A$25,000 Challenge
Jour 1 terminé
2020 Aussie Millions
A$25,000 Challenge
Jours 1
Top
Chip Count
Chip Count
O'Dwyer Tops 33 Survivors on Day 1 of the A$25,000 Challenge; Rheem and Sinclair Among Big Stacks
Niveau 12
: 2,000/4,000, 4,000 ante
The second High Roller event of the 2020 Aussie Millions has gathered the interest of High Roller regulars from near and far who all headed to the poker room of the Crown Casino complex in Melbourne to take part in the A$25,000 Challenge.
One year ago, the very same tournament attracted a field of 151 entries and that was surpassed thanks to 169 entries, which generated a prize pool of A$4,056,000. Reaching the seven-handed final table guarantees a payday of A$131,820 and the winner will walk away with A$1,074,840 and the ANTON Jewellery Championship ring.
After six levels of 40 minutes each and six levels of 60 minutes each, the field was cut down to just 33 survivors and Steve O'Dwyer was the only player to bag up more than half a million in chips, topping the leaderboard with 560,000. Chino Rheem follows in second place with 486,000, George Wolff is right on his heels with 478,000 to complete the overnight podium.
Other notables with above-average stacks in a field with High Roller regulars from all over the world are the 2018 WSOP Europe Main Event champion Jack Sinclair (415,500), Sam Greenwood (395,000), Dietrich Fast (354,500), Chin Wei Lim (324,000), Koray Aldemir (318,500), and Kenny Hallaert (259,000).
Among those to bust without anything to show for were defending champion Rainer Kempe, Dan Smith, Ben Lamb, Sam Grafton, Stephen Chidwick, Erik Seidel, Timothy Adams, Manig Loeser, and Michael Addamo. Kahle Burns arrived in Melbourne to become one of the latest entries but couldn't find a bag for Day 2, same also applied for the 2020 Aussie Millions champions Jorryt van Hoof and Sherif Derias.
A$25,000 Challenge Payouts
| Place | Payout (AUD) | Payout (USD) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | A$1,074,840 | $743,155 |
| 2 | A$730,080 | $504,785 |
| 3 | A$466,440 | $322,501 |
| 4 | A$344,760 | $238,371 |
| 5 | A$243,360 | $168,262 |
| 6 | A$172,380 | $119,185 |
| 7-8 | A$131,820 | $91,142 |
| 9-10 | A$111,540 | $77,120 |
| 11-12 | A$91,260 | $63,098 |
| 13-17 | A$70,980 | $49,076 |
When the cards went in the air, more than 50 players were already seated and the field grew bigger by the minute. Several High Rollers had arrived in Melbourne to take part in the Aussie Millions for the first time such as Orpen Kisacikoglu, Martin Zamani, Ivan Deyra, Andras Nemeth, and Matthias Eibinger to name just a few.
Things looked promising for Eibinger and Kempe when they nearly doubled their stacks, but the former lost a big pot with jacks against the king-queen suited of A$25,000 PLO High Roller third-place finisher Najeem Ajez and Kempe ended up second-best with pocket tens against quads deuces on his first bullet. Eibinger busted shortly after the registration closed and Kempe could not spin up his stack in th second attempt either.
Shortly before the dinner break, Bart Lybaert took over the top spot after dominating his six-handed table and sending Richard Sheils to the rail when both flopped top pair. Lybaert was unable to keep up the momentum but ended up with an above-average stack nonetheless while others such as Steve O'Dwyer, Chino Rheem and George Wolff pulled ahead of him.
For the 2018 Aussie Millions Main Event champion Toby Lewis, the near-endless streak of success in Melbourne seemed to continue but the Brit came up short with ace-queen against the ace-king of Chin Wei Lim to depart in the final level of the night. Other notables such as Sam Grafton, Mikita Badziakouski, and David Yan also vanished prior to bagging and tagging.
All remaining 33 players will return to their seats on Thursday, January 16th, 2020, as of 2.30 p.m. local time to determine a champion. The blinds will recommence at 2,500-5,000 with a big blind ante of 5,000 and the levels will remain 60-minutes long. Stay tuned to find out who will earn the first seven-figure payday of the 2020 Aussie Millions, as the PokerNews team will be on the floor to provide all the action.
Day 2 Seat Draw
| Table | Seat | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7 | 1 | Tyron Krost | Australia | 218,000 | 44 |
| 7 | 2 | Nicholas Wright | Australia | 165,000 | 33 |
| 7 | 3 | Jack Sinclair | United Kingdom | 415,500 | 83 |
| 7 | 4 | Derek Ip | Hong Kong | 287,000 | 57 |
| 7 | 5 | Vincent Huang | Australia | 82,000 | 16 |
| 8 | 1 | Bart Lybaert | Belgium | 354,500 | 71 |
| 8 | 2 | Michael Zhang | United Kingdom | 90,500 | 18 |
| 8 | 4 | Farid Jattin | Colombia | 178,500 | 36 |
| 8 | 5 | Justin Liberto | United States | 309,000 | 62 |
| 8 | 6 | Masato Yokosawa | Japan | 337,500 | 68 |
| 10 | 1 | Nick Pupillo | United States | 145,000 | 29 |
| 10 | 2 | Koray Aldemir | Germany | 318,500 | 64 |
| 10 | 3 | Martin Zamani | United States | 236,000 | 47 |
| 10 | 4 | Elio Fox | United States | 131,500 | 26 |
| 10 | 5 | Sam Greenwood | Canada | 395,000 | 79 |
| 10 | 6 | Sam Higgs | Australia | 226,000 | 45 |
| 14 | 1 | George Wolff | United States | 478,000 | 96 |
| 14 | 2 | Alex Trevallion | Australia | 256,500 | 51 |
| 14 | 3 | Steve O'Dwyer | Ireland | 560,000 | 112 |
| 14 | 4 | Najeem Ajez | Australia | 341,500 | 68 |
| 14 | 5 | Igor Yaroshevskyy | Ukraine | 288,000 | 58 |
| 14 | 6 | Nino Ullmann | Germany | 195,000 | 39 |
| 16 | 1 | Spiros Maroulis | Australia | 212,000 | 42 |
| 16 | 2 | Joshua Duce | Australia | 155,500 | 31 |
| 16 | 3 | Ami Barer | Canada | 190,000 | 38 |
| 16 | 4 | Yake Wu | China | 166,000 | 33 |
| 16 | 5 | Dietrich Fast | Germany | 378,000 | 76 |
| 16 | 6 | Seth Davies | United States | 59,500 | 12 |
| 17 | 1 | Kenny Hallaert | Belgium | 259,000 | 52 |
| 17 | 2 | Geoffrey Mooney | Australia | 64,000 | 13 |
| 17 | 3 | Tom Rafferty | Australia | 168,500 | 34 |
| 17 | 4 | Chino Rheem | United States | 486,000 | 97 |
| 17 | 5 | Chin Wei Lim | Malaysia | 324,000 | 65 |
End-of-Day 1 Chip Counts (complet)
Niveau 12
: 2,000/4,000, 4,000 ante
| Joueur | Jetons | Progression |
|---|---|---|
|
560,000 | 60,000 |
|
486,000 | 296,000 |
|
478,000 | 73,000 |
|
415,500 | -14,500 |
|
395,000 | 5,000 |
|
378,000 | 48,000 |
|
354,500 | -15,500 |
|
341,500 | -38,500 |
|
337,500 | -62,500 |
|
324,000 | -36,000 |
|
318,500 | 198,500 |
|
309,000 | -11,000 |
|
288,000 | 38,000 |
|
287,000 | -13,000 |
|
259,000 | 59,000 |
|
256,500 | 126,500 |
|
236,000 | 6,000 |
|
226,000 | 56,000 |
|
218,000 | 8,000 |
|
212,000 | 12,000 |
|
195,000 | 99,000 |
|
190,000 | 50,000 |
|
178,500 | 48,500 |
|
168,500 | -21,500 |
|
166,000 | -14,000 |
Late Double for Wright
Niveau 12
: 2,000/4,000, 4,000 ante
Nicholas Wright scored a late double when his 
held up against the 
of Justin Liberto thanks to a board of 
.
Sam Grafton was not as fortunate and sent his chips over to Martin Zamani in the final hands of the night to reduce the field to the final 33 players.
| Joueur | Jetons | Progression |
|---|---|---|
|
|
320,000 | 15,000 |
|
|
230,000 | 65,000 |
|
170,000 | 70,000 |
|
Eliminé |
Last Three Hands Announced
Niveau 12
: 2,000/4,000, 4,000 ante
Vincent Huang raised the cutoff and eventually called the shove of Nino Ullmann for 43,000 on the button.
Nino Ullmann: 
Vincent Huang: 
The kicker played on the 
board and Ullmann doubled. Right after, the final three hands of the night were announced.
| Joueur | Jetons | Progression |
|---|---|---|
|
110,000 | -5,500 |
|
|
96,000 | -14,000 |
Late Big Stacks at a Glance
Niveau 12
: 2,000/4,000, 4,000 ante
It appears that Steve O'Dwyer has pulled into the top spot with several other players in contention for the overnight lead.
Mikita Badziakouski and Orpen Kisacikoglu been eliminated, there are 34 players out of 169 entries remaining.
| Joueur | Jetons | Progression |
|---|---|---|
|
|
500,000 | 160,000 |
|
|
430,000 | 40,000 |
|
|
400,000 | 220,000 |
|
|
390,000 | -25,000 |
|
|
380,000 | 110,000 |
|
|
370,000 | 5,000 |
|
|
360,000 | 10,000 |
|
|
330,000 | -50,000 |
|
|
190,000 | -200,000 |
|
|
180,000 | 90,000 |
|
Eliminé | |
|
Eliminé |
Yan Latest Bustout
Niveau 12
: 2,000/4,000, 4,000 ante
David Yan was all in for 105,000 against Justin Liberto, but was in bad shape against a bigger pair.
David Yan: 
Justin Liberto: 
Yan picked up some extra outs on the 
flop, but the 
runout bricked and he was eliminated with just under half an hour left on Day 1.
| Joueur | Jetons | Progression |
|---|---|---|
|
|
305,000 | 45,000 |
|
Eliminé |
No Day 2 for Mirzikinian
Niveau 12
: 2,000/4,000, 4,000 ante
Warwick Mirzikinian had been down to around 75,000 when he moved tables and managed to spin up a small profit after that. Eventually, his roller-coaster ride ended just shy of making Day 2 when he squeezed with 
and flopped top pair on 
.
Bart Lybaert looked him up with the 
and Mirzikinian found no help on the 
turn and river run out.
| Joueur | Jetons | Progression |
|---|---|---|
|
|
365,000 | 70,000 |
|
Eliminé |
Lewis Rivered by Lim to Bust A$25,000 Challenge
Niveau 12
: 2,000/4,000, 4,000 ante
Toby Lewis was all in for 174,000 and was only just covered by Chin Wei Lim who sat with 179,000.
Toby Lewis: 
Chin Wei Lim: 
Lewis flopped a pair on the 
and the turn was a brick. The river however was the 
giving Lim top pair and sending Lewis to the rail.
| Joueur | Jetons | Progression |
|---|---|---|
|
|
350,000 | 55,000 |
|
Eliminé |
Yan Doubles Through Zamani
Niveau 12
: 2,000/4,000, 4,000 ante
David Yan jammed the button for 51,000 and Martin Zamani checked his cards in the big blind, made the call and then walked away to the nearby cashier to fix an issue.
David Yan: 
Martin Zamani: 
The board came 
and Yan doubled.
"Walk away from the table, come on, make him think he won," Warwick Mirzikinian in the three seat joked. Yan did walk away for a few seconds but returned to his seat when Zamani came back, too.
| Joueur | Jetons | Progression |
|---|---|---|
|
|
165,000 | 35,000 |
|
|
110,000 | 5,000 |