Congratulations to Minh Nguyen, Winner of the 2014 APPT Auckland Main Event (NZ$111,600)!
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Minh Nguyen was always going to be very hard to beat today.
He began the APPT Auckland final table with a giant chip lead and as expected, the highly-regarded Australian poker pro used those chips to try and steam roll over his eight opponents.
It was working too, as he played a part in several of the eliminations before beginning heads-up play against Thomas Ward with a big chip lead.
Then the tides turned and Ward chipped away until he was in front.
And that's when things got interesting as the two player's agreed to a deal and then to blindly flip for the title and an extra NZ$10,000.
It was at this point that it looked like Ward was going to win.
As agreed upon, the two players had gone all in without looking at their cards and Ward had Nguyen at risk with the worst hand. But Nguyen won the flip and despite Ward clawing back with double ups over the next two hands, Nguyen ended up claiming the final all-in and that was enough to win the title and the NZ$111,600 top prize.
Nguyen was clearly elated with the win, celebrating with several friends on the rail including his brother Edison Nguyen. That name might sound familiar and that's because Edison is a champion of poker in this region too. He won ANZPT Melbourne just a few months ago.
At no point in Asia-Pacific Poker Tour / Australia New Zealand Poker Tour history has there been brothers who have both won title. That changed today.
Long before Nguyen was crowned the champion, eight players had to hit the rail and this is how it played out:
Considering he came into the final table with under five big blinds, it perhaps wasn��t too surprising that Stephen Thompson was the first player eliminated. Thompson collected NZ$12,500 for the ninth-place finish.
It wouldn��t take too long to lose another player and this time it wasn��t a short stack who hit the rail, it was the third largest stack in Ben Rendall. The eighth place was worth NZ$16,500 to Rendall.
With the elimination of Rendall, Nguyen had around 2.5 million in chips, which was more than half the chips in play and almost 2 million more than any other player during seven-handed action.
It was looking it was Nguyen��s mission to run over the table single-handedly, but then Thomas Ward sent Dean Blatt home in seventh place to see a different player win some chips.
Just a short while later it was Jesse McKenzie��s turn to send a player to the rail and this time it was Michael Guzzardi who was eliminated. Guzzardi pocketed NZ$26,500 for that sixth-place effort and ushered in five-handed play.
Nguyen may not have dealt the blows to Blatt and Guzzardi, but he was still the most active at the final table and was continuing to dominate during five-handed play. Then Nguyen sent Sam Williams home in fifth place when Williams turned two pair and Nguyen turned a straight and the domination continued.
When four-handed play began, Nguyen had almost 70% of the chips in play and didn��t look like he was going to slow down any time soon. In fact, Nguyen would once again send a player to the rail, this time dealing the blow to McKenzie in fourth place. McKenzie got his stack in preflop with 
and couldn��t compete against Nguyen��s 
. McKenzie took home NZ$38,000 for that result.
Just a few minutes after McKenzie hit the rail and William Rogers was eliminated in third place. Rogers got his short stack all in with 
and was in good shape against Ward��s 
, but when Ward made two pair and Rogers didn��t improve his hand, it was all over with NZ$47,100 for his time.
Ward managed to pick up some chips with the elimination of Rogers, but would go into the heads up battle against Nguyen with a 3-1 chip deficit. However, Ward still had around 70 big blinds and so had plenty of play to try and chip away at Nguyen. And that��s exactly what he did as within 90 minutes Ward had moved into the lead.
It was at this point that Nguyen and Ward decided to do a deal. Ward had just a little more in his stack than Nguyen and so would lock up NZ$104,000. Nguyen, meanwhile, was guaranteed NZ$101,600. That left NZ$10,000 for the eventual winner and the two players decided to flip for it as they would proceed to go all in, without looking at their cards, until there was a winner.
It would take just four hands of the flip fest for the tournament to be over. Nguyen first got lucky when he made a straight with 
against Ward��s 
. Then Ward won two hands in a row to almost square things up before Nguyen won the final hand of the tournament, once again getting lucky to see his 
make two pair to trump Ward��s 
.
Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Prize (NZD) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Minh Nguyen | $111,600* |
| 2 | Thomas Ward | $104,000* |
| 3 | William Rogers | $47,100 |
| 4 | Jesse McKenzie | $38,000 |
| 5 | Sam Williams | $31,500 |
| 6 | Michael Guzzardi | $26,500 |
| 7 | Dean Blatt | $21,500 |
| 8 | Ben Rendall | $16,500 |
| 9 | Stephen Thompson | $12,500 |
*Denotes heads-up deal
Well, that wraps up another season of the Asia Pacific Poker Tour!
Our thanks go out to APPT President Danny McDonagh and the APPT's Sam Dawson for another great tournament. We would also like to thank the staff at SKYCITY Auckland Casino in New Zealand for hosting the event.
There are now a couple of months break for major tournaments in this region. But that just means there is plenty of time to prepare for the next event on the APPT - the Aussie Millions Main Event. Safe and happy holidays to all the players from Australasia and we look forward to seeing everyone again for Season 9 of the Asia Pacific Poker Tour and the next round of ANZPT events.