David Gorr Wins Aussie Millions Main Event

Australian has survived a late scare, forfeiting a huge chip lead, to fight back from just as big a deficit to finally claim the 2011 Aussie Millions Poker Championship Main Event title after well over 200 hands of heads up play.

Gorr’s title means that the Main Event championship will stay in Australia for a third straight year following victories by locals Stewart Scott (2009) and Tyron Krost (2010). From the very beginning of play things went right for Gorr who started out third in chips on the final table but quickly snatched the lead from Randy Dorfman.

They clashed on just the eleventh hand of the day, with Dorfman opting to limp in from middle position with , only for Gorr to pump it up to 130,000 holding . Dorfman decided to call and they saw a  flop with Gorr firing 200,000 and Dorfman making a hurried check-call. The  hit the turn making Dorfman’s hand and he decided to take the initiative and fired 500,000 into Gorr. The Australian flat called and the river got him home with  arriving in the nick of time.

Both players checked and Dorfman was none too pleased to see Gorr’s hand and decided to let fly with a few choice words. Things went backwards from here for Dorfman as he found himself beaten out of several other pots by various members of the table.

Patrik Antonius decided to give everyone a free lesson on why limping into a pot preflop with  is generally a bad idea. The pro was eliminated in eighth place by David Gorr, after the Aussie was able to get a free look at the flop with . Gorr flopped two pair and he was pretty happy to get all of the chips in against Antonius who would be unable to catch up and was eliminated. Antonius earned $130,000.

Online poker heavyweight Chris ‘Moorman1’ Moorman would also be eliminated by Gorr. The Aussie wielded his big stack against the short-stacked Moorman’s  preflop shove, with Gorr making a call with . The Australian flopped trip tens which would be enough to see of another opponent. Moorman took home $175,000 for seventh.

James Keys would make his first impact of the final table by eliminating Sam Razavi. It would be a preflop all in play by Razavi that would bring him unstuck, after he found his  in against the  that Keys held. No help for Razavi saw him on the rail with an extra $225,000 in his pocket for finishing sixth.

David Gorr’s run contrasted heavily with the day Randy Dorfman had. While Gorr continued to rise, the overnight chip leader Dorfman was steaming as his hopes crumbled. Dorfman seemed to fall apart after losing the early pot to Gorr and found time to complain about the interruption from the television production crew and generally seemed off the boil as the tournament progressed.

Five handed play would see Randy Dorfman’s demise. In a battle of the blinds Dorfman would shove preflop for over a million chips and Gorr made a loose call with . Dorfman’s  looked in good shape right up until the spiked the river. It would be yet another unlucky break for Dorfman against Gorr and he would have to settle for $325,000 for his fifth place finish.

The Gorr show would be momentarily gate-crashed by Jeff Rossiter who moved into second place after taking a big pot from James Keys. Rossiter really stepped up the aggression when he found a chip stack and was regularly three betting and four betting preflop. It would be in one of these situations where Michael Ryan would be eliminated in fourth. Ryan opened to 155,000 and was three bet up to almost half a million chips by Rossiter. Ryan blasted back four-betting to 855,000 and Rossiter didn’t flinch as he set Ryan all in for around two million chips. Ryan called tabling  which would hold the lead against Rossiter’s  until he was betrayed by the  on the river. Ryan earned $450,000 for finishing fourth.

After some jostling in three handed play, David Gorr would be responsible for the elimination of Jeff Rossiter. Rossiter’s final hand saw him open to 180,000, before he was three bet by David Gorr to 550,000. Rossiter made the call with position and the players took a  flop. They both checked and a  fell off on the turn. Gorr checked to Rossiter, who responded with a 720,000 chip bet. He probably was not expecting to be check-raised by Gorr, but that is exactly how it went down, with Gorr upping the price to 1.72 million in chips. Rossiter called. The river was the  and Gorr set Rossiter all in, after some though Rossiter called by would muck his hand when Gorr tabled  for the flush. Rossiter would finish third which earned him $700,000.

Gorr would enter the heads up battle with a massive lead, holding 12,025,000 to Keys’ 2,445,000 in chips. Both players set out to grind the other player out and with neither player willing to concede easily it was always going to be a tedious matchup for the railbirds.

After two hours of passing chips back and forwards Keys put his tournament life on the line with  with a great chance to double through against Gorr’s . Keys would suffer a rollercoaster ride though the hand though, as the flop came  to put Gorr into the lead and on the cusp of victory, before a  hit the turn to making Keys a straight and pushing him to the verge of doubling up. In an almost comical moment the  hit the river to put a straight on the board and force a chopped pot.

Keys didn’t let it phase him though and soon found the chips he desperately needed. In the major hand Gorr made it 250,000 to go preflop with  and Keys called with . A  flop followed and  Gorr made a pitch at getting cute with his flopped flush by checking, and that would ultimately lead to Keys’ double up. Keys checked behind and saw his hand improve to two pair on the turn . This would bring him out with some aggression and he bet 350,000 which Gorr raised to 850,000. Keys called and hit the river  which put trip tens on the board and filled up the Briton’s hand. Both players checked it off and Keys scooped the pot to put heads up in a virtual deadlock.

Despite getting the rub of the green for most of the day, Gorr’s luck deserted him late and he was dealt a crushing blow after running top pair and top kicker into two pair. Gorr would sit in a commanding preflop position with dominating the  that Keys held. A  would reverse the lead though and all of a sudden Keys was sitting pretty with two pair. The Briton fired 350,000 and Gorr came along for the ride, before the turn  saw Keys bet 850,000 and Gorr set him all in for around four million chips. Despite looking uncomfortable Keys made the correct call and Gorr missed the river to double his opponent up and put Keys into an almost unassailable position.

The key word being almost. Gorr refused to submit and just as Keys had done, Gorr fought back from the fringe of being felted. After doubling back a few times and being forced into some defensive plays against Keys, Gorr recaptured the lead when he got  all in against Keys’  and managed to hold up.

With a tenuous two million chip lead Gorr sealed the title by getting reacquainted with the luck that had momentarily deserted him. With James Keys raising preflop, the players saw a  flop. Keys stayed on the front foot betting 275,000 and Gorr check-called. The turn was the  and Keys bet out 665,000 only for Gorr to check-raise to 1,650,000 chips. After some though Keys moved all in and got the response he was looking for – a call from Gorr.

Keys tabled his  for two pair, while the Australian rolled  for a turned top pair. It looked as though Keys would have a massive chip lead again, only for the  to hit him like a freight train on the river. That card would make David Gorr two pair and $2,000,000.

Keys would return home to Britain with over a million dollars in earnings as well, after picking up $1,035,000 for his runner up finish. That may prove cold comfort for a guy who just dropped almost a million dollars on the turn of a card.

It was also a busy day elsewhere in the Crown Poker Room with several other events working towards a close as the 2011 series winds up. Carlos Mortensen would take home the Australian Heads Up Championship with Barry Woods finishing runner up for the second consecutive year in a row. The tournament was played with a new format in 2011. The final four players showed down in a round robin for the title, with Mortenson reigning supreme for $130,000.

At the culmination of the Main Event two other events were still in play with Leo Boxell holding a heads up lead against Simon Charette in the six max event, while 36 players were still alive in the Bounty Event and going strong at around 1AM local time.

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