Richard Yong Takes Aussie Millions $100K Challenge

A four-day break in action to the APPT9 Aussie Millions $100,000 Challenge was well worth the wait for poker fans who saw the final table of eight players - who had a combined $57 million in lifetime cashes - return to action to battle for $6,860,000 more.

That was the prize pool created by the 70-player field who competed for two days before eight players remained, led by chip leader Ole Schemion. Alex Trevallion, fresh off a victory in the $25k Challenge, was the first player to leave the $100K final, adding $310,00 to his bankroll.

Dani Stern ($400,000), Erik Seidel ($500,000) and Jason Mo ($630,000) followed Trevallion, leaving a four-handed final table that guaranteed at least $1 million to the top three finishers. Justin Bonomo had to settle for 4th place and $800,000 when his A-Q in the hole ended up second-best against the K-9 of Scott Seiver.

Three-handed action ensued for about three hours before Seiver's pocket 7's ran into the pocket jacks of Malaysian businessman Richard Yong, PokerStars blog reported. Seiver went to the rail adding a cool million to his career earnings that are now approaching $15 million.

That left Yong with almost a 2-to-1 chip advantage over Ole Schiemon, who came into action in 4th place on Germany's all-time money list with $6.7 million in live tournament winnings. Those earnings include almost a dozen titles, punctuated by a $1,474,671 score at the Partouche Poker Tour in Cannes over two years ago, The Hendon Mob reported.

After leaking some of his remaining chips, Schemion doubled up a couple times to get back in the match. But Yong managed to return the favor when his A-7 caught a straight versus Schemion's A-J.

Exciting action ensued when both combatants flopped trips, with Yong scooping the pot thanks to a better kicker. He sealed the deal against Schemion on a hand in which Yong held only jack high, but it was good enough on a board that failed to connect for either player, especially the German's 9-8.

Richard Yong, despite never winning a championship before the Aussie Millions $100,000 Challenge, had lifetime earnings of $4,496,352. He added another $1,870,000 in Australia, along with his first title.

Schemion took $1,350,000 as runner-up in another solid performance on the felt.