Poker News

A grad student has won a AUD $73,000 poker tournament after twice flipping a coin to decide what do do.

Julian Cohen, who has only been playing poker for three years, entered the prestigious ANZPT event in Queenstown, New Zealand, to pass time after completing his university arts course.

But the novice ended up beating the entire field after giving up on conventional odds and hurling a coin in the air.

The Australian's incredible victory also sees him rise to 12th on the Australia New Zealand Poker Tour Rankings.

Cohen, who recently graduated from Victoria's Deakin University, defied the odds throughout the four days of the tournament.

Late on Day 2 he made a royal flush and the following afternoon he flopped quad sixes.

Having finally made it to heads-up play against Andrew Watson he was short stacked by 3-1. The graduate won lots of small pots to draw level, but poor bluffing saw him fall behind again.

Cohen eventually went all-in with T9 against Watson's KQ but survived by flopping a pair and rivering a straight.
Watson was finally doomed when Cohen delved into his pocket and starting flipping coins.

He lost two massive hands to the youngster's coin flips and, with his stack shrinking, became ever more desperate.
Watson finally moved in with Kh 10d. Cohen called with Ad 10c, which held to see him crowned champion.

ANZPT Queenstown: Season 2 payouts

1. Julian Cohen – Qualifier - $73,630
2. Andrew Watson - - $46,860
3. Vesko Zmukic - $27,440
4. Michael Spilkin - $22,760
5. Tim Clarke -  - $18,740
6. Emerson Rewi - $15,400
7. Jason Gray - $12,720
8. John Maklouf - Qualifier - $10,040
9. Bryan Huang - Pro - $8,030
10. Tim Macbeth - $6,020
11. Campbell Melville - Qualifier - $6,020
12. Jie Gao -  Qualifier - $6,020
13. Robert Wang - $4,690
14. Serge Mazza - $4,690
15. Andrew Scarf - $4,690