There’ll be some sore heads in a certain online poker site’s Sydney-based customer support centre after Steven Baker’s victory in the ShaneWarne.com Super Stack event at Crown yesterday.
Cheered on by mates and colleagues, Baker (pictured left) was among the dominant players all day and duly collected the championship trophy after negotiating a deal with Canaan Johnson (second) and Katrina King (third).
The event was a tremendous success, with a field of 606 players including a smattering of pros but mostly comprising enthusiastic amateurs and a significant contingent of 888PL regulars.
Shane Warne popped into the room to congratulate the final table participants and was genuinely thrilled at the big turnout for his first branded event. But when we asked how he’d managed to go from chip leader to the rail inside 15 minutes at the end of day 1A, the spin king went mysteriously quiet!
Day two started with 138 players but the 30-minute levels and lively structure kept everyone on their toes. Notables Antonio Casale, Andrew Watson and Andrew Demetriou ran deep but the lesser lights took the spotlight when the final table of 10 was decided with Baker leading the way on 3.7 million.
The top three placegetters were the dominant players at the final table but it was King’s elimination of John Tuckman in a pot worth seven million that turned the final table on its head. Shortly after she also sent Janine Atkinson to the rail, and with their stacks fairly even, the remaining trio decided to split the lion’s share of the money in the pool.
King finished in third after she shipped the last of her stack with 8-4, while Baker revealed K-3. Both connected the flop of K-86, but the turn Q and river 7 get Baker ahead. Entering the heads-up duel with Canaan Johnson holding about 70 per cent of the chips, it was over on the first hand when Johnson shoved with 10s-8d, and Bakker called. He showed Kd Jc and didn’t need nay help as the board ran out 2h-4s-Ad-7c-4d, ensuring the 31-year-old fraud investigator a spot in Aussie poker history as the first ShaneWarne.com Super Stack champion.
ShaneWarne.com Super Stack final table payouts
1 Steven Baker $35,000
2 Canaan Johnson $22,555
3 Katrina King $14,200
4 Janine Atkinson $11,010
5 John Tuckman $9440
6 Petar Vujic $7865
7 Ben Pockett $6290
8 Jeffrey Harris $4720
9 Chris Whitmee $3150
10 Alex Ung $1890
• Check out PMA’s live reports of the ShaneWarne.com Super Stack below
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