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SOSIA JIANG BECOMES OUR 2018 SYDNEY CHAMPIONSHIPS HIGH ROLLER CHAMPION WITH AN ACE ON THE RIVER! - $266,000

"All poker players live for that moment when you have a big chip advantage," Sosia Jiang told the Star Poker Live Reporting Team. "That's when poker is really fun". 

Well Sosia, you can't have more than all the chips in play which is exactly what you have after winning the 2018 Sydney Championships High Roller Event! 

More than just the chips, Jiang has $266,000 dollars that she didn't have yesterday. Not bad for two days of poker. Jiang was aware from the start though, that this tournament wasn't going to be easy. 

"It was such a strong field," Jiang continued. "These were unquestionably some of Australia's best poker players. There were so many talented players."

Looking through the list of players in this event this was definitely the case. the likes of Michel Bouskila, Corey Kempson, Andy Lee, Daniel Laidlaw, top-shelf player Jonathan Karamalikis... the list goes on and on. In fact, Jiang held the biggest amount of respect for the player she ended heads-up against, Matthew Wakeman.

"I was quite nervous going heads up against a player as good as Matthew Wakeman. Especially as we were very even in chips at the time. I actually joked that I would need to cooler him in order to beat him".

As things would turn out, cooler him she did in an amazing final hand where Wakeman had flopped the nut straight. Jiang called his all in with a very heavy draw hand including an up and down straight draw, a backdoor draw to a higher straight and a backdoor flush draw. The turn and the river would both fall clubs and give Sosia Jiang the hand and the title. 

Despite the cruel way that the game ended, you would not say that Jiang won the heads-up battle solely by luck. Whilst they had started heads-up more or less even in chips, by the time this hand began Jiang had a 13:1 chip lead after steamrolling Wakeman in a heads-up battle that lasted just 45 minutes.

Wakeman, as always was gracious in defeat and congratulated our champion for her great success. This continues the impressive run of tournament results the ladies have had here at the 2018 Sydney Championships having already picked up a couple of titles and continues proving that the Kiwi based Jiang will be a player to watch in this part of the world.

Perhaps the part that hurt the most was the look of delight on Sosia Jiang's face when we asked how she felt about taking a Sydney Championships title back to New Zealand! First the Bledisloe Cup and now this! With the Main Event starting tomorrow let's hope that a Sydneysider can ensure we keep that trophy here where it belongs!