Australian Tyron Krost Wins $2 Million at Aussie Millions Poker Tournament

For the second straight year it was a homegrown Australian who captured the coveted title of Aussie Millions Champion when Sydney native Tyron Krost outlasted a tough final table that included Sorel Mizzi and Annette Obrestad. In 2009 it was Australian Stewart Scott who took home the title.

This year’s tournament down under saw a dramatic rise in attendance from 2009, with 746 players taking to the felt 2010 compared to 681 in 2009, nearly eclipsing the attendance record set in 2008 with 780 players.

Going into the final table poker pro Sorel Mizzi had a commanding lead, possessing over 6 million of the 18 million or so chips in play; Mizzi’s nearest competitor, Tyron Krost, had a mere 1.8 million chips heading into the final table.

However, nobody assumed it would be smooth sailing for the poker pro from Canada, but the challenge was expected to come from 21 year-old phenom Annette Obrestad, not the unlikely Australian native Tyron Krist.

The day began at a slow-pace with many small pots and a long feeling out process, until Obrestad pushed pre-flop with AJ, only to be called by Krost with his pocket 7’s. The flop gave Obrestad a gut-shot straight draw, unfortunately Krost flopped a set of seven’s. Obrestad’s 7^th place finish earned the Norwegian pro $175,000, and yet another addition to her ever increasing resume. You can expect to be hearing a lot from Annette this year as she is finally old enough to compete in poker tournaments in the United States.

Mizzi had a hard time getting anything going throughout the day and watched his monster chip-lead start to deteriorate as players were eliminated. When play became 3-handed Mizzi found himself all-in against Krost, who held the over-cards on this occasion. Krost was able to improve his AK when a King hit the flop, and Mizzi’s pocket 7’s were unable to improve from there; knocking Sorel out in 3^rd place. Despite the $750k payday this had to be a disappointing result for the Canadian pro that was looking to breakthrough with a big win.

This left Krost heads-up against Frederik Jensen from Denmark. With over a 2-to-1 chip advantage going into the duel, and with how Krost was running throughout the final table, there was little doubt how the tournament would conclude.  When the money went in on the flop and the players flipped their cards, Krost was a huge favorite to win the tournament, holding K9 to Jensen’s K6 on a flop of K-3-2. The turn and river brought no relief for Jensen, and Tyron Krost had won the Aussie Millions.

Don’t feel too bad for Jensen, the second place finish was worth $1.1 million!