Melbourne's David Tang almost skipped this week's World Poker Tour (WPT) Australia Main Event for a major sports final. But after failing to find a way to cancel his flight, he ended up winning the AUD $5,400 buy-in event at the first WPT Main Tour on Australian soil for $425,712 and his first WPT title.
"I wasn't expecting to get this far," Tang told WPT after the victory. "To be honest I was actually trying to cancel my flight here because I wanted to watch the (Australian Football League) Grand Final in Melbourne, but they wouldn't give us a refund on our flights so it just all worked out.”
Tang, who had to miss the sports match but who instead will take home six figures, defeated heads-up opponent Po Ho of China, while others at the final table included fellow Australians Naj Ajez (3rd - $204,269) and Josh Hutchins (5th - $114,721) and Japan's Daisuke Ogita (4th - $152,215).
WPT Australia Main Event Final Table Results
| PLACE | PLAYER | COUNTRY | PRIZE (IN USD) | |
| 1 | David Tang | Australia | $425,712 | |
| 2 | Po Ho | China | $277,225 | |
| 3 | Naj Ajez | Australia | $204,269 | |
| 4 | Daisuke Ogita | Japan | $152,215 | |
| 5 | Josh Hutchins | Australia | $114,721 | |
| 6 | De Li | Australia | $87,464 |
Successful First Aussie Main Tour Stop
The WPT Australia Main Event at Star Gold Coast in Broadbeach attracted 710 players to generate a prize pool of AUD $3,550,000.
Some notables in the field included 2019 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Player of the Year Robert Campbell and poker couple Kristy Arnett Moreno and Andrew Moreno, who both made deep runs and respectively ended up in 74th and 43rd place.
Tang entered the six-handed final table fifth in chips but managed to hang around as others were knocked out.
Tang was the short stack during a lengthy three-handed battle but received a double through overwhelming chip leader Ho, according to WPT live updates. After eliminating Ajez in third place, Tang again managed to double through Ho to leave the Chinese opponent riding fumes.
In the final hand, Ho was all in and at risk with ace-eight of clubs against the king-ten of diamonds of Tang. Two diamonds on the flop and a third on the turn had Ho drawing dead as Tang locked up his first WPT title.
Tang, who had $93,771 in Hendon Mob earnings headed into the event, told WPT he is primarily a cash game player and "haven't played in a tournament since the Aussie Millions in 2020."
"I just heard it was going to be a big tournament," he said. "I figured a lot of people from Australia were going to be here, so it seemed like a good chance to catch up with people that I hadn't seen in a while, and a few of the Melbourne guys as well."
Ambassadors in Australia
Poker content creators and WPT ambassadors Andrew Neeme and Brad Owen made the trip down under and held their first-ever meet-up game in Australia during the WPT Australia festival.
The $2/$5 meet-up game attracted so many players that the resort had to double the number of tables originally planned, according to WPT.
Later in the series, Owen made a deep run in the AUD $10,000 High Roller and finished in 13th place for $28,930.
"Amazing time out here, met tons of great people, and can’t wait to come back," the poker vlogger tweeted on Sept. 27.
Next up for WPT is the WPT Five Diamond World Poker Classic at Bellagio Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, which will take place Oct. 7-23 and will feature a $10,400 Main Event with a $5 million guarantee.
