Today is bubble day at the APPT Aussie Millions Poker Championship Main Event. The remaining 135 players all have their eyes firmly set on making the last 72 and locking up a minimum payout of AU$15,000. Thoughts of cashing for AU$1.6million should be a long way off.
Jan Suchanek continues to set the pace, he remains out on front with 483,900. He'll be chased by the likes of Andrew Chen (344,900), Grant Levy (324,500), Richard Lyndaker (320,600), defending champion Ami Barer (318,600) and Phil Ivey (278,300) amongst others.
Seven levels are scheduled for today but the ultimate goal will be to get down to 36 players remaining so the tournament will be all set for the six-max stage that will see out the Main Event from there on in.
Cards are in the air at 12:30PM so join us back here then for what promises to be an exciting day of poker action.
Mexican pro Angel Guillen opened the action with a raise from the hijack and action folded to Raiden Kan in the big blind. He opted to put his big stack to good use by moving all in, but it didn't shake Guillen who called off for approximately 53,000.
Guillen:
Kan:
Guillen got it in good, but the flop paired Kan to make him a heavy favorite. The turn left Guillen in need of a jack to stay alive, but it wasn't in the cards as the useless paired the board on the river.
Jake Balsiger, who finished third in this very event last year, began the day on a short stack of 35,400. The former World Series of Poker October Niner managed to run that up to a formidable stack, but his comeback came crashing down courtesy of Singapore's Don Mishra.
There was around 90,000 already in the pot and a board reading when a back-and-forth raising war resulted in Balsiger getting his last 100,000 or so all in and being called by Mishra.
Mishra:
Balsiger:
Balsiger held top pair top kicker, but he was drawing dead as Mishra had flopped a set. The meaningless was put out on the river for good measure, and Balsiger wished the table luck before taking his leave. There will be no back-to-back cashes for Jakey.
Meanwhile, Quoc Nguyen was also eliminated from the tournament.
Julius Colman is a well-respected lawyer and business man who is also an accomplished poker player with nearly AU$1,000,000 in winnings. On top of it all, he is a noted philanthropist.
After making the final table of the 2007 Aussie Millions — where he ultimately finished in fourth place for AU$500,000 — he donated the entire prize to a school for significantly underprivileged children with a high migrant and refugee population.
His work with the disadvantaged children and communities was recently recognized in a unique way when the Government of Australia when he made the Australia Day Honors list. He was awarded an Order of Australia, called an A.M., and subsequently Crown Melbourne had him kick off the Day 1b festivities. Colman made it all the way to Day 3, but his run came up short of the money.
It happened when Colman got his short stack all in on a flop holding the for middle pair with an open-ended straight draw. It was no good though as his opponent, Isaac Lau, had flopped the nuts with the . The turn gave Colman some life with a flush draw, but the river proved useless.
With just a few more eliminations to go until the money is reached, Jan Suchanek leads the way with a massive stack of 1.1 million in chips. Suchanek is no stranger to the top spot of the counts or tournament poker, as the current leader entered Day 3 in pole position and boasts over $630,000 in live tournament earnings.
Suchanek has several big results on his record, but his best finish in the Aussie Millions Main Event came back in 2007 when he took 22nd for AU$60,000.
Originally hailing from Canada, Suchanek now resides in New Zealand, which is a quick hop over from Melbourne. As the only player into seven figures right now, Suchanek is in a prime position to make an extremely deep run in this event. Last year, with a similar field size in the event, Day 3 finished with 36 players remaining and seven of them over a million in chips. The day is far from done here, and Suchanek already has more than four of them finished with on Day 3 last year.
The Main Event has entered hand for hand phase after Phillip Gruissem busted in 74th spot.
He opened from the hijack and Brian Rast peeled from the big blind to see a flop roll out. Gruissem continued for 15,500 and called after Rast check-raised to 51,500. The turn was the and Rast led for 35,000. Call. On the river, Rast led for 115,000 and Gruissem called all in with for a flush. It was no good though as Rast had the nuts with .
Gruissem winced when he saw the hands but still shook Rast's hand before he left.
James Kennedy eliminated as the 2015 Aussie Millions bubble boy.
It took just one hand post dinner to burst the bubble and the unfortunate soul who'll walk away with nothing is James Kennedy.
He was down to fumes and called all in from the small blind after Victor Teng raised from under the gun. 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, mainly from players congratulating themselves. All those remaining are guaranteed AU$15,000.
Brian Rast has just won one of, if not the biggest, pot of the tournament to leap into the chip lead with 1,120,000.
He and Don Mishra had made it to the river with around about 400,000 in the middle and the board read . Rast was first to act and bet 300,000, enough to send Mishra into the tank for several minutes. Eventually he nodded and said, "Okay, I call."
Rast opened for top set, beating out Mishra's . The man from Singapore will have to rebuild from 92,000 now.
Those were the words from last year's World Series of Poker Main Event runner-up Felix Stephensen after he made his way to the payout desk following an elimination at the hands of Phil Ivey.
Stephensen's couldn't overcome the of Ivey on the final board of , and the Norwegian was gone from the 2015 Aussie Millions Main Event.
Noah Schwartz joins the Remko Report to talk about winning, what was at the time, the largest online poker tournament ever, competing in super high rollers, and living life to the fullest.
flop paired Kan to make him a heavy favorite. The 
turn left Guillen in need of a jack to stay alive, but it wasn't in the cards as the useless 
paired the board on the river.
was put out on the river for good measure, and Balsiger wished the table luck before taking his leave. There will be no back-to-back cashes for Jakey.
flop holding the 
. The 
turn gave Colman some life with a flush draw, but the 
river proved useless.
![[user68268]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
flop roll out. Gruissem continued for 15,500 and called after Rast check-raised to 51,500. The turn was the 
and Rast led for 35,000. Call. On the 
.
came on the turn and applause rang out around the room, mainly from players congratulating themselves. All those remaining are guaranteed AU$15,000.
. The man from Singapore will have to rebuild from 92,000 now.
