THE PMA BLOG: APT Brisbane’s State of Origin

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Western Australia defends!

Over a decade has passed since the State Of Origin teams tournament was last played. On that occasion, eleven whole years ago, the tournament was won by Western Australia, with Dale Marsland as the Vice-captain.

Today, Marsland returned, with a new team of hopefuls, and after three tough shootouts proved once again that Western Australia had what it takes to top the tables.

“I told you Travis would carry us!” said one Westralian (we couldn’t discern which one over the cheers as they posed for photos) – and whilst Endersby’s massive 40.5 individual points, good enough for Player Of Origin, were certainly significant, the WA team as a whole racked up a mammoth 132 points, well clear of second place finishers NSW.

For their efforts, Western Australia will take home the lions share of the pot; $110,000 to share between the team with an additional $16,000 to Endersby for his Player Of Origin title.

State Of Origin 2024 – State Leaderboard

State	Total
Western Australia	132
New South Wales	107
South Australia	100
Queensland	93
International	93
Victoria	90
New Zealand	78
China-International	18

Round 3 table results

Feature Table – Captains Shootout

Place	State	Player	Points
1	SA	Jonathan Karamalikis	15
2	WA	Dale Marsland	10.5
3	NSW	Didier Guerin	7
4	QLD	Alex Lynskey	4
5	INT	Angel Guillen	2
6	NZL	Hamish Crawshaw	1
7	VIC	Joe Hachem	0
8	CHN-Int	Quan Zhou	0

Table 1

Place	State	Player	Points
1	WA	Corey Van Jaarsveldt	15
2	NZL	Thomas Ward	10.5
3	VIC	Luke Martinelli	7
4	SA	Anthony Xu	4
5	QLD	Romain Morvan	2
6	NSW	Jarrod Thatcher	1

Table 2

Place	State	Player	Points
1	NSW	Robert Spano	15
2	QLD	Corey Kempson	10.5
3	NZL	Sosia Jiang	7
4	SA	Roman Priplotski	4
5	WA	Damien Stanley	2
6	INT	Andres Vasquez	1

Table 3

Place	State	Player	Points
1	QLD	Gary Lin	15
2	NZL	Ryan Henry	10.5
3	WA	Sam Jeffries	7
4	SA	Joe Sandaev	4
5	VIC	Sean Ragozzini	2
6	NSW	Cooper Feltham	1

Table 4

Place	State	Player	Points
1	INT	Adrian Sportelli	15
2	WA	Travis Endersby	10.5
3	SA	Higor Siebel	7
4	CHN	Dong Chen	4
5	QLD	Martin Ward	2
6	VIC	Daniel Hachem	1

Table 5

Place	State	Player	Points
1	NSW	Adam Kharman	15
2	INT	Rehman Kassam	10.5
3	NZL	Paul Hockin	7
4	VIC	Andrew Bogut	4
5	WA	Dean Cox	2
6	SA	Chris Edgar	1

*Crowd favourite Corey Van Jaarsveldt won his third table, in his part of a WA team victory*

Karamalikis swings high

After confirming that securing third was enough to secure second for his team, NSW’s Didier Guerin was eliminated soon after, setting up a heads up match between Jonathan Karamalikis and West Australia’s Dale Marsland.

Both effectively playing an exhibition match at this late hour – where the results are confirmed and the points don’t matter – the chips found themselves into the middle in short order, with Marsland holding Q♣4♠ up against the A♥10♥ of Karamalikis.

The former online poker pro from South Australia, who had come out of retirement for this tournament, had Marsland covered nearly two to one, and after the board ran out with a nut flush for Karamalikis, it was all over.

The players are gathering for awards, photos, and other congratulations – we’ll bring a full list of results for you shortly after!

NSW bests QLD

As the Captains Table wound to a close, it became clear that something in the result was important; a long tank from a clearly agonised Didier Guerin (NSW) with A♠8♣ before folding his big blind preflop, only for Jonathan Karamalikis (SA) to needle, tabling the 4♥3♦ in his face.

Guerin would prove to be a genius, however, as Alex Lynskey (QLD) found himself all-in and at risk with 9♠7♣ moments later, shoving and being called by the K♠10♠ of WA Captain Dale Marsland in the big blind.

Both players would completely miss on the runout, with King high for Marsland ensuring the elimination of Lynskey – and moments later, it was confirmed that elimination and the extra points it gave Guerin were enough to guarantee NSW second place, with WA having already locked up the tournament by a clear margin a long time ago.

*Team NSW have finished in second place*

For Marsland – it’s special. The WA Captain has not just captained a successful defence but was also proudly part of the WA State Team that LAST won this event over a decade ago. Marsland is one of the three remaining players though; can he become a Team Captains shootout champion as well?

Endersby confirmed Player Of Origin

After both Romain Morvan and Travis Endersby won their first two tables, it became very much a last longer between the two for the Player Of Origin title and bonus $16,000 prize that came with it.

We have now received confirmation that, even though play still continues on the feature table, ALL of the outside tables have been completed. Romain Morvan was eliminated in 5th place on his table, securing 2 more points for 32points total and meaning Endersby had to make the points to take it out.

Adam Kharman (NSW) would then take an outstanding second shootout victory of his own, after winning HIS first table and taking 4th place in the second round, to eclipse Morvan and momentarily take the lead, with a total of 34points.

*Adam Kharman took the lead momentarily*

That wasn’t the end for Endersby, oh no. Endersby proceeded to go almost all the way – making it to heads up for the third time in succession to find himself up against the raucous Adrian Sportelli (INT). Sportelli, who won HIS first table as well, would then achieve a first for anyone today – beat Endersby – to take his second table victory and finish on 30points (the second round for Sportelli, not so good).

Endersby’s two wins and one second place combined to give him a total of 40.5points – a CLEAR win over the rest of the field.

For the stylish Westralian, it’s yet another accolade to add to his growing list of accomplishments. Congratulations Travis Endersby!

Didier did something!

Didier Guerin, when speaking to PokerMedia Australia‘s Ben Blaschke earlier this week, explained to us that he had wanted to revive State Of Origin several years ago. He also added that after working and collaborating on the concept with Tony Hachem and APT over the last few months – whilst deferring that it was “Tony’s baby” and acknowledging how important it clearly was to the Hachem family – he felt that it was also “partly, in a very minor way, my baby too now”.

Eliminated early in the first two rounds for a total of zero points, Guerin was on his feet and celebrating before, albeit at the expense of Joe Hachem, after Quan Zhou (CHN-Int) and subsequently Hachem (VIC) were eliminated – guaranteeing Guerin at least 1 point for NSW today.

At the time of writing, he’s still celebrating.

The State Of Origin concept has clearly been a success so far; the team camaraderie is apparent to anyone watching the stream, as you can hear the rail from eliminated team mates getting behind their survivors throughout the entire tournament.

It’s just one, however, of a bumper selection of tournaments that Australian Poker Tour have bought to Brisbane. Tomorrow at 6.30pm, the first event of The Lords Poker Tour will kick off; the TLPT Opening Event ($7,500 buyin) carries a $500K guarantee, 250K starting stack, 40 minute levels with late registration until the start of Day 2.

The Decider

It just wouldn’t be Origin if it didn’t go down to Round Three. As previously mentioned, the Feature Table will be full of genuine powerhouses of poker.