Aussie Millions Highlights
Dia 7 Concluído
2019 Aussie Millions
Aussie Millions Highlights
Dias: 7
Hia Leads Final Nine in Event #4: A$1,150 Pot Limit Omaha
Event #4: A$1,150 Pot-Limit Omaha was always going to be a popular event at the 2019 Aussie Millions. So much so that by the first break it had attracted 188 entries, and by the time registration closed at the end of Level 6 the final number of entries was 288, ever so slightly up on last year's 284.
The plan for today was to play 18 levels or down to a final table, and they did so with 15 minutes left in the day.
Leading the way is Christine Hia who is well clear of the rest of the field with a stack of 856,000 from the starting 10,000.
Hia will be the only player over the 100 big blind mark when play resumes at 1pm tomorrow. Sitting 29th on the Malaysian all-time money list, Hia last cashed in the Aussie Millions Pot Limit Omaha event back in 2015, finishing 20th for A$2,500.
This year, however, she will have here eyes set on taking home a much larger chunk of the prize pool.
Here's how the final nine players are seated for the final table tomorrow:
| Seat | Name | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Michael Seymour | Australia | 171,000 | 21 |
| 2 | Johan Dalessandri | Australia | 260,000 | 33 |
| 3 | Dylan Kii | Australia | 395,000 | 49 |
| 4 | Paul Hockin | New Zealand | 302,000 | 38 |
| 5 | Peter Brasile | Australia | 70,000 | 9 |
| 6 | Christine Hia | Malaysia | 856,000 | 107 |
| 7 | William Mitchell | Australia | 230,000 | 29 |
| 8 | Ryan Hong | Australia | 322,000 | 40 |
| 9 | Michael Hahn | United States | 273,000 | 34 |
Both Johan Dalessandri and Ryan Hong have final tabled this event for the second consecutive year. Hong managed fifth for A$22,050 while Dalessandri finished third for A$36,225
A total of 32 places were paid. Players who busted before the money included defending champion Andrew Lock, 2006 Aussie Millions Main Event champion Lee Nelson, Joshua Abady, Dzmitry Urbanovich, Anthony Hachem and Sam Higgs.
Notable finishes in the money included Michael Soyza (21st - A$2,805) and Sorel Mizzi (15th - A$3,985).
The remaining nine players have all guaranteed themselves A$7,085 but will be aiming for the A$70,115 first prize.
| Place | Payout (AUD) | Payout (USD) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | $70,115 | $50,483 |
| 2 | $45,025 | $32,418 |
| 3 | $28,780 | $20,722 |
| 4 | $22,880 | $16,474 |
| 5 | $17,270 | $12,434 |
| 6 | $14,020 | $10,094 |
| 7 | $11,070 | $7,970 |
| 8 | $8,855 | $6,376 |
| 9 | $7,085 | $5,101 |
Stay tuned to PokerNews to see who scoops the 2019 Aussie Millions Pot Limit Omaha crown, along with prize money and ANTON Championship Ring!
Muhammad Asad Wins Event #1: A$1,150 Opening Event for A$219,908
Muhammad Asad has taken down the largest 1k tournament in the Southern Hemisphere for A$219,980 (US$158,385) after a three-way deal here at the 2019 Aussie Millions.
Coming into the final table with a middling stack, Asad navigated his way to the top and eventually toppled runner-up Jason Prichard.
"It hasn't really sunk in," Asad told PokerNews. "I focused on taking it one hand at a time, so I haven't really thought about it too much.
Asad, who is from Sydney, said that he doesn't play too regularly any more, preferring to play in "bigger, well-organized tournaments" such as the Aussie Millions.
"Today I was really calm," he continued. "I felt confident more confident going into today than yesterday. I knew that if I got through Day 2 I knew I'd have a good chance on Day 2. I just played my game and stayed confident. There were some times where I ran really good. You need to run good and it all worked out!"
Runner-up Pritchard eliminated four of the players at the final table and locked up the lion's share of the payouts after the deal, only to finish as runner-up.
Here are the final table results:
| Place | Name | Country | Payout (AUD) | Payout (USD) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Muhammad Asad | Australia | $219,908* | $158,334* |
| 2 | Jason Pritchard | Australia | $285,000* | $205,200* |
| 3 | Matt Edwards | United Kingdom | $195,000* | $140,400* |
| 4 | Didrik Mantok | Norway | $93,920 | $67,622 |
| 5 | Pierce McKellar | United States | $62,493 | $44,995 |
| 6 | Kim Macnaught | Australia | $44,535 | $32,065 |
| 7 | Ning Zhang | Australia | $37,173 | $26,765 |
| 8 | Justin Bernstein | Australia | $31,785 | $22,885 |
| 9 | Tou Ta Wei | Taiwan | $26,398 | $19,007 |
*denotes a three-way deal
Play resumed today with 15 players remaining. Chip leader at the start of the day Artur Koren was one of the first eliminations, exiting in 12th place for A$17,419 after shoving ace-jack suited with 19 big blinds from the cutoff, only to be called by Didrik Manton with sevens. The pocket pair held and Koren was eliminated.
By the time the final table was reached, Pritchard was the chip leader with around four million in chips. He would extend that chip lead to close to five million with the elimination of Tou Ta Wei in 9th place for A$26,398.
Justin Bernstein was the longtime chip leader during the latter stages of Day 2 and came into the day second in chips. He was next to go when eliminated by Muhammad Asad. Bernstein takes home A$6,640 for his efforts.
"I had a fair idea about the sort of game each player was going to bring," said Asad. "I just had to pick my spots carefully, make no mistakes and give myself the best chance in those spots."
There was a double for Ning Zhang but it would be in vain as he fell to Pierce McKellar in seventh place for A$8,485, as the latter made a move up the chip counts.
Pritchard still led by the next break, more than a million chips clear of Asad and his chip lead was extended further after he flopped a set of sixes to eliminate Kim Macnaught in sixth place for A$44,535, and finished off McKellar in fifth place for A$62,493.
McKellar held ace-queen and flopped a queen, but unfortunately for him Pritchard held pocket queens and sent the American to the rail.
And things got even better for Pritchard when he sent Manton to the rail in fourth for $93,920 - his third elimination by him in a row. The remaining three players opted to look at the numbers.
| Name | Chip Count | ICM Payout (AUD) | ICM Payout (USD) | Deal Payout (AUD) | Deal Payout (USD) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jason Pritchard | 9,170,000 | $274,434 | $197,592 | $285,000 | $205,200 |
| Matt Edwards | 4,590,000 | $219,472 | $158,020 | $195,000 | $140,400 |
| Muhammad Asad | 3,825,000 | $206,002 | $148,321 | $205,000 | $147,600 |
There was much deliberation between the three players with each wanting a different alteration made to the deal. Chip leader Pritchard wanted A$300,000 while Asad wanted A$240,000. But after much deliberation, the players agreed on some revised numbers, leaving A$14,908 aside for the winner along with the ANTON Championship Ring.
"Initially I didn't really want to do a deal; I was feeling pretty confident," said Asad. "But at the same time it's easy to get coolered and there goes $70,000. We spoke about it for a while and it took a long time for us to get a deal done.
"I ended up getting a better offer than was initial on the numbers. And then I decided it was a smart idea to just take it."
Edwards and Asad proceeded to exchange doubles before the players went on a dinner break, but when they return it was Edwards who was eliminated first at the hands of Asad. Getting it in with king-eight against Asad's pocket deuces, Edwards flopped trip eights. The turn bricked, but Asad rivered a two to send Edwards out in third for A$195,000 after the deal.
"Look," he said after his elimination. "I've been looking forward to this since I won by ticket 2-3 months ago. I had it on the fridge and my wife was sick of me talking about poker, so it got moved to the side of the fridge.
"But as it got nearer and nearer, it got moved back to the front of the fridge again! I'll see you again in a week and a half and I'll be back up there on the stream with Jason Somerville!"
That elimination pushed Asad in the chip counts as the two remaining players commenced heads-up play. After a short back and forth, Asad got it in with a flush draw against the top pair and open-ended straight draw of Pritchard. The turn bricked, but the river completed Asad's flush draw and he sealed victory shortly after 10 pm.
"It attracts all the best players from around Australia and around the world," said Asad about the Aussie Millions. "Everyone feels the atmosphere here, with the pictures [of past Main Event champions] on the walls and everything. You definitely feel the history of the game here.
"You don't get that here often as much as you get in Europe. So when you do get the opportunity to come and play it's special just being here."
Justin Liberto Wins Event #3: A$1,150 Shot Clock Shootout for A$36,220
After two days of shootout play, beating a field of 180 players and overcoming three separate tables, Justin Liberto has won Event #3: Shot Clock Shootout for A$36,220.
Coming into the final table with the chip lead, Liberto managed to navigate his way to win a third table in the shootout format and secure his first ever Aussie Millions cash and title .
In fact, this is only the American's third cash outside of North America; remarkable for a man with over US$3,000,000 in lifetime cashes.
Here are the final table results:
| Place | Name | Country | Payout (AUD) | Payout (USD) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Justin Liberto | United States | $36,220 | $26,078 |
| 2 | Adam Kane | Australia | $30,540 | $21,989 |
| 3 | Jordan Westmorland | United States | $19,470 | $14,018 |
| 4 | Kuo Chen Hung | Taiwan | $15,775 | $11,358 |
| 5 | Christian Nolte | Austria | $12,550 | $9,036 |
| 6 | Cooper Smout | Netherlands | $10,330 | $7,438 |
| 7 | Sarah Bilney | Australia | $8,485 | $6,109 |
| 8 | Travis Endersby | Australia | $6,640 | $4,781 |
| 9 | Toby Lewis | United Kingdom | $4,795 | $3,452 |
Final Table Recap
Despite coming into the final table third in chips, Toby Lewis was the first player out the door, adding A$4,795 to the A$1,458,198 he won for winning last year's Aussie Millions Main Event. Including that victory, this is Lewis' seventh Aussie Millions cash to date.
Travis Endersby only had one previous Aussie Millions cash before today, coming back in 2017 where he finished 97th in the Opening Event for A$3,530. Endersby regularly plays at the Crown Casino in Perth, but traveled to Sydney and finish eighth in Shot Clock Shootout for A$6,640.
This was Sarah Bilney's third Aussie Millions final table in four years. She finished fifth in the Deep Freeze for A$23,095 in 2016, and seventh in the Six Max for A$19,565 in 2017. This year she added A$11,070 to her poker career earnings which now top US$300,000.
Cooper Smout is a cognitive neuroscience PhD student at the University of Queensland Brain Institute in Brisbane, and obviously put his brain to good use to finish sixth for A$14,020 and his first Aussie Millions cash.
Christian Nolte was the last remaining European at the final table, and he was eliminated next, mirroring Bilney's achievement of making three Aussie Million final tables in four years but beating the sixth place he finishedin the same event back in 2016 for $20,755. Two years ago he followed that up by finishing third in the Omaha Hi-Lo for A$10,575. The Austrian takes home A$10,330 in prize money.
Coming into the final table second in chips, Kuo Chen Hung managed to stick around until he bust in third place for A$15,775 and his first Aussie Millions cash. That left two Americans and one Australian left fighting for the ring three-handed.
After two cashes in the Aussie Millions Six Max event in 2016 and 2018, Jordan Westmorland made his first Aussie Millions final table before busting in third place for A$19,470.
Runner-up Adam Kane scored his first recorded HendonMob cash since 2009 taking home A$30,540 for his efforts, falling just short of defeating Liberto as the final table finished at around 10 pm local time.
Stay tuned to PokerNews for more recaps, interviews and highlights from the entire Aussie Millions festival.
Michael Soyza on the Hunt for Third Aussie Millions Ring
In 2018, Michael Soyza came close to winning a third Aussie Millions ring, finishing second in the Six Max event for A$ 84,280 in an event won by American Chance Kornuth.
This year he's back and has already been busy at the tables, missing out on the Shot Clock Shootout yesterday to lock up his Main Event seat in one of the many satellites that are run by the Crown each year.
"I would have played the Shootout," said Soyza. "It's not a format that you get to play that often. It's quite fun and a bit of a change. Most of the time when you're playing there's ICM and other important stuff but this time you're just playing for the win so it's good fun.
"You need to win your table, right, so you need to play more aggressively. It's not so much about being conservative, you just need to get in there and play!"
Soyza will get the chance to go one better than 2018 tomorrow when the 2019 Six-Max event gets underway, and he says he remembers enjoying himself at the final table last year.
"I remember playing against Chance [Kornuth]. He played really well. I was just chilling, playing poker, and then suddenly we were heads-up and I thought "Nice!" I thought I was going to win a third ring, but I did not, so hopefully, I get to do it again this year!"
Soyza's two rings came in the 2015 and 2016 Accumulator, a format which allows players to combine multiple stacks from each starting flight.
"You can play every flight and combine your chips. But it's really hard to make Day 2! I won it twice and both times I had 18 big blinds on Day 2.
"Some people go nuts and play every flight. There are a few guys who play every flight and they're like: "Come on man, you gotta get a lot of chips." But I'm like it's hard to make Day 2 sometimes!"
The Accumulator event gets underway on Wednesday 23rd January with the first of three starting flights. Stay tuned to PokerNews to see how Soyza gets on in his hunt for a third Aussie Millions ring.
Opening Event Final Table Draw
With 15 players left at the start of the day, all that was needed was six more eliminations before the final table of nine was confirmed.
Alan Schubert started the day with just four big blinds and was first out. Danny Ayoub and Vishal Maini both started the day with under 30 big blinds and were also eliminated, taking home A$14,545.
Artur Koren was a surprising elimination in 12th place for $17,419. The chip leader at the start of both Day 2 and Day 3 was eliminated after shoving ace-jack suited into the pocket sevens of Didrik Manton.
Josh McCully was next to go in 11th place for A$17,419 before the tournament went hand for hand on the final table bubble. Sean Eichendorf was chip leader at the end of the third starting flight, and he would bust in 10th place bringing the tournament to a final table of nine.
Here's how the remaining nine players are seated at the final table:
| Seat | Name | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Didrik Mantok | Norway | 2,500,000 | 50 |
| 2 | Justin Bernstein | Australia | 1,400,000 | 28 |
| 3 | Kim Macnaught | Australia | 3,250,000 | 65 |
| 4 | Ning Zhang | Australia | 600,000 | 12 |
| 5 | Pierce McKellar | United States | 2,300,000 | 46 |
| 6 | Jason Pritchard | Australia | 4,100,000 | 82 |
| 7 | Matt Edwards | United Kingdom | 1,100,000 | 22 |
| 8 | Tou Ta Wei | Taiwan | 875,000 | 18 |
| 9 | Muhammad Asad | Australia | 2,000,000 | 40 |
The tournament plays down to a winner today so stay tuned to PokerNews for a full recap of the action at the final table later this evening.
Toby Lewis Through to Day 2 of the Shot Clock Shootout
Yesterday saw the start of Event #3: A$1,150 Shot Clock Shootout which attracted a total of 181 entries including several big names.
As to be expected in a shootout format, the tournament threw up some tasty table draws, but the likes of Kristen Bicknell, Kenny Hallaert, Jack Sinclair, Sorel Mizzi, Aymon Hata, Rainer Kempe, Manig Loeser, Dara O'Kearney, Marvin Rettenmaier, and Steven Warburton.
Here are the 20 players who won their tables and advanced to Day 2. They include 2018 Aussie Millions Main Event champion Toby Lewis 2014 WSOP APAC Main Event runner-up Jack Salter, German Johannes Becker
| Miguel Cannizzaro | Graham Conan | Sarah Bilney | Jack Salter |
| Christian Nolte | Xavier Bustamente | Justin Liberto | Luigi Knoppers |
| Johannes Becker | Jordan Westmorland | Eiji Matsumara | Travis Endersby |
| Toby Lewis | Adam Kane | Cooper Smout | Andrew Bassat |
| Wenling Gao | Dong Guo | Jarrod Thatcher | Kuo Chen Hung |
These players will redraw around three tables of seven, seven and six, with the top three from each table advancing to the final table.
Here are the payouts for the first four eliminations at each of the outer tables, and then the payouts at the final table of nine.
| Table | Position | Payout (AUD) | Payout (USD) |
|---|---|---|---|
| FT | 1 | $36,220 | $26,078 |
| FT | 2 | $30,540 | $21,989 |
| FT | 3 | $19,470 | $14,018 |
| FT | 4 | $15,775 | $11,358 |
| FT | 5 | $12,550 | $9,036 |
| FT | 6 | $10,330 | $7,438 |
| FT | 7 | $8,485 | $6,109 |
| FT | 8 | $6,640 | $4,781 |
| FT | 9 | $4,795 | $3,452 |
| OT | 4 | $3,415 | $2,459 |
| OT | 5 | $2,765 | $1,991 |
| OT | 6 | $2,305 | $1,660 |
| OT | 7 | $2,120 | $1,526 |
PokerNews will bring you a final table recap once the winner is crowned later tonight.
Today at the Aussie Millions: Two Winners Crowned
It's the busiest day of the 2019 Aussie Millions so far, and PokerNews is going to be on hand to bring you all the action.
Two events get underway today, with two playing down to a winner including the AUD$1,150 Opening Event.
Just 15 players remain with over AUD$300,000 awaiting the winner.
Here's today's schedule:
| Day | Event | Time | Buy-in |
|---|---|---|---|
| 21st January | Event #4: Pot-Limit Omaha | 12:10 PM | AUD$1,150 |
| Opening Event Final Day | 12:30 PM | Registration closed | |
| Event #3: No Limit Hold'em Shot Clock Shootout Day 2 | 1 pm | Registration closed | |
| Event #5: No Limit Hold'em Mix Max | 6:10 PM | AUD$1,150 |
The first event to get underway is the AUD$1,150 Pot-Limit Omaha event which was won last year by Australian Andrew Locke who topped a field of 284 players to take home AUD$69,140.
Players will start with 10,000 in chips and play 18 40-minute levels or earlier if final table is reached.
In addition to crowning the winner in the Opening Event and the final stages of the Shot Clock Shootout take place later today.
A total of 20 table winners will return today at 1 pm, and will be drawn to three shootout tables of seven, seven and six players. The top three of each table will advance to a final table of nine, with the winner walking away with AUD$46,220 and the ANTON Championship Ring.
And finally at 6:10 PM Event #5: No Limit Hold'em Mix Max gets underway. Each level is 40 minutes and players are allowed one re-entry. Late registration is available for six levels.
Last year Dutchman Bas de Laat secured his first live tournament win by winning the event for AUD$72,155 after defeating a field of 285 players.
Play will begin as a full ring game and will continue until there are 60 entrants. Seats will then be redrawn and play will continue six-handed until eight entrants remain. Play will cease when the money is reached and will restart at 1pm tomorrow.
Stay tuned to PokerNews for all the updates live from the 2019 Aussie Millions.
Aussie Millions Highlights
Dia 7 Iniciado