Ad][Ks]. The flop came [Jc][8d][6c], giving Mobbs the best hand. However, the turn card brought death to Mobbs’s tournament life, delivering the [Kd]. Mobbs needed a jack on the river to survive, but it never came, and Mobbs left in seventh place.
Kostritsyn took the chip lead after eliminating Antonio Casale in sixth place. Casale held pocket jacks, Kostritsyn held pocket aces, and no help came for Casale, sending him to the rail.
Alexander Kostritsyn would soon extend his chip lead when Nino Marotta pushed his remaining chips into the pot on a flop of [Jd][10h][3s]. Marotta held [Qs][10c] for middle pair, but Kostritsyn held [As][Jh] for top pair. Marotta’s hand did not improve and he exited the tournament in fifth place.
Peter Ling would wind up as the fourth place finisher when he moved all-in with [As][5s] on a flop of [Ac][Kc][10h]. Michael Chrisanthopoulos called, revealing his [Ad][Kh] for the better hand. After the [9h] fell on the turn, there was no way for Ling to win the hand or even salvage a split, and Ling could only walk away from the table.
Michael Chrisanthopoulos, who had started the day as the chip leader, would finish in third place, Alexander Kostritsyn once again taking care of business. Chrisanthopoulos went all-in prior to the flop with [Ac][6c], and Kostritsyn held [10c][10d]. No help came for Chrisanthopoulos, as the board read [5s][5d][3c][3s][10h]. This left only two competitors remaining, Alexander Kostritsyn and Erik Seidel, who would face each other down in heads-up play.
Kostritsyn held the chip lead entering heads-up play, his stack consisting of 9,925,000 chips to Seidel’s 5,685,000. However, Erik Seidel is a formidable opponent, and the heads-up battle endured for almost two full hours of play. In the final hand, Kostritsyn check-raised Seidel on the flop, who made the call to go all-in. Kostritsyn held [Jh][9h] on a flop of [Jd][8s][7s] for top pair, while Seidel held [As][Qc]. The turn card was the [3h] and the [Kh] landed on the river, giving no help to Seidel, who after a valiant battle fell in second place. Alexander Kostritsyn of Russia was the champion of the 2008 Aussie Millions Main Event.