O'Dwyer Tops 33 Survivors on Day 1 of the A$25,000 Challenge; Rheem and Sinclair Among Big Stacks
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 |
and the turn 
giving Lim top pair and sending Lewis to the rail.
, Bart Lybaert check-raised from 5,000 to 14,000 and Sam Grafton moved all in. Lybaert didn't bat an eye and folded near instantly.
and Lybaert continued for 12,500, which Sheils called once more.
turn, Lybaert bet 25,000 and snap-called the shove of Sheils for around 75,000.
gave Derias a pair and a flush draw, but the 
river did nothing but improve Krost to top set and Derias was eliminated.
, Kevin MacPhee and Matthias Eibinger checked out of the blinds and Najeem Ajez bet 2,400. Derek Ip folded on the button and MacPhee called, as did Eibinger.
appeared on the turn and MacPhee checked once more. Eibinger now bet 7,200 and Ajez called, MacPhee folded after a brief consideration. On the 
river, Eibinger announced a bet of 20,000 and Ajez called to get shown 
