After a gruelling 13-hour day and a relentless final table battle, Alex Markopoulos emerged victorious and claimed his first major title, defeating Mata Ye heads-up in the Stacked Poker Championship Super High Roller.
The relative newcomer, who has only recorded two other results on The Hendon Mob up until the early hours of Saturday morning, defeating a record field of 98 entries to win the $100,000 guaranteed first prize.
The result also eclipsed Markopoulos’ previous best, which was a $10,000 payday after he finished seventh in the Stacked Poker Championship Main Event last May.
The final table of the $4,000 buy-in tournament also featured Australian Poker Hall of Famers Gary Benson and Jono Karamalikis, along with Melburnian Marco Perri, who is quickly making a name for himself in the Aussie poker scene with a string of deep runs in recent months.
STACKED POKER CHAMPIONSHIP SUPER HIGH ROLLER ($4,000 buy-in, 98 entries, 12 players paid)
| Place | Name | Amount |
| 1st | Alex Markopoulos | $100,000 |
| 2nd | Mata Ye | $67,000 |
| 3rd | Marco Perri | $38,600 |
| 4th | Gary Benson | $32,300 |
| 5th | Jono Karamalikis | $27,000 |
| 6th | David Sun | $21,600 |
| 7th | P.P. Huang | $18,000 |
| 8th | Jin Li | $14,400 |
| 9th | Pierre Aoukar | $11,800 |
| 10th | Garry Lin | $9,425 |
| 11th | Emanuel ‘Curly’ Seal | $9,425 |
| 12th | Gavin Best | $9,425 |
Last night also saw the completion of the first of three Main Event flights, with 25 players having bagged up after Day 1A was locked out at 70 total entries. Truc La finished the night as overall chip leader, bagging up 32,000, with Yoon Kang with 315,000.
Nick Borrillo (210,000), Jin Li (199,500) and Ben Tieu (195,000) rounded out the top five; previous Main Event Champions Michael Haddad and Joe Sandaev have also advanced to Day 2, along with Australian Poker Hall of Famer Billy ‘The Croc’ Argyros and reigning GPI Australian Player of the Year, Yita Choong.
STACKED POKER CHAMPIONSHIP MAIN EVENT: DAY 1A CHIP COUNTS (70 entries, 25 survivors)
| Name | Chips |
| Truc La | 329,000 |
| Yoon Kang | 315,000 |
| Nick Borrillo | 210,000 |
| Jin Li | 199,500 |
| Ben Tieu | 195,000 |
| Michael Haddad | 172,500 |
| Ryan Hong | 166,000 |
| Huey Lam | 159,000 |
| Kenny Wang | 157,500 |
| Jamie Pham | 150,000 |
| Mike Gainer | 145,500 |
| Joe Sandaev | 133,500 |
| Adam Cusenza | 129,000 |
| Chris Edgar | 126,000 |
| Yita Choong | 108,500 |
| Tony Xu | 103,000 |
| Mata Ye | 96,000 |
| Billy ‘The Croc’ Argyros | 94,000 |
| Manny Rodriguez | 89,000 |
| Max Chea | 87,000 |
| Elliott Esca | 81,000 |
| Armon Van Wijk | 74,000 |
| Hayden Russell | 68,500 |
| Mitchell Reid | 58,000 |
| Jerry Zhang | 49,000 |
The Stacked Poker Championship Main Event continues today with a Day 1 double-header; follow PokerMedia Australia’s Live Reporting coverage by clicking here.
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