Del Vecchio Leads Last 38 Into Day 4; Engel and Barer Aim for Second Aussie Millions Title
After three tournament days and 19 levels of 90 minutes each, the record-breaking 2018 Aussie Millions A$10,600 Main Event has seen a field of 800 players reduced to just 38 hopefuls at the Crown Casino in Melbourne, the biggest casino complex in the Southern hemisphere. All remaining participants have at least A$30,000 locked up for their efforts, but all eyes are set on the golden bracelet and first-place prize of A$1.8 million that comes along with it
Towards the end of Day 3, Mike Del Vecchio has established a commanding lead at the top of the leader board with 2,330,000, almost one million chips ahead of second-placed two-time APPT champion Aaron Lim (1,358,000). Two former Aussie Millions Main Event champions are vying to become the first to claim two titles in Melbourne: Ari Engel (2016) and Ami Barer (2014) made it through to Day 4 with 1,075,000 and 428,000 respectively.
Other big stacks and notables include Tu Lan (1,220,000), Vincent Chua (1,089,000). Kahle Burns (973,000), Day 2 chip leader Najeem Ajez (958,000), Espen Solaas (862,000), Bobby Zhang (714,000), Toby Lewis (571,000), Stefan Huber (538,000), Artur Koren (315,000) and Daniel Neilson (89,000).
The action with blinds of 6,000/12,000/2,000 as of 12.30 p.m. local time and once the field is reduced to the last 36, the event will switch to a six-handed format with a complete redraw before aiming to play down to the final table tonight. The PokerNews live reporting team will be on the floor to provide exclusive updates and the live stream of the feature table can be followed on the runitup Twitch channel with a security delay of 30 minutes.
2018 Aussie Millions Day 4 Seat Draw
| Table | Seat | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 | 1 | Sherif Derias | Australia | 286,000 | 24 |
| 8 | 2 | Vincent Chua | Australia | 1,089,000 | 91 |
| 8 | 3 | Tobias Hausen | Germany | 477,000 | 40 |
| 8 | 4 | Ross Grammer | Australia | 276,000 | 23 |
| 8 | 5 | Espen Solaas | Norway | 862,000 | 72 |
| 8 | 6 | Ben Richardson | Australia | 967,000 | 81 |
| 8 | 7 | Ari Engel | Canada | 1,075,000 | 90 |
| 8 | 8 | James Broom | Australia | 350,000 | 29 |
| 9 | 1 | Aaron Lim | Australia | 1,358,000 | 113 |
| 9 | 2 | Najeem Ajez | Australia | 958,000 | 80 |
| 9 | 3 | Mike Del Vecchio | United States | 2,330,000 | 194 |
| 9 | 4 | Con Krousoratis | Australia | 210,000 | 18 |
| 9 | 5 | Chen An Lin | Taiwan | 741,000 | 62 |
| 9 | 6 | Kahle Burns | Australia | 973,000 | 81 |
| 9 | 8 | Arne Ruge | Germany | 267,000 | 22 |
| 10 | 1 | Stefan Huber | Switzerland | 538,000 | 45 |
| 10 | 2 | Eddie Puia | Australia | 624,000 | 52 |
| 10 | 3 | Beau Palmer | Australia | 592,000 | 49 |
| 10 | 4 | Kim Au | Australia | 753,000 | 63 |
| 10 | 5 | Johan Schumacher | Belgium | 760,000 | 63 |
| 10 | 6 | Haoran Zhang | Australia | 742,000 | 62 |
| 10 | 7 | Michael Hahn | United States | 473,000 | 39 |
| 10 | 8 | Tu Lan | China | 1,220,000 | 102 |
| 28 | 1 | Daniel Neilson | Australia | 89,000 | 7 |
| 28 | 2 | Takao Shimizu | Japan | 753,000 | 63 |
| 28 | 3 | [Removed:415] | Australia | 241,000 | 20 |
| 28 | 4 | Toby Lewis | United Kingdom | 571,000 | 48 |
| 28 | 5 | Saijes Mundadan | India | 835,000 | 70 |
| 28 | 6 | Joshua Abady | United States | 192,000 | 16 |
| 28 | 7 | Bobby Zhang | Australia | 714,000 | 60 |
| 28 | 8 | Artur Koren | Austria | 315,000 | 26 |
| 31 | 1 | Chul-Hyon Park | Australia | 427,000 | 36 |
| 31 | 2 | Arif Mustafa | Australia | 567,000 | 47 |
| 31 | 3 | Szymon Wysocki | Poland | 762,000 | 64 |
| 31 | 5 | Antonino Cascio | Australia | 282,000 | 24 |
| 31 | 6 | David Leas | Australia | 56,000 | 5 |
| 31 | 7 | Ami Barer | Canada | 428,000 | 36 |
| 31 | 8 | Robert Lieu | Australia | 131,000 | 11 |
and Engel continued for 130,000. Richardson called. The turn was the 
and Engel kept on firing, putting out a bet of 305,000 which elicited a fold from Richardson.
. Broom also won the hand after with a four-bet to move up to 580,000.
flop but couldn't get there with the 
turn and 
river. The former champion said his goodbyes and finished in 36th place, worth A$15,000.
of Toby Lewis. Shortly after, Hausen moved all in first to act for his last 297,000 and Vincent Chua snap-called from one seat over. Artur Koren in the small blind three-bet all in for 540,000 and Chua asked for a count before making the call to put two players at risk.
flop, Chua added "I have more outs now" and improved to two pair thanks to the 
turn. Koren now needed a ten or king to remain in contention and jumped up from his seat as soon as he got there thanks to the 
river. Hausen was eliminated in 29th place while Koren almost tripled up in the hand.
on the button. Najeem Ajez called in the small blind with 
before Chen An Lin three-bet to 136,000 from the big blind. Ruge folded but Ajez made the call.
flop, Chua bet 80,000 and Artur Koren called on the button. Espen Solaas raised to 315,000 out of the small blind, Tu Lan folded his big blind, Chau shoved all in for 592,000 total, Koren folded, and Solaas instantly called.
flop was one of the most exciting ones that could roll off, giving Wysocki the flopped wheel but Koren a flush draw. The 
, Esper Solaas three-bet all in with 
and Koren folded. Two hands later, Toby Lewis raised to 60,000 under the gun, Koren shoved 720,000 one seat over, and Lewis snap-called when it was back on him.
flop brought the king to pair up Lewis and give him the lead. Solaas was looking for one of the queens but didn't find them on the