David Tang Wins Inaugural WPT Australia

In case you missed it, the first-ever World Poker Tour Main Event on Australian soil was held this week. The WPT Australia Main Event took place at the Star Gold Coast in Queensland and concluded on Tuesday. The event was won by poker cash game pro David Tang.

Ironically, Tang wasn’t going to play at to the event as he wanted to be in Melbourne to watch the AFL Final but was unable to cancel his flight. This proved fortuitous as Tang won the event and the largest prize of his tournament poker career.

World Poker Tour Holds First Australian Event

The World Poker Tour has finally held its first-ever Main Event in Australia. The inaugural WPT Australia ran from September 23 – 27 at the Star Gold Coast in Queensland. Organizers called this event a huge success as 710 entries created a prize pool of approximately A$3.5 million.

After four days of play, the final six players came back on Tuesday to play for the top prize of A$647,470. Four Australians were at the final table. China and Japan were also represented.

De Kun Li was the first elimination from the final table. He ran A-6 suited into the pocket kings of Daisuke Ogita. The board failed to produce an ace or a flush, and Li took home a prize of AUD$174,480.

The 27th hand of the final table saw the elimination of Josh Hutchins. He was all-in pre-flop with Kc-9d and ran into Ac-5c of Naj Ajez. The board failed to produce a king, and Hutchins left to collect a prize of A$174,480.

Daisuke Ogita was eliminated in the 69th hand of the final table. He went all in with A-K, but unfortunately ran into the pocket aces of Po Ho. An uneventful board resulted in Ogita collecting a prize of A$231,505.

Three-handed play continued for an exceptionally long time. It wasn’t until hand 187 that we finally saw Naj Ajez sent to the rail. Ajez was all-in pre-flop with A-5 and had the A-4 of Po Ho dominated. Po was drawing to a four. Amazingly, Po caught fours on both the flop and the river to knock Ajez out in third place, earning him $310,675.

David Tang Wins WPT Australia

At the start of heads-up play, Po Ho had an 11 BB lead over David Tang. However, Tang managed to double-up in the first hand of heads-up play to take a massive chip lead. One hand later, the event was decided.

Tang shoved all-in with Kd-10d, and Ho called with Ac-8c. Tang had to improve to win the title. The flop produced two diamonds to give Tang a flush draw. The turn was an Ace, but it was the Ace of diamonds, giving Tang the nut flush and his first WPT title. Po Ho finshes runner-up to win A$421,635.

David Tang won his first World Poker Tour title and the largest score of his tournament poker career. He earned A$647,470 (USD$425,712).

Amazingly, Tang wasn’t even supposed to be at the event. He was trying to watch the Australian Football League final. As he told WPT reporters, “To be honest, I was actually trying to cancel my flight here because I wanted to watch the (Australian Football League) Grand Final in Melbourne, but they wouldn’t give us a refund on our flights, so it just all worked out.”

If you haven’t heard of David Tang before, that’s not surprising. He normally plays cash games and hasn’t played a poker tournament in two years. However, as he states, “I just heard it was going to be a big tournament. I figured a lot of people from Australia were going to be here, so it seemed like a good chance to catch up with people that I hadn’t seen in a while and a few of the Melbourne guys as well.” Now that Tang has won his first major poker title, perhaps we will see more of him at the tournament tables.