John Maklouf - 6 Max Champion

JOHN MAKLOUF WINS THE 2017 STAR POKER FESTIVAL 6 MAX!

After two long days of poker John Maklouf has emerged victorious.

It looked like we would be settling in for a long gruelling heads up battle but a quick two punch combo saw Konttinen KO'd and Maklouf on the way to the title and bagging a massive $48,729.

Any pair heads up is a blessing so Konttinen had thought he was in a strong position when he received the 3-diamond.gif3-heart.gif only to be up against Maklouf's q-heart.gifq-diamond.gif. Konttinen got no help from the board and was left severely short stacked and needing to do anything to stay alive. He tried making a move shortly after but ran into the ace-spade.gifk-club.gif of Maklouf. The ace-club.gif hit the river and the results of this tournament were finalised for the record books.

The main story from this field was the quality of it. There were no easy spots from five tables to go let alone on the final table. Just looking at our heads up opponents confirms this. Maklouf has nearly $150,000 in tournament earnings including an ANZPT High Stakes title while Konttinen sits with $400,000 in winnings which include several $1,000 plus buy in events in Australia and Europe.

Maklouf hasn't cashed in a tournament since 2011 after enjoying a break from the game. Now that he is back he is clearly in fine form. We will keep a watchful eye out to see if he can add to that over the coming months.

Perouse in 3rd place was no slouch either. More of an online player this shone through with his technical ability and his unwavering focus and attention when determining the viability of different plays. The French national has scored his biggest result to date in this tournament and will look to add on that result as the Star Poker Festival continues.

6 Max tournamernts are traditionally a favourite of any serious poker player and the fact that it has now come and gone highlights that we have now entered the business end of the Star Poker Festival. Tomorrow the big show starts. The $1500 buy in Main Event with a million dollar guarantee prize pool. Early figures indicate that number will be absolutely smashed and we will be playing for a prizepool significantly higher than that.

We also have the ever popular $5k challenge starting on Wednesday. More and more of the Southern Hemisphere's best poker players have been spotted in the Star Poker room over the past few days as they get ready for these tournaments. Whether you are watching or playing, it promises to be a fantastic week here in Sydney as we reach the climax of the 2017 Star Poker Festival.