Big Day 1a for Fabian Quoss at Aussie Millions Main Event
Fabian Quoss may term himself retired from the game of poker, but he showed he can still dominate when he does take the time to play an event. Day 1a of the Aussie Millions Main Event went exceptionally well for Quoss, as he sat down about halfway through the day and proceeded to run up a chip-leading stack of 187,100.
He had arguably the toughest table in the room, one that housed the likes of Ari Engel, Oliver Gill, Johannes Becker, Jeff Fielder and Benny Spindler at various times, but it didn't stop the German veteran from a crushing performance. Becker and Engel were actually among the players he busted, the former in a four-bet pot when his tens couldn't catch Quoss' queens and the latter in a cooler when Engel flopped a set and Quoss hit a straight on the river.
Quoss was among 72 players who made it through out of 160 entries on the first of three starting days. He certainly wasn't the only notable name advancing, either. Grant Levy, Igor Yaroshevskyy, Jorryt van Hoof and national legends Joe Hachem and Tony G also punched tickets to Day 2.
Tony G was grinding under the starting stack for much of the day, but a late heater saw him bag 107,800. Most crucially, he was dealt kings and saw a player four-bet all in from the blinds after he'd already three-bet an opener. Tony G called the shove and flopped top set against a set of jacks, fading the one-outer from there.
Hachem has made it through with the shortest stack, advancing with just 4,200.
Several big names found themselves less successful and on the rail. Among that number: Kenny Hallaert, Sosia Jiang, Martin Kozlov, Martin Jacobson, Jonathan Karamalikis and Bart Lybaert. As Aussie Millions is a freezeout event, they'll have to content themselves with trying to win some events if they hope to taste victory here at Crown Melbourne.
The Aussie Millions Main Event continues on Saturday with Day 1b, so come back to PokerNews for more coverage at 12:30 p.m. local time.
on the table and Ari Engel fired 8,500 from the hijack. Quoss moved forward enough chips to cover Engel's remaining stack and the 2016 champ needed only about 20 seconds to find the call button. 
wasn't good enough as Quoss rivered a straight with 
.
flop. They each checked the 
, bringing an 
. The first player checked and Spinella bet 15,000, which covered his opponent's 11,000. That player tanked about two minutes and then tossed in a chip.
for a bluff, but much to his surprise, he was chopping as his foe showed 
.
and Lehmanski fired 1,600 in position. The small blind called and big blind gave up. 
hit the felt and Lehmanski called another 5,000 to force his opponent to show air with 
. Lehmanski didn't have much himself, but his 
was by far the best hand and he climbed to around 83,000.
