Australia's newest poker millionaire:Grant Levy Runner up Jeremiah Vinsant

 

The first season of the PokerStars.net Asia Pacific Poker Tour has ended with the crowning of the APPT Grand Final champion at Star City Casino in Sydney.

Players from more than 30 countries converged on Sydney for the $6000 buy-in event: many of them making their first trip to Australia.

The field of 561 for the APPT Grand Final was the second largest for a big buy-in event in Australian poker history, and generated a prize pool of $3.336 million.

 

Despite a field that included four world champions (Team PokerStars Pros Chris Moneymaker, Greg Raymer and Joe Hachem, plus PokerStars player Scotty Nguyen), fellow Team PokerStars Pros Lee Nelson and Isabelle Mercier and WSOP bracelet winner Jeff Lisandro, it was a relative newcomer who conquered the field - continuing a tradition established in earlier APPT events this year.

 

Grant Levy, a teacher from Sydney's outer-west has become the first Australian player to a $1 million prize on home soil after he outlasted Jeremiah Vinsant from the USA in a marathon heads-up battle that went 67 hands (and a final table of 226 hands).

A 28-year-old father of two and former rugby league coach, Levy, has stamped himself as the hottest property on the local tournament scene. He placed third at the PokerNews Cup in Melbourne, outlasting a field of 428 players winning $131,800 and has taken down two significant online tournaments in recent months.

Jeremiah Vinsant claimed the second prize of $621,540.

Another local player, Lei He, captured third place while the other Australian at the final table, Jai Kemp, finished fifth.

 

 

Results: PokerStars.net APPT Grand Final, Star City Casino, Sydney, Australia

1 Grant Levy (Australia) $1,000,000
2 Jeremiah Vinsant (USA) $621,540
3 Lei He (Australia) $322,280
4 Sol Bergren (Canada) $230,200
5 Jai Kemp (Australia) $158,830
6 Barry Kohlhoff (USA) $115,100
7 John Matwey (USA) $92,080
8 Vijayan Nagarajan (Malaysia) $69,060
9 Larry Wright (USA) $46,040