It took an extra day, but we eventually we have a champion here at the Australian Poker Open.
The Trojan attracted 68 entries but in the end it was Mexico’s Bernardo Del Toro who came out on top, winning A$220,000 after defeating Daniel Veljkovic heads-up.
Australian Poker Open The Trojan Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Payout (AUD) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bernardo Del Toro | Mexico | $220,000 |
| 2 | Daniel Veljkovic | Australia | $144,000 |
| 3 | Mostafa Haidary | Australia | $89,200 |
| 4 | Ehsan Amiri | Australia | $62,000 |
| 5 | Marcial Dias | Australia | $46,000 |
| 6 | Andy Lee | Australia | $33,000 |
| 7 | Sean Ragozzini | Australia | $25,000 |
| 8 | Benjamin Bottles | Australia | $20,000 |
Winner’s Recap
Del Toro has only been in the country for a week and already has a tournament victory. Having never been before, he was invited by Mexican player Angel Guillen to discover the country some more.
“I’ve never been here before,” he told PokerNews. “I’m gonna be here for a month and it’s gonna be such an amazing time. [The victory] is kind of a weird feeling. I think it’s going to take a while for me to really let it sink in.”
The tournament returned for an extra day, something that Del Toro admitted helped him after feeling exhausted towards the end of Day 2.
“It was a very good structure. I max late-reg’d because I like to play short stack. There were some cash game players who definitely would have had an edge on me deepstacked.
“The quality of the organization is top notch. It’s as good as Vegas if not better! The environment and the people is way better.”
“They stopped the tournament yesterday, and everyone was exhausted. I was taking such a long time on every decision and having the chance to refresh made it easy going to finish the tournament today.”
Meanwhile, the Mexican had nothing but praise for Australian Poker Open organisers.
“The quality of the organization is top notch. It’s as good as Vegas if not better! The environment and the people is way better. You can tell by far that people here enjoy the game. It’s not such a gambling vibe, there’s a competitive vibe and I really like that.”
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Final Day Recap
Del Toro came into the last day second in chips but level with both Ehsan Amiri and Daniel Veljkovic in the middle of the pack.
Short stack Marcial Dias was eliminated on the second hand of the day, with Ehsan Amiri soon following. Both were eliminated by start-of-day chip leader Mostafa Haidary who pushed ahead in pursuit of victory.
However, things quickly took a turn as Del Toro doubled through Haidary and bested Veljkovic with just king-high to move into the chip lead, before sending Haidary to the rail in third place.
Veljkovic was short for most of the heads-up contest, and despite doubling twice failed to overcome the deficit as Del Toro emerged triumphant.
Managing Editor
Based in the United Kingdom, Will started working for PokerNews as a freelance live reporter in 2015 and joined the full-time staff in 2019.
He graduated from the University of Kent in 2017 with a B.A. in German. He also holds an NCTJ Diploma in Sports Journalism.
