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The World Poker Tour is returning to Australia this month, with WPT Australia running at The Star Sydney from September 10-30. The festival includes 36 tournaments, headlined by the A$5,000 WPT Australia Championship, which plays out from September 24-30 and finishes with a livestreamed final table.
Before a new name is engraved on the Mike Sexton WPT Champions Cup, PokerNews revisited the last four winners of the event. David Tang, Richard Lee, James Obst, and Alan Pham have each claimed the title since 2022, with stories ranging from surprising deep runs to a well-known Australian pro adding to his résumé.
Pham won the 2025 edition, outlasting 600 entries for his first WPT title and a career-high score of A$588,211. He defeated Jordan Bautista heads-up after making a full house, with Bautista’s final ace-high jam falling short.
The 2024 title went to James Obst, who returned to poker after a stint pursuing professional tennis and later added a second WSOP bracelet. Obst dominated the 396-entry field, defeating Travis Endersby heads-up in just five hands for A$585,359.
Richard Lee took down the 2023 event at The Star Gold Coast, earning the largest first-place prize of the four years at A$854,890 after building a big chip lead and beating Martin Kozlov heads-up.
David Tang, the 2022 champion, nearly skipped the trip to watch an AFL Grand Final before winning A$647,470 and becoming the first player to capture a WPT Main Tour title on Australian soil. The 2026 champion will be decided later this month in Sydney.
