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Kostritsyn Shows off His Sense of Humor (credit: PokerRu)

Heading into the final table at the 2008 Aussie Million Main Event, folks were talking about Michael Chrisanthopoulos. The 26 year old from Melbourne, commonly referred to as Hachem country since the 2005 WSOP Main Event, had more than 40% of the chips in play. It seemed like an almost foregone conclusion that this former car salesman, who qualified for the tournament via a $120 satellite, would become the first Australian to win the Aussie Millions Main Event.

Of course, many including some of us here at Tourneyblog, thought that the smart money was on Erik Seidel. The 48 year old poker pro is a living legend. With eight WSOP bracelets, he stands behind only three men in that category. Those men are Phil Hellmuth (11), Johnny Chan and Doyle Brunson (each have 10). Runner up to Erick Lindgren at the $100,000 High Roller Event at last year’s Aussie Millions, one can never count Seidel out.

As the action got underway on Sunday, Chrisanthopoulos used his big stack to a solid advantage. He played an aggressive game, dictating the action early on. In fact, Christanthopoulos won five of the first ten pots.

However, Chrisanthopoulos didn’t strike first blood. On hand #9, Russian professional player – and the youngest man at the table, Alexander Kostritsyn eliminated Melbourne’s own Peter Mobbs. Mobbs is 27 and works in the finance industry. On his final hand, Mobbs was dominated by the only European to make it to this point. Mobbs held As,Js and Kostritsyn, whose lovely galpal Daria was cheering him at the tournament, had Ad,Ks. The turn yielded a king and the river was no help to the Aussie. Mobbs said g’day to his table mates and collected his $ (AUD) 225,000 for seventh place.

On hand 13, Erik Seidel doubled through Nino Marotta, another Aussie at the final table. Prior to this event, Marotta’s biggest finish in a tournament was eleventh place in the $240 NLHE w/rebuys event at the 2007 Victorian Championship. A few hands later, Seidel took a nice pot off the chip leader, Chrisanthopoulos. Unfortunately Peter Ling, a 30 year old living just a few miles from the Crown Casino who will swap out his catering career for one in law later on this year, doubled through Seidel on hand #20 bumping Seidel down a bit. Meanwhile, Kostritsyn began to gain on the chip leader, bringing his stack to over 3 million, about half of Chrisanthopoulos’ take.

Kostritsyn would hit pay dirt four hands later by eliminating Antonio Casale, a 67 year old Australian working in propery development, and collecting all of his 2.5 million plus chips. This brought Alexander Kostritsyn within striking distance of Chrisanthopoulos. Kostritsyn claimed the next victim as well, taking out Nino Marotta in fifth place. Soon after, Alexander Kostritsyn took a pot off the chip leader and was sitting at about 6.2 million chips, just 200k behind Chrisanthopoulos.

At this point, the pace slackened off a bit. Seidel tried to bridge the gap between himself and Alexander Kostritsyn, the new chip leader. Chrisanthopoulos, however, didn’t skulk off into the night with his tail between his legs. The Aussie continued to play aggressive poker and remained close to the Russian, even overtaking him several times.

On hand #70, Peter Ling was knocked out by Michael Chrisanthopoulos. The man who elminated Aussie icon, Joe Hachem, from the tournament would claim fifth position and $ (AUD) 500,000 for his efforts.

Unfortunately, everything didn’t come up roses for Chrisanthopoulos at the final table. The dude who has only been playing the game for three years would be hit hard on two key hands. On hand #80, the pro player, who cites Joe Hachem as his ‘idol’, lost a good chunk of change when Erik Seidel doubled through him. Seidel’s set of ducks put him up to nearly 3 million chips and knocked Chrisanthopoulos under 7,000,000. On the very next hand, Alexander Kostritsyn won the biggest pot of the final table against Chrisanthopoulos. The 4,225,000 chips he received put the Russian over 8.4 mil and sent Chrisanthopoulos down to 4,225,000.

Ouch!

Of course, Chrisanthopoulos didn’t let that get him down. He doubled up against Erik Seidel in Hand 92. Unfortunately for the Aussie, the American, who made a name for himself playing at New York’s Mayfair Club with fellas such as Howard Lederer and Dan Harrington, returned the favor a few hands later with a sick suck out. Seidel had pocket queens. Chrisanthopoulos was behind with a J,10. That is until two tens hit on the flop. The turn would prove a cruel mistress for the youngster as it yielded one of the two remaining queens in the deck, giving Seidel a full house, the win and a much-needed chip transfusion.

On hand 108, Chrisanthopoulos doubled through Alexander Kostritsyn. However, it wasn’t enough. Four hands later, Kostritsyn sent him to the rail. The Russian wielded pocket tens in the hole. The Australian would take home an impressive $ (AUD) 700,000 for his third place finish, leaving the American and the Russian to battle for the title.

As the heads-up match-up began, Seidel was at a clear disadvantage with 4.475 million chips to Kostritsyn’s 11.135 mil. The two traded blinds back and forth for a bit. However, Kostritsyn proved that he could more than hold his own against the vet.

Despite relinquishing his chip lead on hand #148, Kostritsyn stayed strong and reclaimed that lead less than ten hands later never to relinquish it again. On the final hand (#178), the Russian put Seidel in after the flop. After nearly two hours of heads-up play, the American called with his A,Q. Kostritsyn was ahead with a pair of jacks and stayed that way. Alexander Kostritsyn is the 2008 Aussie Millions Main Event champ!

Here are the results:

1) Alexander Kostritsyn – $ (AUD) 1,650,000
2) Erik Seidel - $ (AUD) 1,000,000
3) Michael Chrisanthopoulos - $ (AUD) 700,000
4) Peter Ling - $ (AUD) 500,000
5) Nino Marotta - $(AUD) 400,000
6) Antonio Casale - $(AUD) 300,000
7) Peter Mobbs - $(AUD) 225,000

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