We picked up the action on a board of and Yuri Dzivielevski checked from first position. Jason Koon, seated on the button, made a bet of 5,200 and Dzivielevski called.
The completed the board and Dzivielevski bet out 8,500. Koon wasn't thrilled by the bet and took his time contemplating what to do. "8,500?" he asked and after confirmation he put aside the 8,500 to call and thought about it some more.
Eventually Koon called, but he instantly mucked upon seeing Dzivielevski's . Koon is still at around 45,000.
Some late registrants were seat at Table 49 on the upper section of the poker room. Among them are Poker Hall of Famer Erik Seidel and WSOP APAC bracelet winner Sam Higgs.
Christopher Frank raised to 500 from the button and EPT12 Malta champ Niall Farrell defended his big blind to see a flop, which they both checked. Action repeated itself on the turn, and then Farrell tossed out 700 on the river.
Frank snap-called by tossing in a single chip, but mucked just as soon as Farrell rolled over the for a pair of eights.
After unknown action we picked things up on the flop when the board showed . [Removed:17] bet from the cutoff and the player on his left called after which Nick Yunis called from the small blind as well.
The turn brought the and Yunis checked, after which Yan bet another 4,300.
"That teddybear is really intimidating," the player on the button said to Yan, who's sporting a teddybear t-shirt.
After a while the button folded, and Yunis made the call once more.
The river completed the board with the and this time Yan checked behind with Yunis checked to him.
Yan showed for king-high, and Yunis raked in the pot with .
Unless you're living in Australia, getting to Melbourne can prove to be quite the trek. That was certainly the case for some pros who were at the PCA just last week.
Australian pro Brendon Rubie, who currently ranks 22nd on Australia's all-time money list with $1,179,432 in live tournament earnings, has been living in Honduras with Nick "FU_15" Maimone, who won the 2016 PCA $25K High Roller for $996,480, and originally wasn't going to make the trip.
However, he changed his mind at the last minute, and after 40 hours of travel — which included an unexpected stop in Sydney for his plane to refuel — he arrived in Melbourne.
Another player who was on that same flight was one of Chile's best, Nick Yunis:
Both Rubie and Yunis are in action today, so we'll be sure to keep an eye on them to see if their voyage results in riches here in the $25,000 Challenge.
The tournament clock is counting down to the tournament start (in about 10 minutes), and tells us there are 29 players registered currently. We're pretty sure that number will increase drastically soon.
The plane Antonio Esfandiari and Brian Rast were in, had to divert to Sydney because of bad weather in Melbourne here this morning. Their plane is now scheduled to depart around 4pm and as late registration is open till 8:40pm, they are gonna make it. So we'll see them later today!
no Safari
and Yuri Dzivielevski checked from first position. Jason Koon, seated on the button, made a bet of 5,200 and Dzivielevski called.
completed the board and Dzivielevski bet out 8,500. Koon wasn't thrilled by the bet and took his time contemplating what to do. "8,500?" he asked and after confirmation he put aside the 8,500 to call and thought about it some more. 
. Koon is still at around 45,000.
flop, which they both checked. Action repeated itself on the 
turn, and then Farrell tossed out 700 on the 
river.
for a pair of eights.
. [Removed:17] bet from the cutoff and the player on his left called after which Nick Yunis called from the small blind as well.
and Yunis checked, after which Yan bet another 4,300. 
for king-high, and Yunis raked in the pot with 
