Daniel Laidlaw Wins 2013 Sydney Poker Championships

Australia’s Daniel Laidlaw has won the 2013 Sydney Poker Championships main event, after besting a 227 player field over three days on his way to capturing the title, and collecting the $165,256 first place prize.
With his latest victory in Sydney, Laidlaw now takes his live tournament earning to roughly half a million dollars since his first cash back in 2008. It also represents his biggest ever score, with Laidlaw’s previous biggest win recorded this year after finishing at the $10,600 Aussie Millions Poker Championship, Melbourne, in 12th place for $100,291.
The $3,000 buy-in Sydney Poker Championships main event attracted great interest to create a prize pool worth $635,600. By the end of the two Day 1 flights, the 227 player field had been reduced to 102 players which was further reduced to just 11 players by the end of Day 2.
Eleven players then returned on Day 3 and by the time the final table of nine had been set, the 2009 APPT Sydney Champion Aaron Benton was in pole position on a 1.05m stack, but with other seasoned pros at the table including Michael Kanaan (510k), Tony Kambouroglou (330k), and, of course, Daniel Laidlaw (880k).
All four pros then managed to make it through to four-handed play, and after Aaron Benton was eliminated in 4th ($47,670), a three-way deal was agreed before play resumed and Laidlaw subsequently dispatched his final opponents to claim the title. As the cash game grinder later tweeted following his remarkable victory:
“Did 3-way ICM deal, I got ~120k, flipped blind for the trophy and I shipped it. Sydney Champs winner.”
The final table payouts (not including the deal) were as follows:
1st: Daniel Laidlaw – $165,256
2nd: Tony Kambouroglou – $104,875
3rd: Michael Kanaan – $59,110
4th: Aaron Benton  – $47,670
5th: Kwong Phung – $39,725
6th: Brad Fowler – $33,370
7th: Michael Doodson – $27,013
8th: Robert Spano – $20,657
9th: Michael Weiss – $15,980