Andras Nemeth Wins Australian Poker Open Event #2 For A$146,200

Hungary’s Andras Nemeth recorded the second-biggest victory of his poker career at the 2020 Australian Poker Open by defeating a field of 43 elite entrants into the $10,000 Pot Limit Omaha event to take home the $146,200 top prize. Nemeth defeated local Najeem Ajez heads up while sending Event #1 winner Mike Watson out the door in third.

“I love it here, I love Australia the most,” Nemeth said with a big smile after his win.

“If Australia wasn’t so far from my home in Budapest I would probably try to live here. The casino staff, the people, the dealers, everyone is just so friendly. The dealers especially try to bring a friendly atmosphere to the table and that’s special,” Nemeth added about his overall experience at The Star Gold Coast.

Follow Live Reporting of Event #3 $25,000 Pot Limit Omaha on Poker Central right now. The final table of this event will be streamed live on Monday. Relive the entire Pot Limit Omaha stream on PokerGO right here with commentary by Jeff Platt and Brent Hanks.

Poker Hall of Famer Erik Seidel, hot off the Aussie Millions Main Event final table, was the first player to bust when he committed his stack with jack-ten-seven-four rainbow. Sitting on a short stack, Seidel ran into Ajez’s kings and the board brought him no help.

Sean Winter, who made big waves during last year’s U.S. Poker Open and Poker Masters, busted in fifth place holding pocket kings with jack-seven. After a raise from Winter, Mike Watson re-raised with double suited queens and nines and Winter moved all in. Winter grabbed his stuff and walked off before the flop was even dealt, as his premonition was spot on. The board gave Watson a flush and Winter was knocked out.

Finnish Pot Limit Omaha specialist Joni Jouhkimainen busted in fourth place holding ace-king-eight-six which he shoved into Ajez’s queen-ten-eight-four double suited. On the turn, Ajez was looking at eight outs to send the Finn home and he managed to spike a queen to make two pair rake in another pot.

When three-handed play started Ajez had an enormous chip lead with 2.6 million versus Nemeth’s 655,000 and Watson’s 985,000 but this was no guarantee for the win. Watson battled his way back to grab the chip lead before Nemeth went on a six-hand winning streak that put him in the lead. Watson, winner of Event #1 of the Australian Poker Open, ultimately busted in third to Nemeth.

On his final hand, Watson ended up all in on the turn with an open-ended straight draw versus Nemeth’s two pair. The river brought a blank and Watson busted in third. While it looked as though it was still Ajez’s tournament to lose, the Aussie found himself one card away from the win twice versus Nemeth, but he was unable to close it out. After a series of all ins, Nemeth closed it out with kings versus Ajez’s ace-ten-nine-six with the suited ace. The chips ended up in the middle before the flop and Nemeth came out on top as his kings held up.

How about that for a comeback? 🇭🇺's Andras Nemeth picks up his second cash and first win of the #APO🇦🇺! https://t.co/j4lvVmqlX2 pic.twitter.com/1tuSl3v4kr

— PokerGO (@PokerGO) January 27, 2020

Jumping into second place on the Australian Poker Open standings, and straight into Event #3 $25,000 No Limit Hold’em, Nemeth has his eyes set on the upcoming events after which he’ll evaluate whether the final two events will be worth playing for him.

“I will play the $25,000 events and then we’ll see. Being in second place right now adds a bit of motivation for sure but I also know that the biggest buy-ins are also the toughest.”

Nemeth sees himself as a middle-of-the-pack skill-wise in these fields but that doesn’t intimidate him as he can step up to the plate and play his best when a big moment arises. The Hungarian pro has been around for more than ten years with success both live and online, across Pot Limit Omaha and No Limit Hold’em tournaments big and small. So how does he stay at the top as the games have gotten so much tougher?

“It’s nice to not only play one thing, so that keeps me motivated, but I also love to play poker and that keeps me motivated and my fiancee is my biggest motivation. She’s, and our families, are very supportive and she travels with me to big events and that makes a big difference for me.”

The Australian Poker Open Championship Standings are now as follows.

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