$10,600 Main Event Jour 2 | 2018 Aussie Millions

2018-01-31 20:58 UTC+10

Holz Shows Up Late, Chasing Recent Champs Barer and Engel

mnuwwarah

Niveau 12 : 1,000/2,000, 300 ante

At last year's Aussie Millions at Crown Melbourne, Fedor Holz put together a legendary run, pairing a third-place finish in the $100K Challenge with a fifth-place finish in the Main Event for a total of nearly A$700,000 in cashes.

This year, things looked quiet on the Holz watch as there was nary a sight of him in the tournament area through the first three starting days of the Main Event. Perhaps he took Sam Greenwood's Twitter barbs as a challenge, or perhaps he always planned on fashionably late arrival.

Either way, Holz beat the buzzer with a Day 2 registration and got to work right away, He doubled up just a few minutes in after backing into a flush against an opponent who made the nut straight and couldn't find a river fold to Holz's check-raise.

The German legend had nearly triple the starting stack in under an hour, and it looked like the start of another tour de force. However, it would prove a swingy day, and though Holz hit heights around 150,000, he would only put 71,100 in the bag. He has work to do on Day 3, but that doesn't mean anyone will feel comfortable seeing his name on their table draw.

Holz's late registration was part of the final push during the opening level play that pushed the tournament to a record number of 800 runners, creating a prize pool of exactly A$8 million. Even at the ripe old age of 21, the Aussie Millions is doing the opposite of slowing down.

A couple of former champions have built big stacks and put themselves in prime contention among the 160 players remaining at the close of Day 2. Ari Engel (2016) and Ami Barer (2014) both had strong showings. The former bagged 334,000 and the latter 202,400,

Engel got a turn jam through in a huge pot late, inducing a player to fold trip kings on a three-flush board.

While that was happening, loquacious British star Sam Grafton was putting the finishing touches on his monster Day 2 at the neighboring table. He busted a player with aces against ace-king and then got a five-bet shove through on Max Young to finish with 419,000.

"You're gonna tell people about this some day," he boasted to his tablemates. "You're gonna tell them I played with Sam Grafton that year he won the Main Event here."

The chip lead, though belongs to Aussie Najeem Ajez (522,100). He sent Kitty Kuo packing when she couldn't find a fold with nines, five-bet shipping into Ajez's queens.

Marc Macdonnell, Ludovic Geilich, Kahle Burns, Matt Salsberg, Mike Del Vecchio, Martin Jacobson and Mel Judah were some other recognizable names to advance.

The remaining players return at 12:30 p.m. local time for Day 3, set to play 1,200/2,400/400 and hit the money with 88 players left. Come back to PokerNews to follow all of the live updates.

Main Event Day 3 Seat Draw

Table	Seat	Player	Country	Chip Count	Big Blinds
7	1	Aaron Lim	Australia	188,200	78
7	2	Mel Judah	Australia	47,800	20
7	3	Gareth Pepper	Australia	121,500	51
7	4	Daniel Neilson	Australia	208,100	87
7	5	Dean Blatt	Australia	206,100	86
7	6	Ken Demlakian	Australia	99,900	42
7	7	Yin Liu	China	92,300	38
7	8	Daniel Laidlaw	Australia	57,800	24

8	1	Martin Finger	Germany	80,000	33
8	2	Nino Marotta	Australia	92,000	38
8	3	Sean Ragozzini	Australia	102,900	43
8	4	David Leas	Australia	201,700	84
8	5	Najeem Ajez	Australia	522,100	218
8	6	Kishore Kumar	Australia	124,600	52
8	7	Sam Grafton	United Kingdom	419,900	175
8	8	Nicholas Howard	United States	97,700	41

9	1	Brendan Hurtig	Australia	132,800	55
9	2	Ari Engel	Canada	334,000	139
9	3	Qiu Wenjian	China	137,400	57
9	4	Tristan Bain	Australia	123,200	51
9	5	Louis Salter	United Kingdom	69,200	29
9	6	Anthony Luong	Australia	66,900	28
9	7	Beau Palmer	Australia	226,000	94
9	8	Raphael Tenenbaum	Australia	73,000	30

10	1	Sherif Derias	Australia	68,100	28
10	2	Julian Powell	Australia	41,300	17
10	3	Duncan Packington	Australia	210,100	88
10	4	Eli Loewenthal	United States	81,900	34
10	5	Marton Czuczor	Hungary	37,600	16
10	6	David Stonehouse	United Kingdom	112,100	47
10	7	Harry Demetriou	United Kingdom	141,400	59
10	8	Jarred Graham	Australia	146,100	61

25	1	Zdravko Duvnjak	Croatia	84,600	35
25	2	Kah Boon Teh	Malaysia	131,500	55
25	3	Stefan Huber	Switzerland	155,100	65
25	4	David Hanlon	Australia	37,500	16
25	5	Haoran Zhang	Australia	143,200	60
25	6	Nicholas Wright	Australia	187,300	78
25	7	Duff Charette	Canada	238,400	99
25	8	Craig Mason	United States	19,700	8

26	1	Gary Tomes	Australia	92,500	39
26	2	Jesse Sylvia	United States	31,700	13
26	3	Duy Ho	United States	471,700	197
26	5	Corentin Hillion	France	123,700	52
26	6	Jamie Sadlier	Australia	87,500	36
26	7	Rinaldo Piastrino	Australia	143,100	60
26	8	Ross Grammer	Australia	222,000	93

27	1	Farhad Mohajerani	Iran	157,600	66
27	2	Michael Smith	Canada	98,000	41
27	3	[Removed:321] Sharifkazemi	United Kingdom	70,400	29
27	4	Tung Nguyen	Australia	141,100	59
27	5	Brandon Ageloff	United States	126,300	53
27	6	Anthony Hachem	Australia	290,900	121
27	7	Edel Maher	Australia	56,100	23
27	8	Rory Young	Australia	160,000	67

28	1	Rob Raymond	Australia	70,300	29
28	2	Michael Hahn	United States	136,200	57
28	3	Ludovic Riehl	France	191,400	80
28	4	Kim Au	Australia	106,400	44
28	5	Artur Koren	Australia	147,600	62
28	6	Ashley Whitfield	United Kingdom	69,100	29
28	7	Jonas Lauck	Germany	189,000	79
28	8	Kahle Burns	Australia	201,500	84

29	1	Taylor Black	United States	107,900	45
29	2	David Loonstra	Australia	41,100	17
29	3	Ashley Sleeth	United States	34,900	15
29	4	Matt Rolfe	Australia	279,900	117
29	5	Saijes Mundadan	Australia	41,000	17
29	6	Tim Wei	Australia	112,900	47
29	7	Jack O'Neill	United Kingdom	159,800	67
29	8	Liam O'Rourke	Ireland	243,900	102

30	1	Matthew Moss	United Kingdom	188,600	79
30	2	Tony Tartaglia	Australia	123,600	52
30	3	Peter Mordaunt	Australia	65,000	27
30	4	Paul Michaelis	Germany	37,300	16
30	5	Panayotis Flourentzou	Australia	110,500	46
30	6	Matt Salsberg	United States	133,400	56
30	7	Xiangxiang Ni	China	276,500	115
30	8	Gurpreet Lubana	Canada	198,500	83

31	1	Espen Solaas	Norway	207,900	87
31	2	Ize Bourne	Australia	32,100	13
31	3	Arne Ruge	Germany	204,900	85
31	4	Sarah Bilney	Australia	55,700	23
31	5	Xiaojun Zhang	Australia	187,000	78
31	6	Lee Armstrong	Australia	284,400	119
31	7	Yosuke Sekiya	Japan	88,400	37
31	8	Michael Tchong	Australia	190,400	79

32	1	Con Krousoratis	Australia	197,000	82
32	2	Justin Victor	Australia	148,500	62
32	3	Mike Del Vecchio	United States	104,500	44
32	4	[Removed:415]	Australia	219,100	91
32	5	Fedor Holz	Austria	71,100	30
32	6	Joseph Foleti	Australia	74,800	31
32	7	Andreas Klatt	Germany	59,300	25
32	8	Tobias Hausen	Germany	159,000	66

33	2	Barry Long	Australia	47,500	20
33	3	Bobby Zhang	Australia	150,100	63
33	4	Casey Kastle	Slovenia	94,000	39
33	5	Antonino Cascio	Australia	249,000	104
33	6	Aki Pyysing	Finland	271,600	113
33	7	Daniel Hachem	Australia	198,900	83
33	8	Timothy Mitchell	United Kingdom	52,600	22

41	1	Hung-Sheng Lin	Taiwan	124,000	52
41	2	Vincent Chua	Australia	128,300	53
41	3	Martin Jacobson	Sweden	92,200	38
41	4	Arif Mustafa	Australia	284,900	119
41	5	Jan Pettersson	Australia	455,500	190
41	6	Joseph Abdulnour	Australia	121,800	51
41	7	Martin Rowe	Australia	129,400	54
41	8	Jack Brown	Australia	114,100	48

44	1	Robert Lieu	Australia	108,800	45
44	2	Takao Shimizu	Japan	154,600	64
44	3	Scott Davies	United States	87,400	36
44	4	Ludovic Geilich	United Kingdom	218,200	91
44	5	Ami Barer	Canada	202,400	84
44	6	Milton Trickey	Australia	171,700	72
44	7	Benjamin Richardson	Australia	178,500	74
44	8	Darwin Lai	Hong Kong	147,400	61

45	1	Michael Egan	Australia	164,400	69
45	2	Chen An Lin	Taiwan	205,400	86
45	3	Eddie Puia	Australia	160,900	67
45	4	Dennis Huntly	Australia	94,400	39
45	5	Jonathan Karamalikis	Australia	147,600	62
45	6	Rody Kaka	Australia	30,600	13
45	7	Lukas Soucek	Czech Republic	56,600	24
45	8	Julian Stuer	Germany	120,000	50

46	1	Giuseppe Reina	Australia	64,700	27
46	2	Nick Solomos	Australia	233,700	97
46	3	Chi Thinh Nguyen	Vietnam	73,000	30
46	4	Hon Cheong Lee	Hong Kong	58,900	25
46	5	Chris Kostoulas	United States	228,700	95
46	6	Glen Cymbaluk	Canada	265,300	111
46	7	Brian Payne	Australia	190,900	80
46	8	Jason Pritchard	Australia	80,000	33

47	1	Cale Treacy	Australia	176,200	73
47	2	Tu Lan	China	132,000	55
47	3	James Broom	Australia	319,500	133
47	4	Federico Butteroni	Italy	103,700	43
47	5	Johan Schumacher	Belgium	265,600	111
47	6	Marc Macdonnell	Ireland	296,700	124
47	7	Joshua Abady	United States	83,100	35
47	8	Adrian Indovino	Australia	93,600	39

48	1	Paawan Bansal	India	98,100	41
48	2	Darryl Lapthorne	Australia	61,000	25
48	3	Matthew Wakeman	Australia	198,000	83
48	4	James Hopkins	Australia	429,500	179
48	5	Max Young	United States	120,100	50
48	6	Szymon Wysocki	Poland	397,300	166
48	7	James Romero	United States	25,000	10
48	8	Alessandro Furneri	Italy	223,400	93

49	1	John Parker	Australia	195,100	81
49	2	Kabeelan Rajamurthy	Australia	82,700	34
49	3	Craig Zwies	Australia	112,300	47
49	4	Frank Pezzaniti	Australia	480,000	200
49	5	Peter Aristidou	Australia	48,400	20
49	6	Chul-Hyon Park	Australia	371,300	155
49	7	James Clarke	United Kingdom	155,300	65
49	8	Toby Lewis	United Kingdom	144,400	60

Tags: Ami Barer Ari Engel Fedor Holz Najeem Ajez Sam Grafton

2018-01-31 19:12 UTC+10

Sick Hand Sees Ho Leave a Devastated Player Busted

mnuwwarah

Niveau 12 : 1,000/2,000, 300 ante

Duy Ho opened for 5,000 and got one caller before a player in the cutoff made it 26,000. Ho came back with 100,000, and the cutoff shoved all in. Ho double-checked his cards and snap-called.

Ho:
Cutoff:

The flop and turn came but the river was the . As soon as it fell, the player in the cutoff slammed his down on the felt and shot out of his chair in disbelief. Tournament supervisors began verifying stacks since the hand was so massive.

"Shit," the player in the cutoff muttered breathlessly with his hands on his head. "Oh, shit."

Ho had about 230,000 and that covered the 200,000 of his foe. He swept up the monstrous pot.

Joueur	Jetons	Progression
Duy Ho	445,000	155,500

Tags: Duy Ho

2018-01-31 18:26 UTC+10

Volkoff Busts to Demlakian

zedmaster84

Niveau 11 : 800/1,600, 200 ante

Late on Day 1b, Tamara Volkoff tripled up in fortunate fashion by cracking the pocket aces of Ken Demlakian and both somehow ended up on the same table again after Demlakian was moved to one seat over. Both would clash again now and all chips ended up in the middle of the table.

Lee Armstrong raised and Volkoff called on the button, Demlakian filled up from the small blind. The flop fell and was checked to Volkoff, who bet 5,500. Both Demlakian and Armstrong called to see the on the turn and again it checked to Volkoff, who moved all in. Demlakian asked for a count and, once it was deemed to be for 65,800, he announced the call to force out Armstrong.

Tamara Volkoff:
Ken Demlakian:

No card in the deck could avoid the elimination of Volkoff and she said "alright, good luck guys" even before the meaningless hit on the river.

Joueur	Jetons	Progression
Ken Demlakian	170,000	147,000
Lee Armstrong	135,000	-40,000
Tamara Volkoff	Eliminé

Tags: Ken Demlakian Lee Armstrong Tamara Volkoff

2018-01-31 17:56 UTC+10

Neilson Scoops Huge Double Up

will_shill

Niveau 11 : 800/1,600, 200 ante

On a river, Daniel Neilson was facing a bet of 28,000 from his opponent and Day 1a chip leader Lee Armstrong. Neilson then raised all in for 105,700 and his opponent went into the tank.

Eventually, Armstrong called. Neilson showed for a missed flush draw but rivered trips, while Armstrong's headed into the muck.

Joueur	Jetons	Progression
Daniel Neilson	255,000	223,000
Lee Armstrong	175,000	-124,000

Tags: Daniel Neilson Lee Armstrong

2018-01-31 17:49 UTC+10

Cymbaluk Shocker Crushes Glaser

KaleGozer

Niveau 11 : 800/1,600, 200 ante

In a three-bet pot, the flop came down . Benny Glaser was first to act and checked, then check-raised a bet from Glenn Cymboluk to 16,000, which the Canadian called in position. The turn paired the board with the and Glaser bet 27,000. Cymboluk once again stuck around with a call.

On the river, Glaser open-shoved and Cymbaluk instantly called it off for his remaining 94,000.

Benny Glaser:
Glenn Cymbaluk:

Cymbaluk had rivered the four-outer he needed to win the gigantic pot. The shocking showdown left Glaser behind with a mere 33,200, while the "Cowboy" catapulted to over 300k.

Joueur	Jetons	Progression
Glen Cymbaluk	300,000	264,600
Benny Glaser	33,200	-196,800

Tags: Benny Glaser Glenn Cymbaluk

2018-01-31 16:27 UTC+10

Big Setback for Neilson

zedmaster84

Niveau 10 : 600/1,200, 200 ante

Last but not least, Daniel Neilson suffered a massive setback after he faced an open raise by Dave Heskin, three-bet to 7,000 by Lee Armstrong in the hijack and four-bet from Yosuke Sekiya for 17,000 from the cutoff. Neilson moved all in from the button and that forced out the initial raiser and Armstrong. Sekiya however snap-called to put himself at risk for the last 68,600.

Yosuke Sekiya:
Daniel Neilson:

The board of brought no upset and Sekiya doubled to leave Neilson short. "Unlucky Daniel," Tamara Volkoff in the one seat said.

Joueur	Jetons	Progression
Lee Armstrong	253,000	-7,000
Tamara Volkoff	160,000	50,000
Yosuke Sekiya	145,000	94,400
Dave Heskin	55,000	-25,000
Daniel Neilson	32,000	-67,500

Tags: Daniel Neilson David Heskin Lee Armstrong Tamara Volkoff Yosuke Sekiya

2018-01-31 15:38 UTC+10

Bart Lybaert Already Looking Forward to 2019

will_shill

Niveau 10 : 600/1,200, 200 ante

Bart Lybaert told us that it was his first time here at the Aussie Millions, and he spoke with us briefly during a break in the Main Event.

"I love it here," said Lybaert. "It's my first time and I would already say it's one of my favorite cities! I don't even know about the rest of Australia!"

Lybaert explained that he was already playing in Asia and that now he was here he can definitely see himself coming back next year.

"I think the overall quality of players is comparable to the WSOP Main Event in Las Vegas. You have some of these old guys who are taking it a bit more seriously. Then there are people who are taking a shot, these recreational players. Then you have the regs. For them, it's obviously profitable, especially for anyone who is winning in Europe."

Joueur	Jetons	Progression
Bart Lybaert	40,000	2,000

Tags: Bart Lybaert

2018-01-31 15:12 UTC+10

Australian Poker Hall of Fame Inductee: Grant Levy

will_shill

Niveau 10 : 600/1,200, 200 ante

In addition to handing out the Australian Poker Young Achievement award, President of the Australian Poker Hall of Fame Joe Hachem was joined by fellow inductees including David Gorr, Leo Boxell and Mel Judah among others to welcome a new inductee to the Hall of Fame.

"This man has been on our radar for last five years," said Hachem, "We've been waiting for him to reach the qualifying time of ten years playing. His career is now long and substantial and he's won titles both in Australia and overseas. He's had a very strong online presence and is a great supporter of the poker community around Australia and the world.

"Please welcome the 2018 inductee to the Australian Poker Hall of Fame Grant Levy."

Grant Levy Poker Achievements
- 11th on the Australian all-time money list ($2.3m+ in lifetime earnings)
- 1st 2007 APPT Sydney Main Event (A$1,000,000 / US$875,542)
- 3rd 2013 EPT Grand Final (€103,000/ / US$135,059)
- 8th 2015 Aussie Millions Poker Championship (A$120,000 / US$94,816)

"Thank you very much to Joe and the other Hall of Famers to my right," said Levy. "I appreciate the recognition; as Joe says I've been around for a little while now. I started playing 12 years ago and I worked out that this is my 12th consecutive Aussie Millions.

"I'm very proud of my longevity in the game. The game is getting harder and harder, and having been around for this amount of time is something I'm proud of. I want to congratulate the Crown for such a wonderful tournament they run year in year out. 800 players is a fantastic achievement and I hope that the Aussie Millions continues to grow and grow.

"I'd like to thank my wife Sharon. When I started playing my kids were young; three years old and six months old. They're now 13, 10 and 7 years old! I had to travel a lot doing this, and being away a lot is hard work for Sharon and the kids. So I want to thank them for allowing me to do what I do. Thank you very much."

Tags: Grant Levy

2018-01-31 15:11 UTC+10

Australian Poker Young Achiever Award: Kahle Burns

will_shill

Niveau 10 : 600/1,200, 200 ante

Shortly before the resumption of the Main Event, Aussie Millions tournament director Joel Williams was joined by 2005 WSOP Main Event winner, and Australian Poker Hall of Fame President Joe Hachem on the stage who was there to present some awards, the first of which was the Australian Poker Young Achiever Award.

"This award is given to one player every year," said Hachem. "It's given to a player who we see as an up and coming player who has had some really decent runs. Consistency is key, and I personally believe that this young man will be in the Australian Poker Hall of Fame one day when his time is due."

"Ladies and Gentlemen; please welcome Mr Kahle Burns."

Kahle Burns' 2017 in Poker
- 42nd 2017 Aussie Millions $10,600 Main Event (A$25,000 / US$18,881)
- 4th PokerStars Championship Macau HK$400,000 Super High Roller (HK$3,228,000 / US$415,395
- 1st Melbourne Poker Championships A$5,000 High Roller (A$76,950 / US$60,650)
- 3rd Triton Super High Roller Series Macau HK$1,000,000 Main Event (HK$10,151,000 / $1,300,035)

"Thanks heaps everybody," said Burns on receiving his award. "There are a lot of Australians in this region who have had a good 12 months against some of the best players int he world, and to win this award feels really good. I'm blessed both on and off the poker tables for the family and friends that I have, so thanks a lot."

Tags: Kahle Burns

2018-01-31 14:44 UTC+10

Joe Hachem Eliminated

mnuwwarah

Niveau 9 : 500/1,000, 100 ante

After an early open to 2,000 and a call, Joe Hachem put his last 7,000 in. Marc MacDonnell four-bet to isolate in the big blind and everyone else folded.

Hachem:
MacDonnell: