Fabian Quoss may have waited until the very end of the day to take the chip lead, but nevertheless, he'll be the man to catch heading into Day 2. Quoss busted Yevgeniy Timoshenko in one of the final hands of the night with versus Timonshenko's and finished on 348,800 in chips. The next closest person to Quoss, Ognjen Sekularac, finished nearly 100,000 in chips behind with 259,200.
This year's field smashed all previous records, accumulating 65 entries and generating a prize pool of AU$1.56 million. With a hefty AU$460,000 going to the winner and the top eight spots being paid out, Day 2 is going to be one heck of a day for poker.
Last year's champion, Igor Kurganov, was eliminated on the day, twice. That elimination has paved the way for a new champion this year, and there are plenty of big names eyeing the title.
Amongst those surviving Day 1 were Daniel Negreanu, Dan Shak, Justin Bonomo, Ole Schemion, Dan Smith, Jason Mercier, and Sorel Mizzi. The reigning World Series of Poker Main Event champion, Ryan Riess, is also still in the field and looking to make plenty of noise in his first trip Down Under to the Aussie Millions.
Of those who busted on Day 1 were Patrik Antonius, Gus Hansen, Doug Polk, Mike Watson, Jonathan Duhamel, and Paul Newey.
Day 2 will begin at 2 p.m. local time, so be sure to tune right back in here to PokerNews.com for live coverage straight from the tournament floor.
After some raising back and forth, Antonio Esfandiari had moved all in against his opponent Dan Shak. Shak made the call to put himself at risk for 70,900 holding the . Esfandiari had the and only 2,400 chips more than Shak.
The flop, turn, and river ran out , and Shak's two pair of kings and jacks won him the hand. Esfandiari was left with just 2,400.
"It's the Dan Shak playbook," commented Joe Hachem with a smile from across the table.
"If I think I'm gonna win, I go with it," responded Shak as he stacked up his chips.
"That's in my playbook, too," said Justin Bonomo. "If I think I'll win, I play."
Shak moved to over 140,000 in chips, and Esfandiari was eliminated shortly thereafter.
Antonio Esfandiari raised to 1,300, and then Justin Bonomo reraised to 3,500 from the cutoff seat. Jason Mercier moved all in for 14,875 from the small blind, and action folded back to Bonomo. He called with off suit. Mercier had him dominated with .
On the flop, Bonomo sprung into the lead, though. The turn was a , and the river a . Bonomo had come from behind to win the hand, and with that Mercier was off to the cage to reenter.
On the historic 200th episode of the PokerNews Podcast, Team PokerStars Pro Jason Mercier joins the crew in Melbourne Australia to answer some fan questions, discuss his future in poker, and guess the over/under for runners in the 2014 Aussie Millions Main Event. If a listener guesses the exact number using the hashtag #PNPod, they will win a PokerNews t-shirt signed by Mercier.
One of the most exciting events on the 2014 Aussie Millions schedule is the AU$25,000 Challenge. Last year, 30 entries were generated and Igor Kurganov emerged victorious after defeating good friend Philipp Gruissem heads up for the title. Kurganov earned AU$275,000 for the victory in an event that saw Gruissem take home AU$187,000 for second place ahead of Erik Seidel in third, Niklas Heinecker in fourth, and Fabian Quoss in fifth.
This year's event plans to be larger, and the cards are scheduled to get in the air at 6:15 p.m. local time. Many of poker's biggest names have laid off playing Day 1a of the Main Event in order to fire away in this event, and you can expect to see Daniel Negreanu, Sorel Mizzi, Jason Mercier, Isaac Haxton, Justin Bonomo, Dan Shak, and many, many more in the field today.
![[user22113]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
. Esfandiari had the 
and only 2,400 chips more than Shak.
, and Shak's two pair of kings and jacks won him the hand. Esfandiari was left with just 2,400.
off suit. Mercier had him dominated with 
flop, Bonomo sprung into the lead, though. The turn was a 
, and the river a 
. Bonomo had come from behind to win the hand, and with that Mercier was off to the cage to reenter.
