With around 25,000 chips in the pot and the board reading , Mufit Bechim checked in the small blind and Ferenc Riech moved all in with the superior stack. Bechim eventually called and Riech turned over the for a pair of nines only. Bechim had that beat with and doubled up for 68,500.
"It was very unlikely he had an eight, Riech said to fellow German Paul Hoefer, his stack cut down considerably.
Frank Williams has moved into chip boss position here as the money bubble looms.
There was about 60,000 chips in the middle on a board when Williams checked to heads-up opponent Huy Pham. Pham led for 25,000, but Williams was ready with the check-raise jam, putting Pham to the test for all his chips.
Pham folded, and with that pot, Williams became the first player past the 200,000-chip mark.
Dean Blatt shoved less than 10 big blinds from the button with the and Elliot Smith called from the big blind with . The board ran out and the pair of Sixes from Smith held up.
David Lopez and Daniel Strelitz had almost evenly strong hands, but the Aussie hit the rail with after his kicker failed to improve against Lopez' on a board of .
It was somewhat unclear when the chips went in, but Vic Spadavecchia had found top pair with the on the board to better the of start-of-the-day chip leader Ferenc Riech. Apparently the stacks went in after the turn and the two outer for the German didn't come.
David Crotti moved all in for his last 10,000 from early position and Piyush Gupta called. Xia Rong then reshoved from one seat over for 30,000 and Gupta made the call after some consideration.
Crotti:
Rong:
Gupta:
The board ran out and the river gave Gupta a set to bust two opponents.
After 12 levels of 40 minutes each, the 2016 Aussie Millions Poker Championship A$2,500 No-Limit Hold'em Event #16 has whittled down its field of 190 entries to its last 34 hopefuls, who will return to the poker room of the Crown Entertainment complex in one hour from now at 2 p.m. local time.
Only the top 21 spots get paid at least A$4,255 whereas the winner can look forward to a payday of A$106,920 and the elusive LK Boutique championship ring. Leading the field of survivors is Germany's Ferenc Riech with 183,700, who already had the top spot after Day 1 of the Opening Event #1 and eventually finished 10th. Michael Bouskila is in second place with 171,500 and the Aussie already claimed a title here in Melbourne back in 2013 by taking down a Six Max Event for A$ 110,000.
Other big stacks and notables include World Series of Poker bracelet winner Paul Hoefer (150,000), 2015 WSOP $ 1,500 No Limit Hold'em Millionaire Maker (Event #16) runner-up Javier Zarco (119,000), Frank Williams (107,400), Piyush Gupta (105,400), Geoffrey Mooney (103,600), James Atkin (92,200), Elliot Smith (57,800), Jorn Walthaus (46,200), two times WSOP bracelet winner Brian Yoon (38,000) and Sergio Aido (36,800).
Action recommences with level 13 at blinds 1,200-2,400 and a running ante of 300. The event is scheduled to play down to a winner today and the PokerNews live reporting team will be on hand to provide all key hands until the last river card is dealt.
, Mufit Bechim checked in the small blind and Ferenc Riech moved all in with the superior stack. Bechim eventually called and Riech turned over the 
for a pair of nines only. Bechim had that beat with 
and doubled up for 68,500.
board when Williams checked to heads-up opponent Huy Pham. Pham led for 25,000, but Williams was ready with the check-raise jam, putting Pham to the test for all his chips.
. The board ran out 
and the pair of Sixes from Smith held up.
flop with the 
.
and a lot more chips. Lopez busted after the 
turn and 
river were no help to his cause.
to better the 
and the river gave Gupta a set to bust two opponents.
