Andrew Robl Wins the $100,000 Challenge at the 2013 Aussie Millions

Andrew Robl (Image: PokerNews.com)

Andrew Robl has won the $100,000 Challenge at the 2013 Aussie Millions, besting a 21-player field to scoop the $1,000,000 first place prize.

This years $100,000 challenge saw 21 players buy in, but after Robl busted out during Day 1, he re-entered taking the number of entries to 22 and the prize pool to an impressive $2,200,000. This huge sum of money was shared out among the top four finishers, meaning three of the players who reached the final table went home empty handed.

The final table should have been the home to eight hopefuls, but the double elimination of Chris "Genius28" Lee and Winfred Yu - at the hands of Igor Kurganov - meant the final table started with one players less than anticipated. When the finale got under way, the players lined up as follows:

Seat 1: Dan Shak - 435,000
Seat 2: Vanessa Selbst - 136,000
Seat 3: Igor Kurganov - 563,000
Seat 4: Masa Kagawa - 695,000
Seat 5: Tobias Reinkemeier - 160,000
Seat 6: Andrew Robl - 129,000
Seat 7: Niklas Heinecker - 85,000

First to exit the final table was Tobias Reinkemeier, around 20-minutes into play. Vanessa Selbst opened to 16,000 in the hijack, Reinkemeier three-bet to 63,000 in the small blind and Robl four-bet all-in from the big blind for 123,000. Selbst folded but Reinkemeier called off his last 115,000 chips and the cards were revealed.

Robl showed As-Qh and was nicely in front of Reinkemeier's dominated Kc-Qc. Reinkemeier's day got a whole lot worse when the flop came down 7d-Ah-2d. The 7c turn left Reinkemeier drawing dead and he left the tournament area as the 2s landed on the river to bust him out.

Sixth place went to the dangerous Selbst, after an ill-timed play against Masa Kagawa went horribly wrong. With blinds at 5,000/10,000/1,000a, Kagawa opened to 20,000, Robl flat-called in the cutoff and Selbst called in the big blind. The trio shared a Qd-8s-3d flop, a flop that Selbst initially checked, Kagawa made a continuation bet of 36,000 on and Robl folded. With Robl out of the way, Selbst check-raised all-in to 79,000. Kagawa paused, took a drink from his freshly ordered hot chocolate and called with Qs-Js. His call was correct as Selbst held 9s-8d for middle pair, and when the turn and river were the 7c and Js respectively, Selbst was sent to the rail.

Selbst's demise brought about the money bubble, the difference between not cashing and reaching the money place being a staggering $237,000. The man who had to endure the pain of not cashing was Niklas Heinecker, a German online poker specialist. Heinecker had been nursing a short stack since the start of the day and he got this into the middle against Kagawa -albeit in unusual circumstances.

Heinecker opened to 40,000 from under the gun and then called when Kagawa three-bet to 70,000. Heinecker's call left him just 24,000 chips behind and they went in on a Kd-Js-8s flop. Many say Heinecker should have just pushed all-in preflop with his Tc-9c, but the result would have been the same as Kagawa held Ad-Qs and would have called. The turn and river missed both players, and Kagawa's ace-high was enough to eliminate Heineker and burst the bubble.

Dan Shak was the first player to be awarded prize money, something he has done in this tournament for three years out of the past four. Shak was knocked out of the tournament when he saw Robl open-limp the button for 16,000 chips and Shak decided to raise to 72,000. Robl called and then saw Shak lead out for 155,000 on a Kd-9c-3c flop. Robl moved all-in and Shak called off his last 144,000 chips with what turned out to be Jd-10d. Robl was ahead with his Ks-5s and when the turn and river were the 2s and 10c respectively, Shak was eliminated in fourth place.

Another limped pot claimed a scalp when Kagawa completed in the small blind and Robl checked his option to be in the big blind. The 10h-7s-8d flop was greeted with a 338,000 all-in bet from Kagawa and, after a minute of thought, a call from Robl. Kagawa's Kh-10c was the best hand when the chips went into the middle as Robl held Jd-10s, but the 9c on the turn improved Robl to a straight and left Kagawa drawing to a chop. The 6d on the river was a bank and Kagaw's tournament had come to an abrupt end.

Kagawa's exit left Robl to take on Kurganov heads-up for the title. Robl held a gigantic 10-to-1 chip lead over his opponents, and despite doubling up early on in the match, Kurganov just could not close the gap enough. The final hand saw a real cooler of hand take place. The board read 9c-4c-2h-3d and Robl bet 60,000. Kurganov raised to 190,000 then called when Robl set him all-in. Kurganov revealed 4d-3s for two pair, but Robl's run-good continued as he showed As-5c for a straight. The Qs river failed to change either player's hand, and Kurganov was busted out in second place, leaving Robl to be crowned champion.

$100,000 Challenge Final Table Results

1st Andrew Robl - $1,000,000
2nd Igor Kurganov - $610,000
3rd Masa Kagawa - $320,000
4th Dan Shak - $237,000

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