ANZPT Sydney High Roller Won By Jonathan Karamalikis

Jonathan Karamalikis has won the 2010 PokerStars ANZPT Sydney Main Event, after defeating a field of 29 players over two days to take the title and the $116,000 first place prize.
Amongst the small but dangerous field of players hoping to cash in at the $10,200 High Rollers Event were such players as Jeff Lisandro, Billy ‘The Croc’ Argyros, Jarred ‘FlopNutsOnYou’ Graham, Ben ‘CNT_CRUSHER’ Delaney, Jay ‘SEABEAST’ Kinkade and Van Marcus.
By the end of Day 1, eight players remained in the tournament and soon into Day 2 there were just five players left, all guarenteed a share of the prize pool.
Matthew Kirk collected $23,200 for his fifth place finish, Emanuel ‘Curly’ Seal received $33,350 for fourth, while Peter Aristidou took away $49,300 after being eliminated in third.
As the heads-up phase of the competition got underway, the crowd were presented with a mouth watering prospect as their local hero Team PokerStars Australia Pro Grant Levy faced-off against Full Tilt Red Pro Jonathan “xMONSTERxDONGx” Karamalikis.
Karamalikis was way ahead in chips and despite Levy managing one double up, the local boy soon ran into trouble after pushing all-in with pocket 4’s. Karamalikis made the call with his pocket 5’s and with no help from a board running out 2c Qd 2s Qs Jc, Grant Levy had to be content with his runner-up finish worth $68,150.
Jonathan Karamalikis recently won the 2010 Aussie Millions $1,500 Bounty Event, and with his latest victory in the ANZPT Sydney High Roller for $116,000, the 21 year-old’s live tournament winnings have now reached an impressive $456,000.
Karamalikis is probably more well known for tearing up Full Tilt Poker’s online tournament tables, but has more recently started playing in more live tournaments with equal success. Explaining the differences between online and live tournament games, Karamalikis explains:
“Playing live you’re able to stereotype people a lot easier as you can see them, observe them and get to know them. It helps a lot when you are put to a big decision against them. Also it generally takes me a couple of hours to adjust to peoples’ hand ranges after having a long break from live. People don’t really consider fold equity as much live because tables are mostly filled with recreational players and it is harder to work out stack sizes.”