Record d'affluence pour les Aussie Millions, 3 Français au Jour 3
Before the cards for Day 2 of the 2019 Aussie Millions Main Event went in the air, a new record attendance was in sight as 797 players had entered the A$ 10,600 flagship event at the Crown Casino in Melbourne throughout the three starting days At least 405 hopefuls returned to the poker room of the biggest casino complex in the Southern Hemisphere and the registration for the flagship event of the record-setting festival remained open for the first 90-minute level.
Thanks to 25 new entries on Day 2, the field size increased to 822 entries in total and a new record was set once more with a total prize pool of A$ 8,220,000 up for grabs. Only the top 88 spots will get paid at least A$ 15,600 while the winner of the record-setting 2019 Aussie Millions Main Event can look forward to a payday of A$ 1,850,000.
More than half of the remaining field will leave empty-handed when the race to the money will get underway on Day 3 and best-positioned after the 12th level of play is Dutchman Pim De Goede. He may not be well-known yet on the live circuit yet, but has recently scored one of the biggest paydays in the history of online poker. De Goede won a tight race for the overnight chip lead and bagged up 413,000. He is closely followed by Bjorn Ostby (386,300) and Ben Lai (378,000). Further big names in the top 10 include David Yan (363.300), Michael Soyza (317,100), Minh Nguyen (315,700) and Maxi Lehmanski (314,000).
Some of Australia's finest also remains in the hunt for the title on home soil such as Michael Egan (292,800), Michael Addamo (279,300), Corey Kempson (238,800), Matthew Wakeman (217,700), Rory Young (210,000) and Jackie Glazier (149,900). The sole remaining former Aussie Millions Main Event champion is Tyron Krost with 122,700, whereas defending champion Toby Lewis and David Gorr were eliminated on Day 2.
Before the action of the day got underway, Joe Hachem awarded the Australian Poker Young Achiever award to Alex Lynskey followed by the induction of Jonathan Karamalikis into the Australian Poker Hall of Fame. Karamalikis is the youngest player to achieve this. While Karamalikis had already been eliminated on Day 1c, Lynskey remained in contention and bowed out just before bagging and tagging after losing almost all of his chips with queens to kings in the final level of the night.
Throughout the five 90-minute levels on the moving day of the tournament, plenty of notables fell short in their bid to claim a stack for the expected money bubble on Day 3 and that also included Toby Lewis. After running hot in the High Roller events of the current year with a victory and runner-up finish, the Brit was unable to defend his Main Event title. Australian Poker Hall of Fame members Jason Gray and Mel Judah were also among the plentiful casualties, as were big names such as Scott Davies, Benny Glaser, Maria Ho, Rainer Kempe, Tom Alner, Dzmitry Urbanovich, and Maria Lampropulos.
Fewer than 170 players bagged up chips and they will return to the poker room at Crown Casino on Thursday, January 31, as of 12:30 p.m. (AEDT) for Day 3. The action recommences in level 13 with blinds of 1,200/2,400 and a running ante of 400. Another seven 90-minute levels are scheduled and the money bubble is expected to burst.
You can follow all the action right here on PokerNews, the one-stop-shop for all updates from the 2019 Aussie Millions.
and Chao Duan bet 20,000. Ana Marquez moved all in for 65,700 and Duan asked for a count before reluctantly calling it off.
, Duan revealed 
for the better pair, gutshot and nutflush draw. He also let out a "what?" as he was surprised to see what Marquez had gone all in with.
and Marquez was sent to the rail.
flop, Dingxiang Ong in the hijack check-called a barrel by Bjorn Ostby on the button and did so again on the 
came on the river and Ong checked once more. Ostby bet 60,000 and Ong moved all in, the snap-call followed.
for the nut flush and Ostby held the 
for the nut full house. Ostby doubled for 149,500 and took a big chunk out of Ong's stack, who still has a very decent stack.
and Lee doubled for 119,900, leaving Lynskey with a mountain to climb.
and Honeyman check-called 16,500. The turn was the 
and Honeyman checked and this time called a bet of 38,000 from Wakeman.
river and eventually, Wakeman checked behind showing 
and Judah moved all in for 10,000. Roberts called.
came on the river. The Australian poker hall of famer was eliminated halfway through the fourth level of the day.
for top pair and Hopkins quickly headed out of the tournament area.
completed the board and Kempe thought for a minute before pushing forward his larger chips and announcing all in. Marquez snap-called with 45,800 in her stack. 
