Ari Engel was seen walking to the rail and was kind enough to give us some details on his recent bust out. Engel was down to 18 big blinds when he got a jack-high flop with . He got it in against Pratyush Buddiga who turned out to have . Engel, who won the Main Event here last year for A$1.6 million ($1,120,110), does not plan to buy back in.
We missed the pre-flop and flop action, but were there for the turn in a hand between Italians Mustapha Kanit (hijack) and Dario Sammartino (button). Kanit checked on and saw his countryman bet 12,500. Kanit called.
The completed the board and Kanit checked again. Sammartino went deep into the tank and eventually shoved for a hefty 75,200. Kanit tanked just as long and eventually let it go.
Table mate Chance Kornuth dared Sammartino to show a bluff but the latter quietly mucked before collecting his chips.
It's dinner break for the 78 remaining players of the $25,000 Challenge high rollers. Registration remains open till the end of the 45-minute dinner break.
With registration now closed, it the total amount of entries is 133. Of those 133, 66 remain right now to make for an average stack of just over 100,000.
* denotes a 5-way deal with Dan Smith (2nd, A$278,414), Jason Mercier (3rd, A$265,538), Martin Jacobson (4th, A$285,921) and Scott Seiver (5th, A$265,538)
** denotes a deal with Tobias Reinkemeier (2nd, A$614,850)
In a three-way pot, Matt Affleck was all in from the big blind against Ryan D'Angelo and the player in the small blind. The side-pot remained a little over 20,000 when both active players checked on . The small blind bet 16,300 on the turn and D'Angelo, seated in the cutoff, called. Both checked the on the river and the small blind turned over . Affleck showed and the pot went to D'Angelo who tabled .
[Removed:17], seated on the button, was checked to by Martin Finger on a flop of . Yan bet 5,500 and big blind Finger check-raised to 15,300 with about 56,000 behind. Yan called in position to see a turn of come off. Finger checked and Yan moved in. Finger called instantly but his was trailing Yan's . The river was meaningless and Finger said his goodbyes.
The $25,000 Challenge of the 2017 Aussie Millions has a total prize pool of A$3,192,000 and will award 14 players. A min cash is worth A$63,840 ($48,012) while making the six-handed final table guarantees you a minimum payout of A$143,640 ($108,012). The top contender walks away with A$861,840 ($648,098).