SA student wins $96K in poker tournament

Australia -- A 19-year-old university student and part-time supermarket shelf-stacker has won $96,000 at a poker tournament in Adelaide.

And he's only been playing the game seriously for five months.

Daniel Booth won the inaugural Adelaide Holdem Championship at the Skycity Casino over the weekend which featured Australian poker star Joe Hachem.

The tournament carried a total prize pool of more than $340,000 and included players from around Australia and overseas.

Most paid a $3,000 entry fee while others, like Booth, won a seat at the table through a series of regional poker tournaments.

"I never dreamed I would win this tournament especially since I was up against so many of the world's best," he said.

"I've only recently started playing poker and taking it seriously since the poker league started in Adelaide pubs and hotels in June of this year."

Hachem, who shot to fame when he won the World Series of Poker in 2005 and a prize of more than $7 million, was knocked out of the tournament on Saturday night but stayed around to present the cash prize to the winner.

"It's fantastic that such a young man who is playing his first live poker tournament for cash triumphs," he said.

But for Booth, life returned to normal on Sunday. He was back to work at a Munno Para supermarket, in Adelaide's north, for a double-time shift.

Second prize in the Adelaide championship, worth $58,000, went to another local, 23-year-old Adam Cusenza, while Chris Tau from New Zealand won $40,000 for finishing third.

Sydney Morning Herald

News Added: 19 November, 2007

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