Holz Shows Up Late, Chasing Recent Champs Barer and Engel
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 |