Oliver Price opened for 27,000 from the hijack and Benny Spindler called from the small blind. Phanlert Sukonthachartnant did the same from the big and three players took a flop of , which they all checked. When the appeared on the turn, Spindler checked, Sukonthachartnant bet 45,000, and Price folded.
Spindler made the call and then action went check-check on the river. Sukonthachartnant tabled the for a missed flush that turned into nines and sevens, which was good as Spindler mucked his hand.
With an average stack of 42 big blinds, the play has severely slowed down. Most pots see just a min raise and a lot of checking, no big action recently.
We picked up the action on the turn with a board reading . Igor Kurganov check-called a bet of 65,000 from Chance Kornuth, who was on the button, and then checked the river. Kornuth fired out 150,000, and Kurganov thought for nearly a minute before making the call.
Kornuth showed the for a bluff, and then Kurganov rolled over the for a flush as the win.
This year's Aussie Millions has been the biggest on record so far, by a long margin. Of the 9 Championship events held to date this series, 7 of them have had a year-on-year increase in total number of players. Every day has seen more and more players flood into Melbourne for a shot at the huge prizepools on offer. Today is no different, and is the busiest day of the Championship so far.
The Poker Room is packed to the rafters, "Satellite Central" is overflowing with players trying to qualify for tomorrows Main Event, there are 3 separate Championship events running, and the cash games are overflowing with players chasing the $100,000+ Royal Flush Jackpot.
Jason Koon first lost some chips to Oliver Price where he had to give up on the flop in a three-bet pot. The next hand, with 183,000 left over after anteing up, he open shoved from the cutoff. Ben Tollerene in the big blind made the call.
Jason Koon:
Ben Tollerene:
"Racing with my best buddy" Jason Koon said after eyeing the showdown.
Koon would win this race as the board came . Tollerene and Koon now with similar (short) stacks.
Igor Kurganov raised to 26,000 under the gun and Team PokerStars Pro Eugene Katachalov called from the small blind. Michael Egan came along from the big and three players saw a flop of , which they all checked. After the dealer burned and turned the , Katchalov led out for 52,000, Egan folded, and Kurganov moved all in. Katchalov snap-called off for 295,000 total.
Katchalov:
Kurganov:
Kurganov had flopped big, but Katchalov pulled ahead on the turn. The river failed to help Kurganov, and he sent a good portion of his stack across the table.
Igor Kurganov raised from the button to 26,000 and Dominik Nitsche called from the small blind. The flop brought out and Nitsche check-called a bet of 22,000.
The turn brought the and now Nitsche check-folded to a bet of 47,000.