Congratulations Josh Foster, Stacked Poker Championships Main Event Champion – $86,000!
After a truly stellar final table performance, Josh Foster has been confirmed as our 2024 Main Event Champion!
Foster came in to today placed in mid position with 1.5mil in chips. Finding the right spots to commit his chips, he seemed confident in the win and is pleased to add this to his resume.
Chatting with us after the event, Foster tells us that this is his first Main Event win after playing poker for 14 years now. Of course it’s not his first win, but definitely will be remembered as the first Main Event win. Foster, a business manager, who hails from Melbourne, is a regular on the poker circuit around Australia and can often be found at big tournaments.
Foster is over the moon with this win and we here at PMA congratulate him on this success!
2nd Place: Aditya Rao – $55,000
In probably one of the fastest final tables we’ve ever seen we already have our winner just 3 and a half hours after commencing Day 3.
Aditya Rao bumped it up to 150,000 in the big blind. Foster didn’t waste a second before making the call. The flop was dealt –
Board: 4♦3♥J♣
Rao threw in a bet of 150,000 with a swift call from Foster. The turn came the 10♣. Check. Check. River: 9♠. Rao made it 450,000. Foster goes all in and we go into the tank with Rao…
7 minutes later…
A call from Rao. Showing his K♦Q♠ Foster stands as Rao tables J♠9♦ and Foster fist pumps the air “YEAH!” for the win. And just like that we have a winner.
Congratulations Aditya on a stellar run!
3rd Place: Brett Rovere – $31,000
Coming in to be the first on the podium in 3rd place is Brett Rovere. Brett has been a formidible opponent throughout this whole tournament carrying the chip lead through from Day 1A and remaining in the top 5 heading in to Day 2. Heading in to the final table as chip leader, unfortunately Rovere couldn’t find a groove and is eliminated in 3rd.
Putting all of his stack into the middle holding K♦J♦ against Josh Foster’s A♦10♥, the board didn’t deliver any good news for Rovere (A♥3♦9♠9♥3♣)and we are now down to a final 2.
Congratulations Brett!
3 to go!
| Name | Chips |
| Aditya Rao | 6,400,000 |
| Josh Foster | 4,600,000 |
| Brett Rovere | 1,000,000 |
4th Place: Robert Damelian – $24,000
Rob Spano stands on the sidelines chanting “Boooooo!” as Robert Damelian’s All In is called. Damelian is at risk against the every growing stack of Aditya Rao.
Damelian: K♠Q♦
Rao: A♥K♦
Board: 9♣2♥6♠6♥5♥
With no improvement on the board, Damelian, always a gentleman, stands and shakes each players hand as he leaves the table. Thanking them for the game.
Rovere’d
Brett Rovere was down to his last 625,000 when an opportunity arose. Looking down at pocket 6s, Rovere raises to 100,000. Rao throws in a three bet before Rovere shoves his remaining in to the pot and a call from Rao.
Rovere: 6♠6♥
Rao: K♣Q♣
Board: 7♣4♣A♦9♠A♥
While it was a sweat on the flop, Rovere’s sixes make it through to double up.
| Name | Chips |
| Aditya Rao | 5,300,000 |
| Brett Rovere | 1,200,000 |
5th Place: Laurence Hall – $20,000
The reign of the pocket Jacks in this tournament continues as we see Laurence Hall knocked out in 5th place.
Josh Foster opened for 100,000 under the gun. Following a round of folding, Hall slowly peels his cards and then announces all in.
Hall: 9♦8♦
Foster: J♥J♣
Board: 9♠7♥10♠5♥K♣
4 remain.
6th Place: Milan Mehta – $16,384
And we’re back! The scene is heating up here with a rail starting to form. The Sydney boys cheering on the Sydney boys and the Adelaide crew keeping the banter real.
6 minutes into this level already and we say farewell to Milan Mehta. Having already lost an earlier hand to Aditya Rao, Mehta found himself clashing again with Rao.
Mehta: A♣9♥
Rao: 5♥5♣
“It’s a 9 in the window!” An “oooooo” can be heard most likely down in Adelaide city as an Ace hits the flop too, slightly catching Mehta up to the set of 5s that Rao holds. But the final cards deal the final blow and Mehta is sent to the rail.
Board: 5♠A♥9♣Q♣3♥
Level 25: 25,000/50,000 (50,000) >
Level 26: 30,000/60,000 (60,000)
Break time
Players are on a 10 minute break. When we return, the stream will be in action on the Stacked Poker Twitch Channel.
Damelian Doubles Down
The shortest stack on the table, Robert Damelian, with approximately 350,000, makes the move for all of his stack and is at risk against Josh Foster.
Damelian: A♠Q♠
Foster: J♣10♣
Board: J♥6♠6♦A♥3♥
Damelian finds that much needed double up.
10 minutes later…
Another All In from Damelian. This time up against Brett Rovere. Chips in the middle pre-flop.
Damelian: A♥J♥
Rovere: K♥Q♥
Board: 4♥8♣6♥8♠5♣
With Damelian doubling down twice now, he is back to a healthy stack and sitting comfortably.
| Name | Chips |
| Robert Damelian | 1,465,000 |
Battle of the Big Stacks
Milan Mehta and Aditya Rao hold the majority of chips between them and the table is heavily stacked up the northern end. Brett Rovere put in an initial raise of 100,000. With Rao bumping it up to 350,000 and then Mehta raising again to 850,000. Rao tanks for a while before making the call. The dealer stacks it up and we go to a flop.
Board: 4♥6♠9♦
Rao is first to act and checks it to Mehta. Mehta puts in a bet of 350,000. Rao calls. The pot now up to 2.6 mil.
Turn: 8♠
Another check from Rao. Followed by a check from Mehta.
River: 7♠
Rao this time decides on a bet to 260,000. Mehta contemplates the decision before making the call. Rao tables Q♠Q♥ and Mehta relinquishes his cards face down.
| Name | Chips |
| Aditya Rao | 3,400,000 |
| Milan Mehta | 1,150,000 |
7th Place: Joshua Kelty – $13,000
Again struggling to keep up here at the PMA reporting desk, and continually being called to the table for an All In: Call. At this rate we may not have a final table left to stream for you.
Joshua Kelty is eliminated in 7th place after clashing with Milan Mehta. Ahead pre-flop with pocket 10s (10♦10♥) and heading to the races against Mehta’s A♦Q♦ the spread of cards are revealed –
Board: 3♠2♣Q♥2♥K♣
With that Queen being placed on board, Kelty stands, thanks his opponents and heads to the cashier.
8th Place: Yang Lei – $10,000
After being crippled earlier on against Aditya Rao, Yang Lei found himself short stacked and having to find a spot to commit the rest of his wealth. Finding that spot didn’t take long and Lei comes up against Rao again and finds himself behind in the race. All the action happened pre-flop and the dealer laid out the board.
Lei: A♠4♠
Rao: K♥K♣
Board: 10♦J♦9♥J♣7♥
And we lose another one. 7 remain.
9th Place: Matthew Spratt – $7,500
Matthew Spratt is the first player eliminated from the final table in 9th Place. Foster opened in mid position to 100,000. Spratt raised it up to 250,000. It was Foster that jammed but Spratt at risk with a stack of about 950,000 when he called and the cards were turned.
Spratt: J♠J♦
Foster: A♦K♣
Board: 4♣8♣7♠4♦K♠
Rao takes one from Lei
Things have calmed down a bit here in the poker room and we are able to catch up and observe. The final table have taken their seats and the first big battle we see is between Yang Lei and Aditya Rao. Arriving we see the board read out –
Board: A♦5♣5♥K♦
Rao makes a bet of 630,000 leaving just 100,000 behind. After taking some time in the tank, Lei makes the call putting in most of his green chips. Rao tables the J♦5♦ for a flopped trips and Lei throws his cards to the muck.
FINAL TABLE
We have hit a final table! Stay tuned as Stacked Poker comes to you with a stream very shortly!
| Seat | Name | Chips |
| 1 | Aditya Rao | 1,360,000 |
| 2 | Milan Mehta | 2,055,000 |
| 3 | Joshua Kelty | 945,000 |
| 4 | Laurence Hall | 1,695,000 |
| 5 | Joshua Foster | 1,585,000 |
| 6 | Robert Damelian | 565,000 |
| 7 | Matthew Spratt | 1,055,000 |
| 8 | Yang Lei | 1,030,000 |
| 9 | Brett Rovere | 2,160,000 |
10th Place: Elliot Esca – $5,500
It’s only taken 35 minutes to get to our final table as Elliot Esca is the Final Table Bubble. Coming up against Joshua Kelty’s pocket 8♦8♥, Esca unfortunately couldn’t find any help on the table with his J♠7♠.
Board: K♥6♠6♣8♣ ‘brick’
11th Place: Khim Hii – $5,500
PMA’s reporter is struggling to keep up as the dealers continue to call out “All In, Call”. We run over to catch the action from Table 2. Khim Hii is all in, but it’s actually Laurence Hall at risk here as Hii has him only just covered.
Hii: A♣J♥
Hall: A♥K♥
Board: 2♦6♣Q♠10♠Q♦
As Hall takes this one, Hii is left with just 15,000 behind which goes into the pot the very next hand which also gets passed to Hall.
12th Place: Behrang Geravard – $5,500
The second to fall today is Behrang Geravard and the chips fall in the direction of Matthew Spratt. This time it’s Spratt with the Aces and this time they hold.
Geravard: A♠9♠
Spratt: A♣A♥
Board: 5♦3♣3♠A♦4♦
13th Place: Higor Seibel – $4,500
Adelaide local Higor Seibel is the first player to be eliminated in today’s event. Seibel originally hailing from Brazil, now calls Adelaide home and has an impressive record of wins. His most recent being just down the road in Hahndorf in the High Roller Event in November last year. Seibel also was crowned winner of the Stacked Poker Deepstacks Main Event in October last year. This adds to his growing resume and we will be sure to see more of him.
For those watching at home – here is the play…
Seibel: A♦10♦
Brett Rovere: K♥K♠
Board: 3♥5♦3♠9♥2♣
Diamond’s are Spratt’s best friend
Matthew Spratt is one of the quieter achiever’s here in the Main Event. Coming in to today with 730,000, he is the first to go all in. A call by Aditya Rao and the dealer spreads the cards.
Spratt: 6♣6♥
Rao: A♣A♥
Board: A♦K♦5♦4♦
Spratt stood up about when the A♦ appeared in the window to take his leave but when the river card falls 3♦, he resumed his place with a sigh of relief as the dealer chops it up.
Cards are in the air!
The ‘Chairman’ has uttered those words, Shuffle up and deal and we are live!
The final 13 players are currently at Level 23: 15,000/30,000 (30,000) and today will play down until a winner is found.
Amongst those still in the running is Yang Lei, Queenslander, who recently won the APLPT Centurion in early January for $83,650, Local Adelaide resident Elliot Esca who came 24th in this event last year and looking to better it this year, and newcomer Khim Lii, who may have only started player poker about 6 months ago, but is already making waves.
Follow along here for all of the action as we bring you the latest coolers, knock outs and eventual winner.
Level 23: 15,000/30,000 (30,000) >
Level 24: 20,000/40,000 (40,000)
SEAT DRAW
The Stacked Poker Championships Main Event will return at 3pm ACDT today.
13 players remain. Who will emerge victorious? Stay tuned here for updates throughout this afternoon.
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