Qiang Fu Wins the 2019 A$1,100 6-Max at The Star Sydney Champs for A$89,003
In the ninth level of Day 2 of the A$1,100 6-Max here at The Star Sydney Champs, a champion was crowned in Qiang Fu after defeating Tu Tran in an hour-long heads-up battle. Fu claimed the first-place prize of A$89,003 and the beautiful trophy after outlasting the record-breaking 356-strong field.
This cash is Fu’s second-highest live cash ever taking his career winnings to over $400,000 in total. This is only his second tournament win ever after winning one in 2015 in New Zealand. Fu was railed all day by Zhankang Chen after he busted in 14th place himself. The final seven players were combined onto one table with Alex Yazbeck claiming his second final table of the week after finishing in second place in the Turbo.
Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize (AUD) | Prize (USD) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Qiang Fu | Australia | $89,003 | $61,643 |
| 2 | Tu Tran | Australia | $54,995 | $38,089 |
| 3 | Alex Yazbeck | Australia | $38,167 | $26,434 |
| 4 | Michael Oscuro | Australia | $26,810 | $18,568 |
| 5 | Adrian Salter | Australia | $19,057 | $13,199 |
| 6 | John Rosario | Australia | $13,702 | $9,490 |
| 7 | Nauvneel Kashyap | Australia | $9,964 | $6,901 |
A Hectic Start
Thirty players took their seats at 12:30 p.m. local time ready to battle it out in what became one of the most hectic two-hour stints the PokerNews live reporting team has ever seen. In just two hours, the field was reduced to the last nine players. Sam Capra left the feature table in the first hand of the day when he ran his ace-king into the pocket eight of Fu. Michael Doodson started the day as the absolute short stack but managed to grab several pay jumps by doubling up a few times to make it to 8th place in the end for A$9,964.
Connie Graham fell in 26th place when her pocket jacks couldn’t beat the pocket eights of Andrew Miller who had turned a set. Fu also took all of Michael Seymour’s chips when he first shoved on him for Seymour to fold to and to then take the rest a few hands later. Miller himself was eliminated by Tran when his tens failed to win against Tran’s kings.
Fu and Tran Creating Havoc
Fu went on a bit of a rampage when the final two tables were reached, outkicking Yazbeck, eliminating Guangyu Wang, shoving on John Rosario, and so on. But Tran did the same when there were only eight players left eliminating Doodson with aces when the latter held queens, taking down Nauvneel Kashyap with kings when Kashyap held ace-king. Adrian Salter was another one of Tran’s victims as he ran his ace-six into the kings of Tran. Michael Oscuro also busted when his shove with tens was called by Tran who held kings again.
With three left, Yazbeck was the shorter stack and doubled once with aces through Fu but fell to Tran with ace-jack as he was up against Tran’s ace-king. Not enough help on the board meant that Yazbeck won A$38,167 this time which was almost three times as much as his previous final table result. Yazbeck was cheered on by his family members which also included his brother and father who both made the same final table of the Turbo.
Heads-Up Action
Within the first ten minutes of heads-up play, Fu doubled up through Tran when he had flopped a set and all the chips went in. Tran called with the open-ended straight, straight flush, royal flush, and flush draw but bricked the turn and river to be able to win the tournament. Fu took over the chip lead after this monster pot and never really looked back. In the final hand of the day, Tran had flopped top pair when he moved all in and Fu called with the middle pair on the queen-five-deuce flop. Fu turned two pair as the eight fell and no queen or four came on the river to save Tran as he was eliminated. Tran and Fu shook hands, Tran walked to his rail who complimented him on his play, and then made his way to the payout desk while Fu celebrated with Chen and posed for the winner photos.
This concludes the 6-Max coverage but the PokerNews live reporting team will be back on Wednesday, July 31, at 2:15 p.m. local time to bring you all the action from the High Roller tournament.
