For many, the 2017 Aussie Millions Poker Championship Main Event starts today. The day where one can look around and see the winner in the room - if it’s not them. The three starting flights are out of the way and, for the first time, all the remaining players are together for Day 2.
A total of 372 players from the 718 starters have made it this far but those numbers could grow as registration is open until the end of level 8 which kicks off at 12:30 p.m. local time. Total entrants last year totalled 732 so we’ll see if that number can be broken today, which would make it the second-largest field in history (currently it’s fourth!)
End of Day 1b chip leader Mustapha Kanit heads into today as the overall leader with 215,000. The only other player to make it past the 200k-mark was Ben Lai who finished on 204,700. Other large stacks heading into today include; Korey Aldemir (189,500), Tony Mladenovski (187,400), Sam Ingham (160,100), Alex Givotovsky (152,300) and Tyler McKendry (150,600).
The plan for today is to play five 90-minute levels with a 15-minute break after each one, and no dinner break. Join us back here at 12:30 p.m. for what should be an exciting day!
Tty Ly was first to act and raised to 1,800. Action folded to Michael Addamo in the small blind and the local three-bet all in for 11,000. Big blind Paul Hoefer, 2015 Little One for One-Drop champion and 2016 Aussie Millions side event winner, shoved for 23,100. Ly went deep into the tank but ultimately folded.
Michael Addamo:
Paul Hoefer:
Judging by his reaction on the flop, Ly was happy with his decision for just a second as he said "Ahhh!" when the hit.
The on the turn gave Hoefer some new outs but the on the river wasn't one of the cards he was looking for.
For a recreational player, Fedor Holz sure does play a lot of poker tournaments. The German late registered today and is busily chipping up here already and has just taken down yet another pot.
Holz was the aggressor in the hand, raising to 1,800 from the button and finding a caller in the big blind, who checked the flop over to the German.
Needing no further prompting Holz continuation bet 2,200, which was called and the turn came down . This brought another check from the big blind and another bet from Holz, this time for 6,500 which was enough to get it done.
Holz started with 30,000 in chips a little over an hour ago, and already is one of the biggest stacks in the room.
To start proceedings here on Day 2 all eyes were on 2005 WSOP Main Event champion and Australian Poker Hall of Fame chairman Joe Hachem who had taken to the microphone with some announcements.
Surrounded by fellow Hall of Famers Billy ‘The Croc’ Argyros, Leo Boxell, Graeme Putt, Jason Gray and Mel Juda, Hachem called up New Zealand’s [Removed:17] to the podium to be presented with the Young Achiever Award.
The award was to acknowledge Yan’s hard work and success on the circuit in the last few years. Yan has amassed over $3.5 million in live cashes since 2012 and scored himself $796,459 for a runner-up finish in the EPT €25,000 8-handed event last year.
After a few words from Yan, Hachem revealed that it was time to induct a new member into the Australian Poker Hall of Fame. That honour was bestowed upon none other than 2015 Aussie Millions Main Event champion Manny Stavropoulos.
The Melbourne local reflected on how poker has changed since he won his first tournament years ago and how it was an honor to receive such prestigious recognition.
After a round of applause from the seated players and the railbirds alike it was then time to shuffle up and deal, with cards in the air for Day 2 of this 2017 Aussie Millions Main Event.
The 2016 Aussie Millions Champion Ari Engel won’t be defending his title after running into an opponent’s pocket aces.
We missed the bust out but Matthew Wakeman who was sitting on Engel’s left filled us in on the details. The story goes that Engel opened the action to 2,300 before the player in the big blind made it 7,100 to go.
That’s when Engel moved all in and was called instantly by his opponent with the best preflop hand in hold’em. Engel had a modest pocket fours and couldn’t improve to see last year’s champ sent packing.
There will be a new #aussiemillions champ this year. So happy to have had the honor to hold that title. Good luck to all still competing!
An interesting hand played out between Anton Astapau and Rory Young, we arrived just as all the chips went in pre-flop but got a rundown of the action from Jeff Rossiter.
Sitting under the gun, Young min-raised to 2,400 and action folded around to Astapau. It is unclear whether Astapau had noticed Young’s raise as the two players were seated on opposite ends of the table, but Astapau announced a raise before putting in too few chips. This was ruled to be a min-raise and the dealer made Astapau put out a raise.
Young shoved and Astapau snap-called, tabling while Young had .
“Was that a mistake?” asked a clearly irked Young.
“Who knows?” retorted Astapau.
The flop came down giving Astapau top set which improved to a full house when the turn and river came down respectively.
Astapau had 40,700 at the start of that hand so doubled to 82,100 while Young was left on life support and dropped down to under 10,000.
This found its way into the middle shortly afterward when Young shoved with from the button and a tablemate in the big blind called with . The board ran out to end Young’s Main Event and he headed for the exit shaking his head.
"What just happened?" we asked Rory Brown as he was stacking a lot of chips while the cutoff was seen leaving the tournament area with hanging shoulders and a look of confusion and chagrin on his face.
As we quickly wrote down the board and cards that were still out on the table while the delaer was pushing the chips to Brown, we got the story of what had happened.
The cutoff opened for 2,700 and Brown three-bet from the button to 9,000. Both blinds folded and the cutoff four-bet to 22,000. Brown called in position.
The flop came and the cutoff bet 15,000. Brown called once more and saw the come off on the turn. The cutoff checked and Brown pushed for about 45,000 or so. The cutoff called.
Cutoff:
Rory Brown:
Brown needed a jack and a jack only to bust his neighbor or he would be crippled. It turned out to be Brown's lucky day as the hit and the cutoff parted ways with all of his chips and Brown could start stacking.
At the start of day, we imported all the chip counts to our chip count page.
Unfortunately, there's no way for us to keep all the chip counts up to date throughout the day, and players that bust might stay in there till we import the Day 3 counts at the end of the day.
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It appears Jennifer Tilly is our runaway chip leader after spiking a set of jacks and setting the trap against her tablemate.
We arrived as the monster pot was brewing, with around 70,000 already in the middle, and the cards spread . Tilly was in the cutoff and checked it over to the player on the button who announced he was all in with enough to cover Tilly’s 133,900.
Tilly snapped it off for her tournament life and the two players revealed their hands.
Tilly:
Opponent:
Tilly’s flopped set was in front but she still had to fade a river spade to stay alive. The rolled off to signal safety for Tilly as she secured the biggest pot of the tournament so far.
Upon request, Marc Macdonnell told us how it came to be he had a stack worth 230,000 in front of him - well more than double average.
Macdonnell opened the button and the big blind defended. The player check-called 2,000 on before leading for 4,000 on the turn. Macdonnell, with in the hole, raised to 11,500 and his opponent called. A completed the board and the big blind shoved for about 50,000. Macdonnell called with his full house and the big blind showed .
hit. 
on the turn gave Hoefer some new outs but the 
on the river wasn't one of the cards he was looking for.
flop over to the German.
![Manny Stavropoulos (above) [Removed:17] (below)](https://s.pnimg.net/JJSIypHqB_QQyngeDIxAOUwQnHIMWUxU-3byHS0nH3o/pr:reporting-leading-desktop/aHR0cHM6Ly9wbmlt/Zy5uZXQvbHJlcC8x/OTIyLzg1L3hjYTEz/MjRjMjY2LmpwZw.webp)
while Young had 
giving Astapau top set which improved to a full house when the turn and river came down 
from the button and a tablemate in the big blind called with 
and the cutoff bet 15,000. Brown called once more and saw the 
come off on the turn. The cutoff checked and Brown pushed for about 45,000 or so. The cutoff called.
. Tilly was in the cutoff and checked it over to the player on the button who announced he was all in with enough to cover Tilly’s 133,900. 
rolled off to signal safety for Tilly as she secured the biggest pot of the tournament so far.
completed the board and the big blind shoved for about 50,000. Macdonnell called with his full house and the big blind showed 
.