Yet another pile of chips has been sent over to Paul Michaelis as the German continues to climb up the leader board late on Day 1b. This time he looked up the check-raise all in of an opponent in the big blind on the flop. His continuation bet was met by a shove for 14,950 and Michaelis called.
Big blind:
Paul Michaelis:
Neither the turn nor the river changed the outcome of the hand and Michaelis raked in the pot. While doing so, the dealer pitched the next cards and one of them landed half-way in the sleeve of his hoodie. "Oh, so that's how you do it," Rory Young from one seat over joked.
On the four-way flop of , Shane Howlett moved all in for his last 10,000 out of the small blind and the big blind called. Fabian Quoss folded from one seat over and so did Szymon Wysocki on the button, exposing his .
Shane Howlett:
Big blind:
The turn and river failed to improve Howlett and he was eliminated.
Lance Patison had been moved over to the table of Rory Young, Ana Marquez and Paul Michaelis. Not long after, Patison sent a short stack to the rail when his held up versus on a board of .
With the levels ticking away, and Day 1b almost over here in the 2018 Aussie Millions Main Event, we caught up with 2005 WSOP Main Event champion Joe Hachem to ask him how important the Aussie Millions is to Australian poker and to him personally.
"The Aussie Millions is Australian poker, basically," said Hachem. "It's the crown jewel. It's our major! I mean, you just have to look at all the people who come from all over the world. It's the major of the southern hemisphere.
"Obviously I've been here since its inception [in 1998] so I'm part of that, and every year I look forward to it. I live in Melbourne, so I'm never anywhere else!"
We asked Hachem what it would mean to him to win the Aussie Millions and he smiled broadly.
"I’ve answered this question many, many times and it’s always the same answer. The Aussie Millions is the notch on my resume that I’m hoping for one day. It would be so sweet to win it in my home casino, in my home city, in my home country!"
After a raise to 2,000 and a call, Tristan Bain three-bet to 6,000 on the button and Scott Davies four-bet to 17,000 out of the small blind. The big blind and initial two players folded, but Bain called and the duo headed to the flop. Davies once more made it 17,000 to go and Bain called after some consideration.
As soon as the fell on the turn, Davies moved all in for more than 40,000 and Bain was sent into the think tank. He tried table chart and even almost squeezed his cards to Davies, who kept his cool and continued to stare at the board without showing any reaction at all. Ultimately, Bain let go and Davies boosted his stack nicely without showdown.
The small blind completed and called a raise to 2,000 from Manig Loeser. Loeser barreled for 900 and then 1,500 on the flop and turn as hit the felt. The river was and both players checked. Loeser opened and mucked when the was shown down.
A raising war ended with the five-bet shove of James Obst and Cole Swannack called all in for 92,000 to create the biggest pot of the tournament so far.
Cole Swannack:
James Obst:
The flop gave Swannack the lead but he had to dodge all clubs in order to score the huge pot. He did so thanks to the turn and river and left Obst with crumbs.