The World Poker Tour (WPT) Prime Gold Coast Championship hosted at The Star Gold Coast concluded on Wednesday, crowning a new champion Australia’s own Joshua McSwiney. A rising star from Brisbane, he bested a field of 719 entries in the AUD 2,000 NLH event, taking home the coveted trophy and a career-best AUD283,336 ($177,680). The latest score surpassed his previous best score of $120,165 coming for his sixth place finish in the $5k PLO and NLH mixed event at the 2022 World Series of Poker.
In addition to the top prize, Joshua McSwiney earned a $10,400 seat into the 2025 WPT World Championship to be held in Las Vegas. With the latest win, McSwiney’s total live earnings now stand over $835k.
2025 WPT Prime Gold Coast Championship Quick Recap
The AUD 2,000 WPT Prime Gold Coast Championship ran from 21-26 March and drew an impressive 719 entries across four starting flights. The strong turnout resulted in a massive prize pool of over $1.2 million, which was finally shared by the top 140 finishers, with final two players bagging six-figure prizes. The lion’s share eventually belonged to the eventual winner Joshua McSwiney, who took home a life-changing $177,680 after beating Sydney’s Patrick Yazbeck in a thrilling heads-up battle.
The final table of the 2025 WPT Prime Gold Coast Championship Event was reached on Day 2 (Tuesday), following the elimination of Anthony Russo in tenth place for AUD 32,001/$20,068). The remaining nine players then returned for the third and final day on Wednesday to battle it out for the coveted title. Joshua McSwiney came into the final day seventh in chips, far behind Jiaxu Chen who held the massive chip lead (99 BB stack).
The action on the final table was quick with the field narrowing down to seven in just 9 hands. Wiremu Renata was the first player to exit, falling in ninth place. Chen then busted Matt Woodhall and Gary Lin in eighth and seventh places, respectively. Daniel Klinger (6th) then shoved AK against the pocket kings of Patrick Yazbeck on the king-high flop and could not improve on the next streets to exit in sixth place for $42,500.
McSwiney scored his first elimination holding pocket kings against the K-10 of Michael Egan, who fell in fifth place for $55,744). Joseph Antar hit the rail when his pocket eights were cracked by the pocket sevens of Chen, leading to his exit in fourth place $73,874. Finally, it came down to heads-up after the elimination of the start of final table chip leader Jiaxu Chen, who pitted his A10 against the pocket queens of Patrick Yazbeck to exit in third place for $98,910 in prize money.
Heads-Up
The heads-up saw Patrick Yazbeck holding a 2:1 advantage over Joshua McSwiney. The two battled it out for a long time before finally agreeing to a heads-up deal. McSwiney had moved far ahead by the time the final hand arose. In his last hand, McSwiney limped with Qd Jd and then called a shove from Yazbeck, who had Ks 5h. The board brought Ah 2s 2d 3d 7d, giving McSwiney a backdoor flush to win the coveted title.
2025 WPT Prime Gold Coast Championship Final Table Results
1. Joshua McSwiney – AU$283,336* (~US $177,680*)
2. Patrick Yazbeck – AU$250,000 (~US $156,775)
3. Jiaxu Chen – AU$157,726 (~US $98,910)
4. Joseph Antar – AU$117,802 (~US $73,874)
5. Michael Egan – AU$88,892 (~US $55,744)
6. Daniel Klinger – AU$67,773 (~US $42,500)
7. Gary Lin – AU$52,218 (~US $32,746)
8. Matthew Woodhall – AU$40,659 (~US $25,497)
9. Wiremu Renata – AU$32,001 (~US $20,068)
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Source: WPT
Image Credit: WPT
