LK Boutique $250,000 Challenge | 2014 Aussie Millions

2014-02-10 11:02 UTC+10

Seidel Leads Into Day 2, But Will More Participate?

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The question in the headline says it all. Will more players enter or reenter this event before start time, or will the 37 total entries with 18 players remaining stand? Players have until Day 2's start time of 12:30 p.m. local time to get in, and we'll keep you posted on any additions to the field. Following the close of registration, we'll also be able to post the official seat draw to start the day, so stay tuned for that.

Leading the 18 players that advanced from Day 1 is none other than Erik Seidel. He'll enter Day 2 with 944,000 in chips, and the majority of those came when he sent Team PokerStars Pro Daniel Negreanu packing for the second time during the second-to-last level of Day 1. Seidel has already made two deep runs here at the 2014 Aussie Millions, and will be looking to make a third here. In the Main Event, he took 10th place for AU$100,000, and then followed that up with a third-place finish in the $100,000 Challenge for AU$1,076,000.

Another player coming into Day 2 on a hot streak with a lot of chips will be Yevgeniy Timoshenko, who bagged up 705,000 on Day 1. Timoshenko and his stack are fifth overall, and he won the $100,000 Challenge two days ago for AU$2,000,000.

Other notables with big stacks coming into the second and final day of play are Tom Dwan (815,000), Isaac Haxton (800,000), and Jason Mercier (767,000).

It's interesting to note that Haxton is working with his second bullet in this event, each of which cost AU$250,000. In the $100,000 Challenge, Haxton famously fired six bullets for AU$100,000 each, but came up with nothing to show for it. Between these two events alone, Haxton has invested AU$1,100,000 here at the 2014 Aussie Millions.

As stated above, once registration officially closes, the table draw will be posted and we'll let you know of any late comers. Right now, it sounds like Scott Seiver could very well be one of those to hop in the mix, and then there are a few players who busted on Day 1 that have the chance to reenter.

2014-02-10 12:48 UTC+10

Quoss Busts Newey

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Nível 11 : 12,000/24,000, 3,000 ante

We're not sure when the money went in, but Paul Newey was all in with on a board of . He was crushed by Fabian Quoss' , and drawing dead when the turned.

Jogador	Fichas	Oscilação
Paul Newey	Eliminado

Tags: Fabian Quoss Paul Newey

2014-02-10 12:56 UTC+10

Negreanu Doubles With Kings then Aces

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Nível 11 : 12,000/24,000, 3,000 ante

Daniel Negreanu was all in preflop for 190,000 holding against Doug Polk's . The board ran out , and Negreanu doubled through.

Negreanu was then all in and at risk with , and his opponent Mike McDonald showed pocket kings - . Kid Poker held again as the flop, turn, and river produced , and is now up over 900,000 chips.

Jogador	Fichas	Oscilação
Daniel Negreanu	920,000	770,000
Mike McDonald	330,000	-370,000
Doug Polk	100,000	-225,000

Tags: Doug Polk Daniel Negreanu Mike McDonald

2014-02-10 13:49 UTC+10

Haxton Wins a Two Million-Chip Pot off of Dwan

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Nível 11 : 12,000/24,000, 3,000 ante

Yevgeniy Timoshenko, Isaac Haxton, and Justin Bonomo

After firing six bullets in the $100,000 Challenge and two bullets in this event, Isaac Haxton will need to finish fourth or better to show a profit on the trip. He just took a big step in that direction, winning a two-million chip pot off of Tom "durrrr" Dwan.

Dwan was second to act and opened for a raise to 55,000. Haxton three-bet to 165,000 on the button, Phil Ivey and Jason Mercier folded in the blinds, and Dwan tank-called. The flop fell , Dwan checked, and Haxton continued for 130,000. Dwan check-raised, making it 350,000 to go, and Haxton called.

The turn was the , Dwan tanked for a bit, and then he moved all in for effectively 756,000. Haxton called quickly.

Dwan:
Haxton:

Over 2.5 million chips were in the pot with only one card to come, and only two cards in the deck would eliminate the Team PokerStars Online member. The was not one of them, and Haxton was awarded a massive pot.

Dwan plummeted to 517,000.

Análise de Mãos

This key hand in which Haxton and Dwan both held pocket pairs illustrates both how to maximize value with a big hand as well as how detrimental it can be to turn a strong hand into what is essentially a bluff. Read more about the strategy involved in this hand on Learn.PokerNews in "Lessons from the 2014 Aussie Millions: Pros With Pairs."

Jogador	Fichas	Oscilação
Isaac Haxton	2,550,000	1,375,000
Tom Dwan	517,000	-1,308,000

Tags: Isaac Haxton Jason Mercier Phil Ivey Tom Dwan

2014-02-10 14:20 UTC+10

Ivey Busts Timoshenko

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Nível 12 : 15,000/30,000, 4,000 ante

Action folded to $100,000 Challenge winner Yevgeniy Timoshenko on the button, and he raised all in for around 300,000. 2012 Aussie Millions $250,000 Challenge winner Phil Ivey made the call from the big blind and tabled the . Timoshenko had the .

The board ran out , and Ivey sent Timoshenko to the rail to get back to one million in chips.

Jogador	Fichas	Oscilação
Phil Ivey	1,000,000	339,000
Yevgeniy Timoshenko	Eliminado

Tags: Phil Ivey Yevgeniy Timoshenko

2014-02-10 14:21 UTC+10

Mercier Busts in 10th

[user68268]

Nível 12 : 15,000/30,000, 4,000 ante

Team PokerStars Pro Jason Mercier was just eliminated in 10th place. He was busted by PokerStars Team Online's Isaac Haxton.

Mercier was all in with the against Haxton's preflop. The board ran out , and Mercier was quickly out the door.

The players are now redrawing to one table of nine, and we'll have the draw and chip counts posted shortly.

Jogador	Fichas	Oscilação
Isaac Haxton	3,594,000	910,000
Jason Mercier	Eliminado

Tags: Isaac Haxton Jason Mercier

2014-02-10 14:39 UTC+10

Tony Bloom Bubbles the TV Final Table

Nível 12 : 15,000/30,000, 4,000 ante

On the first hand after being combined down to the unofficial final table, 2004 Aussie Millions champ Tony Bloom opened for 65,000 under the gun and was met by a three-bet to 170,000 from Isaac Haxton of PokerStars' Team Online. Action folded back around to Bloom, he moved all in, and Haxton snap-called.

Haxton:
Bloom:

Both players found big pocket pairs, but as you can see Haxton's ladies were best. Bloom was in dire straits and in desperate need of a jack, but all he could do was watch helplessly as the board ran out a dry .

It took just one hand for the unofficial final table to go down to the official final table of eight. Those players will now take a break before moving up to Studio 3 to play down to a winner.

Jogador	Fichas	Oscilação
Tony Bloom	Eliminado

Tags: Isaac Haxton Tony Bloom

2014-02-10 15:56 UTC+10

A Closer Look at the LK Boutique $250,000 Challenge and What's at Stake

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Nível 12 : 15,000/30,000, 4,000 ante

The 2014 Aussie Millions LK Boutique $250,000 Challenge has clearly been an event for the ages, shattering the previous record for entries of 20 (2011). This year's field topped off at 46 entries, and there are now just eight players remaining heading into the televised final table.

How big is this event really, though?

With a prize pool of AU$11,270,000 (approx. $10,000,000) that was generated, this event ranks just outside of the top 30 for largest poker tournament prize pool ever. The AU$4,000,000 (approx. $3,575,000) first-place prize ranks 17th all time behind the 2006 World Poker Tour Championship that was won by Joe Bartholdi for $3,760,165. If you remove World Series of Poker events from the equation, this LK Boutique $250,000 Challenge first-place prize would be fifth on the all-time list.

The $250,000 Challenge was a brand-new event on the Aussie Millions schedule in 2011. Interestingly enough, two of the three previous winners of this event are here at the final table with Erik Seidel (2011) and Phil Ivey (2012). Last year's winner and the defending champion, Sam Trickett, did not participate in any events at the 2014 Aussie Millions.

With more than double the field size and a massive top prize going to the winner, let's take a look at how this year's event compares to the previous three:

Year	Entries	Prize Pool	Winner	First Prize
2014	46	AU$11,720,000	--TBD--	AU$4,000,000
2013	18	AU$4,500,000*	Sam Trickett	AU$2,000,000
2012	16	AU$4,000,000*	Phil Ivey	AU$2,000,000
2011	20	AU$5,000,000*	Erik Seidel	AU$2,500,000

*Denotes no rake taken for the event.

There are several story lines that could emerged as the headline when this event comes to an end. First and foremost, Ivey or Seidel could become the first two-time winner of the event. If Ivey finishes second or better, he'll eclipse the $20,000,000 mark for career lifetime tournament winnings. If he does finish that high and both Seidel and Negreanu don't cash, he'll move into second on poker's all-time money list behind Antonio Esfandiari. Seidel passed $20,000,000 mark a couple days ago when he took third in the $100,000 Challenge for AU$1,076,000.

Isaac Haxton's story is one that involves him trying to get unstuck for the trip after having invested well over a million dollars here in Melbourne this year. The biggest hit to Haxton's pockets came when he fired six bullets in the $100,000 Challenge and left with nothing to show for it. In this event, Haxton is in for AU$500,000 after buying in twice. With a massive chip lead heading into the televised final table, it looks like Haxton will be recouping some of his losses, if not all of them, pending a massive failure.

Tom Dwan could return right into poker's spotlight if he is able to win the event. Dwan has been relatively quiet for about a year now, but a win here would put him right back in the poker spotlight.

Then you have the success of a couple players riding a current hot streak in Max Altergott, Fabian Quoss, and Mike McDonald. Altergott won the 2014 Aussie Millions $25,000 Challenge following a five-way chop, and Quoss is coming off a big January that saw him take down the 2014 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure $100,000 Super High Roller for $1,629,940. McDonald also had a big PCA, finishing runner-up in the Main Event for $1,094,865 after a three-way deal was made.

Last, but certainly not least, is Team PokerStars Pro Daniel Negreanu. Less than a year ago, Negreanu won the inaugural WSOP Asia-Pacific Main Event for AU$1,038,825, and that ignited his run to a second WSOP Player of the Year title that was capped off when he won the WSOP Europe €25,000 High Roller. What's more, Negreanu was named the Player of the Decade by the Global Poker Index at the beginning of 2014 and is coming off a sixth-place finish in the $100,000 Challenge.

Finally, let's take a look at where each player ranks on poker's all-time money list.

Rank	Player	All-Time Earnings	Largest Single Score
2	Erik Seidel	$20,325,957	$2,472,555
3	Daniel Negreanu	$20,131,363	$1,770,218
6	Phil Ivey	$17,669,367	$2,058,948
37	Mike McDonald	$8,313,227	$1,343,436
78	Isaac Haxton	$5,772,610	$1,313,879
104	Fabian Quoss	$5,016,762	$1,629,940
270	Max Altergott	$2,766,398	$2,289,970
394	Tom Dwan	$2,213,937	$381,885

While Seidel and Negreanu are both over $20,000,000 and very close in earnings, neither can catch Esfandiari, who tops the list with $26,219,676. Dwan is the lowest on that list, and will earn his single largest score simply by finishing in the money in this event.

2014-02-10 17:04 UTC+10

Altergott First Final Table Casualty

Nível 12 : 15,000/30,000, 4,000 ante

Last week Max Altergott won the $25,000 Challenge (after a five-way chop of course), but he won't be finding anymore success here as he was just eliminated by Tom "durrrr" Dwan.

It happened when Dwan opened for 67,000 and Altergott called from the big blind. When the flop came down , Altergott moved his short stack in and Dwan snap-called.

Dwan:
Altergott:

Altergott had flopped top pair, but it was still behind the pocket tens of Dwan. Neither the turn nor river helped Altergott, and he was eliminated from the tournament in eighth place and no money.

Jogador	Fichas	Oscilação
Tom Dwan	1,625,000	333,000
Max Altergott	Eliminado

Tags: Max Altergott Tom Dwan

2014-02-10 17:33 UTC+10

Props

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Nível 12 : 15,000/30,000, 4,000 ante

While the film crew was setting up, Tom Dwan was feverishly writing on a notepad. He and Phil Ivey were talking to one another, and the word "prop" was used.

In layman's terms, a "prop" is a side bet about what cards will come on the flop. Each player can pick a three-card combo, and earn big money if it comes. Dwan and Ivey famously played props on televised cash games like High Stakes Poker, and if we get anymore information as to who has what, we will certainly pass it along.

Tags: Phil Ivey Tom Dwan