There have been several casualties already on table 17 and that included Martin Ward and 2014 WSOP APAC bracelet winner Sam Higgs.
After spending the previous days with high stakes PLO cash games at Crown Casino, Higgs late-regged on Day 2 and immediately lost half of his stack. He then doubled through Ali Ghezelbash with quads nines, holding on a board of when the last 9,900 went in after the river.
Soon after, however, the seat that formerly belonged was empty and Ghezelbash had far more in chips. According to Ghezelbash and other players at the table, a three-way flop of was checked and they got it in on the turn. A short stack held for a pair, open-ender and flush draw. Higgs isolated with for top pair and a gutshot, while Ghezelbash snap-called with for the nut straight. There was no upset on the river and Ghezelbash jumped well above the average.
Shortly before Day 2 got underway, two awards were given out by members of the Australian Poker Hall of Fame.
The first was the Australian Poker Young Achiever Award. After Kahle Burns received this award last year, Joe Hachem was on hand to present.
"Every year we try and recognise someone who is up and coming worked hard on their game," said Hachem. "They've represented Australia all over the world and made big strides. We see this as an encouragement. We see poker in Australia growing every year and we want to encourage people to keep doing what they’re doing."
This year's award went to Alex Lynskey.
Alex Lynskey's 2018 in Poker
- 7th WSOP $10,000 Main Event ($1,500,000)
- 9th $5,300 Caribbean Poker Party Main Event ($155,000)
- 1st WSOP International Circuit Sydney Main Event (AU$422,796)
“It feels amazing," said Lynskey. "Obviously making the WSOP Main Event final table is fantastic and it's great to see all the hard work pay off."
Mateusz_Pater
Cole Swannack - Start of Day 2 Chip Leader
For many, the 2019 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 405 players from the 797 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 totaled 800 so by only needing a handful of entrants to enter today, they are sure to surpass the record for the largest field in the event's history!
End of Day 1c chip leader Cole Swannack heads into today as the overall leader with 208,200 and the only player above the 200,000 chip mark. Swannack finds himself in an identical position to last year when he also entered the start of Day 2 as the chip leader. Other large stacks heading into today include; Day 1b chip leader Julian Stuer (196,500) and Day 1b chip leader Paul-Francois Tedeschi (195,400) who round out the top three.
Main Event Run Down
Tournament Day
Date
Time
Entries
Survivors
Further Info
1a
Sunday Jan. 27th
12:30
165
79
Play seven levels of 90 minutes, 75 min dinner break after level 4
1b
Monday Jan. 28th
12:30
268
135
Play seven levels of 90 minutes, 75 min dinner break after level 4
1c
Tuesday Jan. 29th
12:30
tba
191
Play seven levels of 90 minutes, 75 min dinner break after level 4
2
Wednesday Jan. 30th
12:30
797*
405
Registration remains open for first 90-minute level
3
Thursday Jan. 31st
12:30
tba
tba
Switch to 6-max when 36 players remain
4
Friday Feb. 1st
12:30
tba
tba
Play down to the final table
5
Sunday Feb. 3rd
12:30
tba
tba
Play down to a champion
*registration remains open for the first level
Notables to progress to today include; former main event champion David Gorr, bracelet winners Jackie Glazier, Michael Gathy and Andrew Hinrichsen, Richard Ashby, Randy Lew, Celina Lin and Australian Poker Hall-of-Famer Billy “The Croc” Argyros.
Defending champion Toby Lewis will also return today with a stack of 47,100. Lewis is having a remarkable series so far, already coming second in the 25k Challenge before going one better, taking down the 50k Challenge yesterday afternoon.
AU$50,000 Challenge Winner Toby Lewis
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!
on a board of 
when the last 9,900 went in after the river.
was checked and they got it in on the 
turn. A short stack held 
