Western Australia is the economic powerhouse of the nation and also now the country’s poker capital.

Seven men teamed up to give Western Australia its first victory in the Australian Poker State of Origin tournament. The team of seven was a mixed bunch, comprising four professional poker players, two businessmen and a mortgage broker.

Despite winning millions of dollars between them in poker tournaments all over the world, it was State pride that spurred them on to their win.

After a day of one-on-one clashes, the winning chips were pooled together for the final.

Sharing the play to share the winnings

Each player had 20-minute shifts at the table and, after States were gradually eliminated, it came down to a battle between WA and the heavily-favoured Queensland. After the lead seesawed several times, WA’s Mile Krstanoski won the final hand and the entire pot with a pair of nines against king-high.

Krstanoski, who earned about $600,000 when he finished third in the 2012 Aussie Millions tournament, said teamwork was their smart strategy.

The other members were professional players Jeff Lisandro, Dale Marsland and Ben Breadsell, businessmen Patrick Healy and John Aufdemkampe and mortgage broker Greg Kahl. They all play regularly at the Crown Perth casino.

In recent years, live poker in Australia, specifically Western Australia, has become a popular game which has amassed a wealth of followers. Also there has been a considerable rise in online poker for on fixed lines, Android casino poker and mobile-accessed poker for other OS platforms.