The competition in the Australian Poker Open has been as fierce as in Melbourne at the Australian Open tennis. With big names suffering surprise exits, other superstars producing their very best and a little bit of luck sending thousands of Australian dollars one way or the other.
The latest event, the fourth of the series so far, saw Colombian player Farid Jattin win as the $25,000-entry PLO event gave Jattin a massive $290,000 top prize.
With five players cashing, it was always likely to be the quickest of the final tables so far and so it proved as a massive three-way all-in saw a big swing eliminate the current world number one player in tournament poker terms.
George Wolff’s aces won the pot, but while Farid Jattin had more chips than Wolff coming into the hand and thus survived, Alex Foxen only had kings and would depart in fifth place.
With four players left, Hungarian player Andras Nemeth had taken the overall Australian Poker Championship lead – worth a whopping A$100,000 – but he could last no longer, to the relief of his rivals. Nemeth was all-in with a pair of aces and sixes, but Jattin, who had called with ace-jack-eight-six double-suited found the flush on the turn, and no luck came on the river to see Nemeth’s doom-laden proclamation of his own chances (“I have a bad feeling about this.”) brought to fruition.
Three still in the hunt, and another big name would soon bust. George Wolff has become something of a staple at recent PokerGO final tables, especially in Pot Limit Omaha events, and is clearly a man with an almost complete mastery of the variant. He couldn’t make the heads-up in his latest podium finish, however, with his pair of tens with eight-six pre-flop shot down by Jattin’s king-high holding when a king came on the flop and nothing else came to help the sheepish Wolff.
Heads-up would see a clash of the mis-matched stacks, with Jattin looking certain to seal it quickly. The Colombian had 4 million chips to Joni Jouhkimainen’s 350,000 and it didn’t take long for the Finn’s chipstack to be leveled to the roundest number of all.
Jattin won the day with king-high against Jouhkimainen’s jack-high pre-flop, as the Colombian rivered two-pair to triumph.
Jattin was clearly delighted with his victory and told PokerGO after the event:
“There’s a lot of luck in PLO,” he said, “but it felt like I played flawlessly and I’m happy with my performance. I want to represent Colombia properly and I feel like that’s always something I wanted, put the flag up in the sky is amazing to me.”
Jattin took home $290,000 but also grabbed the 300 points for winning the event and has given himself a real shot at winning the overall championship.
Australian Poker Open Event #4 Final Table Results:
| Place | Name | Country | Prize | Points |
| 1st | Farid Jattin | Colombia | $290,000 | 300 |
| 2nd | Joni Jouhkimainen | Finland | $188,500 | 210 |
| 3rd | George Wolff | United States | $116,000 | 150 |
| 4th | Andras Nemeth | Hungary | $72,500 | 120 |
| 5th | Alex Foxen | United States | $58,000 | 90 |
With four events in the can, things are tight at the top of the overall leaderboard. Nemeth now has the lead, as you can see below, but it is a slim one and everyone down to and including 5th place will feel like it is there for the taking. The rest of the top ten know that one event victory could put them right at the top of the leaderboard.
Australian Poker Open Championship Leaderboard Standings:
| Position | Name | Country | Payout | Points |
| 1st | Andras Nemeth | Hungary | $254,100 | 480 |
| 2nd | Mike Watson | Canada | $241,500 | 450 |
| 3rd | Joni Jouhkimainen | Finland | $231,500 | 330 |
| 4th | Timothy Adams | Canada | $416,500 | 300 |
| 5th | Farid Jattin | Colombia | $290,000 | 300 |
| 6th | Stephen Chidwick | United Kingdom | $269,500 | 210 |
| 7th | Orpen Kisacikoglu | Turkey | $157,000 | 210 |
| 8th | Michael O’Grady | Australia | $118,000 | 210 |
| 9th | Najeem Ajez | Australia | $93,600 | 210 |
| 10th | Andy Lee | Australia | $183,750 | 150 |
