Congratulations to Rory Young, Winner of Event 6: AU$1,650 8-Game Dealer's Choice (AU$42,720)!
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The first mixed-game event of the 2014 WSOP Asia-Pacific come to a conclusion on Friday with Rory Young claiming gold in Event 6: AU$1,650 8-Game Dealer's Choice.
Three days ago, 89 players took a seat in the first of two mixed-game tournaments to be held at Crown Melbourne, and when it was all done and dusted, a prize pool of AU$133,500 was generated to be awarded to the top nine finishers. Once Day 2 began, only 19 remained, and although the field was stacked with notables, many found their way to the rail before the money.
The second day of action saw Day 1 chip leader Gary Benson bust short of the money, along with Michael Guzzardi, Stuart Rutter, Jeff Gross, and multiple bracelet winners Jeff Madsen and Frank Kassela. Then, local Srdjan Brkic became the bubble boy. After that, it was Shivan Abdine (9th), Michael Wang (8th), and Samuel Ngai (7th) all falling short of the final table.
Young would lead coming into the final table, but he would be up against some formidable company that included Australian poker veterans Sam Khouiss and Jason Gray, youngster David Zhao, and two-time WSOP bracelet winners Brian Rast and Danzer. Danzer would be eyeing at least a fourth-place finish so he could once again snatch back the lead in the WSOP Player of the Year race from Shack-Harris, but things wouldn't quite work out for the German.
Action began with players arriving late, but once the cards were in the air, it would be Khouiss surging out into the chip lead before Danzer was crippled to just 700 in chips. The following hand, Danzer doubled, but on the next hand after that, the German's one pair wasn't enough to keep him alive once Rast rivered quads.
Young took back the lead, then gave it to Rast, then found it back in his possession before Gray's fight with the short stack ended at the hands of Young in 2-7 triple draw when Gray's nine-seven wasn't to defeat Young's eight-six as he fell in fifth place. Zhao would be the next to go and the final table was down to three.
Rast soon was pushed down to the short stack before his final hand occurred when he was all in holding the 
against Young's 
in no-limit hold'em. A six on the flop and on the turn would seal Rast's fate in third, as Young took roughly a 5-3 chip advantage into heads-up play.
From the onset of heads-up play, Young dominated the action as the games switched between pot-limit Omaha and 2-7 triple draw — very similar to how the entire final table played out. Khouiss was pounded down to worse than a 4-1 dog, but the Sydney-sider continued to fight. Unfortunately for him, it just wasn't his day as Young continued to outdraw him in 2-7 triple draw over and over before the final hand played out in pot-limit Omaha.
Khouiss potted the big blind holding the 
, and Young called with his 
. Then, Khouiss called all in with the board reading 
. With Khouiss needing any ace, jack, eight, or seven to stay alive, the river landed the 
to send him to the rail and give the victory to Young.
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rory Young | Australia | AU$42,720 |
| 2 | Sam Khouiss | Australia | AU$26,402 |
| 3 | Brian Rast | USA | AU$18,482 |
| 4 | David Zhao | Australia | AU$13,462 |
| 5 | Jason Gray | Australia | AU$9,904 |
| 6 | George Danzer | Germany | AU$7,399 |
The brash youngster in Young played very controlled and aggressive poker throughout the final table and previous days, and for his efforts will be taking home the coveted WSOP gold bracelet and AU$42,720 in prize money. Congratulations to Young and all the in-the-money finishers for their efforts in this one.
If you still are craving some mixed game action, Event 8: AU$5,000 8-Game Mixed is in full swing on Day 1 (with registration still open) with all updates right here. For the remainder of all the 2014 World Series of Poker Asia-Pacific events, make sure you stay tuned to PokerNews.com as we provide all the updates live from Crown Melbourne!