Card kings take Crown for $4.5m
TWO Jewish poker players have come up trumps, netting $4.5 million in just two days at Crown Casino, in two of the game’s most prestigious tournaments.
TWO Jewish poker players have come up trumps, netting $4.5 million in just two days at Crown Casino, in two of the game’s most prestigious tournaments.
Melbourne’s David Gorr, won $2 million on Sunday when he outlasted 720 other players in the Aussie Millions, while American Erik Seidel won $2.5 million 48 hours earlier, in a $250,000-buy-in tournament, the largest in the history of poker.
“The whole thing is unbelievable,” 68-year-old Gorr said after he won the title.
“I guess I’ll have to build another money room for my $2 million so I can go diving like Scrooge McDuck,” the grandfather joked.
Despite becoming an instant millionaire, Gorr insisted it would be business as usual after the excitement wore off. “I’ll be a celebrity at the poker party at Crown but then I’m still going to work at CGU insurance in the computer department this week.
As for how he’ll spend his fortune, Gorr mused, “My children and grandchildren will do very nicely out of this, and maybe a holiday for me.”
Having played poker for as long as he can remember, this is the first time he’s won a tournament at Crown Casino – and it’s encouraged him to continue. “I’ll play poker more now and I will go to one or two more tournaments, but I don’t have to do this like some of the young players because I haven’t made my life out of poker, I just enjoy it,” he said.
In total, 721 players entered the $10,500-buy-in Aussie Millions but after six days, only eight remained. At the final table, after 12 hours and 415 hands of poker, Gorr defeated James Key to win the tournament, becoming the second Jewish player to take the Aussie Millions title in two years. In 2010, Tyron Krost was the victor, also netting $2 million.
On Friday meanwhile, just 48 hours before Gorr’s win, Seidel won the largest buy-in tournament in poker history.
“There were a lot of great players because it was the who’s who of poker and I’m feeling great,” he said, after scooping the $2.5 million prize pot.
Having earlier claimed poker players “had lost their minds” by paying $250,000 for one tournament, Seidel changed his tune following the win. “We play a lot of tournaments all around the world but I don’t remember ever feeling the excitement that we felt today because there was so much money at stake.”
JOSHUA LEVI
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