By Landon Blackhall & Jeramie Williams
Another huge day of action at The Star Gold Coast has brought forth two more big winners, with Chad Awerbuch and Marley Wynter adding their names to the WPT Australia honour roll.
The inaugural Shane Warne Memorial One-Dayer – which was extended into a second day due to the unprecedented turnout – saw the popular Sydneysider emerge victorious after defeating Na Wei Segon heads-up for the title and more than $47,000 in prize money.
Awerbuch outlasted a final table that included Star Gold Coast Champs Main Event Champion Jennifer Cassell, Bert Perry and Chris Andreadis to claim the trophy, which he gifted back to the tournament’s co-founder, Scotty Reid, out of respect and solidarity for the event’s namesake: the late, great Shane Warne.
The victory was both deeply sentimental and bittersweet for Awerbuch, who told PokerMedia Australia that he grew up idolising the international cricketing legend as a boy back in South Africa, and how both he and Reid became great friends with him through their shared passion for poker.
“I know how much Warnie meant to all of us,” Awerbuch said. “[After his passing] I sent a message to [Reid], saying how sorry I was for the loss and remember how much of a character he was, and how much he brought to the game.”
“I’m really chuffed with [the win] … it means a lot.”
The $550 buy-in charity event brought in a total of 477 entries and raised almost $24,000 in funds for the Currumbin Wildlife Hospital.
SHANE WARNE ONE-DAYER PERPETUAL FREEZEOUT ($550 buy-in, 477 entries)*
| Place | Name | Country | Amount |
| 1st | Chad Awerbuch | Australia | $47,213 |
| 2nd | Na Wei Segon | Australia | $33,080 |
| 3rd | Mal Chapman | Australia | $21,250 |
| 4th | Bert Perry | Australia | $14,596 |
| 5th | Raymond Ruiz | Australia | $11,210 |
| 6th | Chris Andreadis | Australia | $7,799 |
| 7th | Jennifer Cassell | Australia | $6,249 |
| 8th | Cooper Hassan | Australia | $4,722 |
The eighth day of the series also brought with it Day 2 of the WPT Australia $20,000 buy-in 20th Anniversary Super High Roller, with 22 players returning after the tournament was locked out at 63 entries, generating a total prize pool of $1,197,000.
The Launceston grinder, who now calls Brisbane home, topped a star-studded field of 63 runners to pocket $430,919, which is almost 100 times larger than his previous best score of $4,500 at the APT Sydney Goliath earlier this year.
Wynter praised The Star Gold Coast and the WPT for their continued success and efforts in hosting the series during his post-match interview.
“Full credit to Danny (McDonagh) and the team here from WPT and Star, they’re doing such a great job!” Wynter said. “That was a good field, like a really good field – and the guy I was heads-up with [Khac-Trung Tran], really good, really good.”
“It’s good to see a really big tournament like [WPT Australia] … normally you have to go overseas for something like this, so to see prize pools like this are insane!”
WPT AUSTRALIA 20TH ANNIVERSARY SUPER HIGH ROLLER ($20,000 buy-in, 63 entries, eight players paid)
| Place | Name | Country | Amount |
| 1st | Marley Wynter | Australia | $430,919 |
| 2nd | Khac-Trung Tran | Australia | $253,166 |
| 3rd | Aaron Li | Australia | $158,603 |
| 4th | Brian Kim | Australia | $107,730 |
| 5th | James Mendoza | Australia | $83,790 |
| 6th | Daniel Hachem | Australia | $65,835 |
| 7th | Michael Egan | Australia | $53,865 |
| 8th | Cheng Gu | Australia | $43,092 |
PMA‘s continued coverage of the WPT Australia series resumes tomorrow, with social media updates of the Main Event before returning with Live Reporting for Day 2 of the Mini Main and the $10,000 buy-in High Roller. For more information, including the full schedule and results, visit starpoker.com.au or worldpokertour.com.
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