2015 Aussie Millions

The 2015 Aussie Millions Poker Championship AU$10,600 Main Event began with 668 players, but after Day 3 concluded just 30 remained. Raiden Kan leads the field with 1,775,000 in chips, but two other names dominate the headlines.

Ami Barer is looking to do the improbable and defend his title, while the legendary Phil Ivey, who has won the AU$250,000 Challenge two out of the last three years, looks to add an Aussie Millions Main Event title to his résumé. Barer and Ivey bagged 443,000 and 439,000 respectively.

Others still in contention for the AU$1,600,000 first-place prize are European Poker Tour regular Andrew Chen (1,165,000); two-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner Brian Rast (1,156,000); online star Richard "nutsinho" Lyndaker (943,000); Australian poker pro Grant Levy (471,000); World Poker Tour champ Jonathan Roy (467,000); and the brother of Joe, Tony Hachem (409,000).

Day 3 began with 135 players looking to claim a portion of the AU$6,480,000 prize pool by cracking the top 72. Among those to leave empty handed were Liam O'Rourke, Angel Guillen, Day 1b chip leader Ian Wassell, Stephen Chidwick, Jarred Graham, Ismael Bojang, Tony Bloom, Jay Kinkade, Gary Benson, Simon Deadman, Philipp Gruissem, and last year's third-place finisher Jake Balsiger.

The money bubble took a while to burst, but eventually it did in the first hand back from the dinner break. It happened in Level 16 (2,500/5,000500) when James Kennedy, who was extremely short, called all in from the small blind after Victor Teng had raised from under the gun. Team PokerStars Pro Bryan Huang and one other player called as well but folded after Teng continued for 22,000 on an flop.

Teng:
Kennedy:

The hand was over by time the came on the turn and applause rang out around the room as the remaining players guaranteed themselves AU$15,000.

From there the in-the-money eliminations began to mount and included Spindler (70th – AU$15,000), Kane Kalas (62nd – AU$15,000), Eoghan O'Dea (60th – AU$15,000), Dylan Honeyman (56th – AU$20,000), Billy "The Croc" Argyros (53rd – AU$20,000), Terrence Chan (49th – AU$20,000), Huang (48th – AU$20,000), and 2014 WSOP Main Even runner-up Felix Stephensen (43rd – AU$20,000).

Stephensen fell in Level 18 (4,000/8,000/1,000) when his couldn't overcome the of Ivey on the final board of . Just like that the Norwegian was gone from the 2015 Aussie Millions Main Event.

The remaining players will return for Day 4 action at 12:30 p.m. local time on Friday and play down to the final table of seven. Will Ivey navigate his way to the final table? Will Barer's title defense continue? Join the PokerNews Live Reporting Team then as we bring your all the action and eliminations straight from the tournament floor.

While you wait, check out this video of Sarah Herring chatting with Phil Ivey on Day 3:

From the hijack seat, Ami Barer raised to 20,000. Jan Suchanek reraised on the button to 55,000, and then the two players in the blinds folded. Barer moved all in for 262,000, and Suchanek tank-called.

Suchanek had the for two over cards against the for the at-risk defending champion. The flop, turn, and river ran out , and Barer doubled up.

The clock has been paused and each table will play two more hands before play ends for the day.

Gerald Karlic is back up to 980,000 after getting Grant Levy to pay off when he had two pair.

He opened to 20,000 from the cutoff and Levy peeled from the big blind to see a flop. Karlic continued for 23,000 and Levy check-called. Both players checked the turn before Karlic went for more value on the river by betting 72,000. Levy check-called and mucked when Karlic opened .

Andrew Chen just catapulted to over 1.2 million in chips thanks to a big double up through Jan Suchanek.

When we arrived at the table, Chen was reraising to 200,000 over the 90,000 that Jan Suchanek had out in front of him. Suchanek then moved all in, and Chen called to put his entire 602,000 in chips on the line. He held the , and Suchanek had the .

The board kept Chen's kings in front, and he shot himself up towards the top of the leaderboard. Suchanek was knocked back to 750,000 in chips.

After Tyrone Liu was eliminated from the tournament in 32nd place, Toan Ngoc Nguyen followed him out the door in 31st.

Nguyen's elimination came after he three-bet jammed for 235,000 or so from the button over the 22,000 open of Tony Hachem, who was in the cutoff. Hachem made the call and it was off to the races.

Hachem:
Nguyen:

The flop kept Hachem in the lead, but the turn made things interesting as Nguyen picked up a spade draw. The river actually gave Nguyen the flush, but it was the one spade he didn't want to see as it improve Hachem to sevens full of threes.

Action folded around to Alex Trevallion on the button and he shoved all in for roughly 145,000. Manny Stavropoulos then moved all in over the top, and Gregory Day called off from the big blind for 78,000.

Trevallion:
Stavropoulos:
Day:

All three players held an ace, which meant it came down to the kicker. Stavropoulos was best in that department, and he paired it on the flop to strengthen his position. Neither the turn nor river changed a thing, and Day became the 34th-place finisher while Trevallion bowed out in 33rd.

It's been a good week for Trevallion, who won the AU$25,000 Challenge for AU$645,150 and final tabled the AU$100,000, which will conclude on Saturday.

Raiden Kan has moved up to around 1.6million after he eliminated Panayotis Flourentzou.

The action folded around to Flourentzou on the button and he moved all in for his last 145,000. Kan was in the small blind and made the call.

Flourentzou:
Kan:

The board ran to see Kan off in 35th spot.