Sam Greenwood Wins Aussie Millions $50K ANTON Challenge For US$94,400

High Roller events - by their very expensive nature –tend to have small fields, but even so, it looked as though coming 3rd in the Aussie Millions $50K ANTON Challenge would also mean coming last, a late entry by Japan’s Koji Fujimoto barely changing things, with Sam Greenwood emerging victorious in what could best be described as an ‘intimate’ affair.

The well-known Toronto pro was in fact the only man entered and seated when play was due to begin at the Crown Melbourne, forcing a delay of a couple of hours which only produced Germany’s Jan-Eric Schwippert and Alex Foxen, until Fujimoto decided to get in on the action after the first break. Only four entries, but still a chunk of money and a tournament ring to play for as the casino tweeted…

Final Table Results:

The PokerNews live updates explained: ‘The tournament director has announced the ANTON Jewellery $50,000 Challenge will kick off at 3:10 p.m. Antes will be in play from Level 1 in a revised structure requested by the players,’ and then they were off – the lack of numbers made up by some aggressive early play.

Other big names were spotted hanging around the game, Dietrich Fast, Kenny Hallaert and Micahel Adamo mentioned in dispatches, but not one of them could be enticed in – although Fujimoto made moves almost immediately on his arrival, though having to double up several times to stay in the short-handed game.

It worked, after a fashion, when Alex Foxen was the first to hit the rails when his pocket kings were outflopped by an ace pairing Schwippert – but the Japanese player would go no further, a flopped two pair being outgunned by a turned straight of Greenwood and suddenly we had our men in the money.  

A curious situation had arisen, as the live reporting explained: “…late registration is officially open up until the end of level 7, which means anyone can still enter if they do so desire unless it's agreed to lock the tournament down…”

A solution was found, however, and “After players and staff conferred, it has been decided that the tournament has been locked in. Both players agreed to lock in $77,600. The remaining $38,800 will go to the winner, along with a commemorative ring.”

The heads-up didn’t last too long, but it was certainly entertaining – with pairs and bigger pairs meeting, flushes hitting on the river and full houses beating them, until eventually it came down to a flush v flush draw in clubs and diamonds, Schwippert instead hitting a straight on the river but in Greenwood’s diamonds – and the title was set to go to Canada.