Brit win in Aussie

Shropshire’s Katherine Hartree is helping to restore British sporting pride down-under and she joins tennis ace Andy Murray and a revived English cricket team to produce a hat-trick of sporting success stories, by coming 33rd out of 747 in the Aussie Millions Main Event.

The Aussie Millions has become one of the biggest tournaments outside of the World Series of Poker and all the top pros are in Melbourne, Australia, competing for a Aus$6m prize pool and a Aus$1m first place prize.

A sterling performance by Katherine, a Ladbrokespoker.com player saw her finish in 33rd place after cruising into the final stages of the tournament with a 96k chip stack.

Katherine is slowly becoming a recognisable face on the live poker circuit after placing 2nd in the inaugural Ladbrokespoker.com European Ladies Championship and the competing in the WSOP, the biggest and richest poker tournament in the world. Her Aus$30,000 payday at the Aussie Millions now equals her 2006 WSOP record as the top European female finisher.

Minimilk as she is known in poker circles because of her blonde hair and diminutive stature, was joined on her table for the last few hours of play by 2005 WSOP winner Aussie Joe Hachem, and her poker play was a stark contrast to the drubbing England received at the hands of the Aussies in the Ashes series.

Katherine, proved she’s no whinging pom and at the end of her marathon poker session commented " I’m really pleased with my performance. I’ve outlasted some of the world’s greatest poker players. Having the opportunity to play on the same table as 2005 WSOP champ Hachem is great and managing to make it to the last 33 out of a field of 747 in a tournament of this calibre is Bonza!"

Colin Cole-Johnson, Director of Gaming said: "It makes a nice change to be part of a British sporting success story especially after our soul- destroying 5-0 Ashes defeat. Its great that poker has played some part in beginning to restore national sporting pride. Katherine’s performance alongside Murray’s tennis win and England’s victory over New Zealand means, we can start holding our heads a little higher down under"