In half an hour from now at 12.15 p.m. local time, Day 2 of the A$1,150 No-Limit Hold'em Opening Event will get underway at the Crown Casino in Melbourne. The first event of the 2016 Aussie Millions Poker Championship drew a field of 1,320 entries through four starting days and just 222 remain to battle for the first-place payout of A$275,300.
The top 126 spots will get paid at least A$2,975 and a total of ten 60-minute levels are scheduled for the penultimate day with a 30-minute dinner break after the end of level six. Play resumes with blinds at 1,200-2,400 and a running ante of 400. Still in the lead is Flight 2 chip leader Ferenc Riech with 205,700.
In the overall top 10, only one other player is not from Australia and that is fellow German Christian Nolte, who led Flight D last night with 166,500. Besides that, plenty of local talent has made it through including Daniel Neilson (167,000), Australian Poker Hall of Famer Van Marcus (148,800) and Andrew Hinrichsen (95,600).
The international field is represented by EPT Malta champion Niall Farrell (131,000), Kenneth Khoo (123,300), Louis Salter (120,000), Josep Maria Galindo Lopez (88,200), Ronnie Bardah (83,200) and Matas Cimbolas (81,300). Among the shorter stacks are Gerald Karlic (53,200), Rainer Kempe (44,200) and Xuan Liu (31,700).
The event is scheduled to play down to a winner tomorrow and the PokerNews live reporting team will be at hand to provide all key hands until the final river card is dealt.
Tatjana Zizic doubled up with against the of former November Niner Felix Stephensen and then the Norwegian three-bet jammed into the raise of Travis Rawlins with pocket threes. Rawlins snap-called with pocket tens and that's all she wrote.
Stephensen left his chair with a dry smile and said "that wasn't the best start."
In the last hand before the break, in fact it lasted five minutes into it, a huge pot played out between Mark Malecha and Michael Seymour. Seymour had raised to 12,000 and Malecha three-bet pretty big to 48,000 in the small blind. Seymour just flat-called and they headed to the flop .
Malecha checked, Seymour bet 48,000 and then faced a check-raise to 150,000. Seymour moved all in for slightly more and Malecha had the dealer count it before paying off the additional 38,000 chips with . Seymour flipped over and faded the runner runner miracle with the turn and river as final two community cards.
Hon Cheong Lee is out and Aditya Rao is the first player past the one-million-chip mark and into the lead after a massive confrontation just played out at their table.
They got about 200,000 in the middle preflop before Lee led 85,000 into the flop. Rao made it 175,000, Lee shoved huge and Rao called it off with the .
Rao was on the right end of this massive cooler as Lee held the . The board ran out , Rao's kings held and as he took the lead, Lee said his goodbyes.
Kevin Blackwood made a standard raise and Alexandre Thomas decided to let his last 300,000 fly behind.
Niall Farrell woke up with a hand in the big blind and jammed in for a little under 100,000 more and Blackwood mucked.
Farrell was miles ahead with the versus Thomas' , but that's why there's a flop , turn and river. In the end, all Alexander needed was the flop to sew it up with the nut flush and Farrell was left short.
He got it in with suited rages versus a hand later, but an ace on the flop did Farrell in this time.
Phachara Wongwichit opened to 33,000 and the action folded around to Peter Sheary in the big blind. He came as replacement in for Katrina, who played the first day and then had just given birth, and peeked at his cards. Pleased to find something with just 60,000 chips remaining, Sheary moved all in and Wingwichit called.
Sheary:
Wongwichit:
There was no help on the board and that sent the Aussie to the rail in 25th place.
Wayne Brindley moved all in for just over 100,000 chips and the action folded around to Ferenc Riech in the big blind. He checked both hole cards and then made the call, flashing over .
Brindley flipped with the and found an open-ended straight draw on the flop . Instead, the turn and river gave Riech a flush and the start-of-the-day chip leader sent his opponent to the rail in 24th place.
Jie Gao moved all in for his last 89,000 and Kevin Blackwood flat-called from the cutoff. On the button, Michael Seymour also called and everyone else folded. The flop came and Blackwood quickly shoved, resulting in a seemingly painful fold from Seymour.
Gao:
Blackwood:
Neither the on the turn nor the on the river changed anything and Gao was sent to the rail in 22nd place while Blackwood shot to the top of the leader board.
Only a few minutes ago, Phachara Wongwichit and Navid King clashed and the two were at it again just now. King had shoved from early position and Wongwichit isolated from the button to get folds all around.
"Are we flipping?" Wongwichit asked and then turned over his cards, King nodded.
King:
Wongwichit:
The flop and the turn changed nothing, but the river sent King to the rail in 21st place.
against the 
of former November Niner Felix Stephensen and then the Norwegian three-bet jammed into the raise of Travis Rawlins with pocket threes. Rawlins snap-called with pocket tens and that's all she wrote.
.
. Seymour flipped over 
and faded the runner runner miracle with the 
turn and 
river as final two community cards.
.
, Rao's kings held and as he took the lead, Lee said his goodbyes.
versus Thomas' 
flop to sew it up with the nut flush and Farrell was left short.
and that sent the Aussie to the rail in 25th place.
. 
and found an open-ended straight draw on the flop 
. Instead, the 
turn and 
river gave Riech a flush and the start-of-the-day chip leader sent his opponent to the rail in 24th place.
with Salsberg asking for a 
