Another day, another Australian dollar, or to be precise, 416,500 of them as Timothy Adams became the latest Australian Poker Open event winner at the Star Gold Coast Casino.
With Mike Watson and Andras Nemeth winning the first two events respectively, the pressure was on everyone to take advantage of the no limit hold’em format and book a win in the $25,000-entry Event #3.
The final day kicked off with six players at the PokerGO felt, and the first bust-out came so quickly you might have missed it if you blinked. Aaron Van Blarcum made his all-in stand with ace-three, but ran into the pocket sevens of Britain’s most successful tournament poker player in history, Stephen Chidwick, who held to bust his opponent.
Just a few hands later, the Turkish player Orpen Kisakicoglu was busted when he too ran into the brick wall of Chidwick. Kisacikoglu was committed for all of his chips with ace-queen, but again Chidwick had a simple call with ace-king and the best hand held up once more, denying the Turkish player a podium appearance but guaranteeing him yet more points to strengthen his chances of taking down the APO Championship and that extra $100,000 all the best of the best are chasing.
With Chidwick flying, Steve O’Dwyer attempted to move on the top stacks to make a push for the win. He was unable to do so, however, as he moved all-in with ace-six and was called by the overnight chip leader Andy Lee, the Australian holding ace-queen, which would eventually turn into a flush.
Lee had the hopes of the home rail on his side, but not the luck as another Australian with a big chance of winning an event got so near yet so far. Lee had the chance of victory in his exit hand snatched away from him in the cruellest way imaginable, holding top pair on the turn with Timothy Adams committed with only a king-high flush draw. The draw came in on the river, however, and Lee was out.
Heads-up was no epic duel, with Chidwick and Adams only going into battle for a short period, which might have disappointed many fans. Chidwick’s performances in 2019 saw him make the final four of the Players Choice for Toughest Opponent category of the Global Poker awards, where the British end boss will take on Michael Addamo, Kahle Burns and former Poker Masters Purple Jacket winner, Ali Imsirovic.
Adams had control of heads-up on the night, however, and in just a handful of hands, had his hands on the trophy. With the final hand seeing Adams’ pocket sevens hold against Chidwick’s ace-five, the third event winner was confirmed.
As Canadian player Adams told Poker Central after the event,
“This final table was really tough with all guys I’m used to playing against. At the high stakes you play mainly against all the same players and those guys are all really great and I’m very happy that I won. To win a tournament a lot of things have to go your way and today that happened to me.”
Australian Poker Open Event #3 $25,000 NLHE results:
| Place | Player | Country | Prize | Points |
| 1st | Timothy Adams | Canada | $416,500 | 300 |
| 2nd | Stephen Chidwick | United Kingdom | $269,500 | 210 |
| 3rd | Andy Lee | Australia | $183,750 | 150 |
| 4th | Steve O’Dwyer | Ireland | $122,500 | 120 |
| 5th | Orpen Kisacikoglu | Turkey | $98,000 | 90 |
| 6th | Aaron Van Blarcum | United States | $73,500 | 60 |
| 7th | Chino Rheem | United States | $61,250 | 60 |
After three events, Mike Watson and Andras Nemeth are both looking over their shoulders at the rise of Timothy Adams, with his heads-up opponent from Event #3 Stephen Chidwick not too far behind him.
Current Australian Poker Open leaderboard standings:
| Position | Name | Country | Payout | Points |
| 1st | Mike Watson | Canada | $241,500 | 450 |
| 2nd | Andras Nemeth | Hungary | $181,600 | 360 |
| 3rd | Timothy Adams | Canada | $416,500 | 300 |
| 4th | Stephen Chidwick | United Kingdom | $269,500 | 210 |
| 5th | Orpen Kisacikoglu | Turkey | $157,000 | 210 |
| 6th | Michael O’Grady | Australia | $118,000 | 210 |
| 7th | Najeem Ajez | Australia | $93,600 | 210 |
| 8th | Andy Lee | Australia | $183,750 | 150 |
| 9th | Benjamin Shannon | Australia | $82,600 | 150 |
| 10th | Steve O’Dwyer | Ireland | $122,500 | 120 |
