Rowe the Boat Ashore: Sydneysider Wins the APPT Grand Final

A Sydney risk-management insurance executive by the name of Martin Rowe took the Aussie poker world by storm tonight, riding a wave of good luck, great cards and even better play to grab $1 million AUD and the PokerStars APPT Grand Final title.

The action got under way just after 1:30 p.m. inside Sydney's fabulous Star City Casino with Rowe just one of the pack in the final nine, hovering around $1 million in chips.

Antonio Fazzolari was the chip leader and it wouldn't be long before the rich got even richer.

Tom Rafferty had butted heads with Fazzalori all throughout Day 3 and when Rafferty led out with a standard raise only to see Fazzalori call, it looked like it was on again.

Rafferty fired at the flop after finding a flush draw, but Antonio had outdrawn him again, holding top two pair. He raised, Rafferty shoved and the chip leader made the huge call to put Rafferty at risk.

By the time all the dust settled, it did so without making Rafferty's flush and whereas he was suddenly gone ninth, Fazzolari found himself with a huge lead on $3.5 million.

Chu'd up and spat out.

2007 Melbourne Poker Championship winner Hai Bo Chu said goodbye eighth soon after, giving Rowe his first taste of life over $1 million in chips when he shipped it with a gut-shot that never came against Rowe's pocket queens.

Daniel Kowalski was out next, sending it all-in with a weak ace after one flopped, only to find Frank Saffioti on a strong one.

But just as quickly, Saffioti decided somebody else might make better use of those chips than he.

First he paid off Rowe when his flopped pair of aces was clearly beaten by Rowe's aces-up. Then he doubled up Jason Gray and his pocket aces, only getting the majority of the money in after he was drawing dead with an unconnected A-K.

He gave the rest to Rowe soon after, flopping top-pair aces and the nut-flush draw, only to find Rowe had flopped a set that held.

English spoken.

By that time, Rowe had his first taste of the lead, and although young Tim English found himself moving up the ladder to challenge a little earlier, it wouldn't be long before he got shorter and shoved into the Rowe machine on a T 9 4 flop.

It didn't look like an easy one, but Rowe made the $1 million call with Q J, and although his two live cards and an open ender were behind English's A K, he turned a pair of jacks to take him out and become the APPT Grand Final's first $5 million man.

They went to dinner four-handed with Rowe holding an almost 2-1 chip lead on the rest of the field combined, and returned to see that lead stretched even further.

Start-of-day chip leader Fazzolari suddenly found himself short and shipped it with a weak ace. Once again, Rowe had a bigger one to send him home fourth.

The mandatory Canadian finalist.

Then it took just one hand three-handed to get to heads-up. Rowe made it $150k from the button, Basile raised to $450,000 from the big blind and when Rowe responded by pushing in, the Canadian called.

He had big slick, but Rowe needed only to fade a three-outer or some sick broadway suck-out, as he was riding cowboys.

The kings held, and a confrontation between a poker amateur from Sydney with three years' experience playing the game and a poker pro from Sydney with decades behind him, including a WSOP final table this summer, was set.

The only problem for pro Jason Gray was that he held just $1.4 million in chips to amateur Rowe's $7.8 million when heads-up kicked off.

Gray day cleared up.

Gray doubled quickly when he managed to get all his money in holding a straight draw against Rowe's top pair and turn the card he needed. He then fought all the way back to right near even, playing small ball with an increasingly dizzy-looking Rowe.

But all of the sudden Rowe put the pedal to the medal, flipped the script and got Gray on the run.

He raised every button, reraised every open and before long, that 3.5-1 chip lead he'd started with was back.

With Gray down under $2 million in chips, Rowe kept firing, and suddenly found himself in the enviable position of having Gray make his stand with just 9 5 into his A Q and the whole ball of wax on the line.

Owes it all to the question?

Rowe flopped top two and although Gray turned two pair himself, there were no miracles on the river to save him.

Rowe became the PokerStars APPT Grand Final champ and grabbed the $1 million prize and of course, the PL.com interview, where he told us he's an avid reader of the site who owes almost everything, or at least something, to our renowned Question of the Day. Who knew?

And so that's all for an incredibly successful second season of the APPT and our time in the land Down Under, where women grow and men plunder.

Can't you hear, can't you hear the thunder? You better run, you better take cover ...