2009 Aussie Millions

Day 1b completed

Posted 01-20-2009 00:23 GMT+11

Only One More to Go

The chips are bagged and the players are on their way out of the Crown Poker Room to signal the end of Day 1b play.

202 players sat down today, but only 101 will make it to Day 2 to join the 76 others. Defending champion Alexander Kostritsyn, Erik Seidel, Chris Ferguson, Ross Boatman and Emad Tahtouh all came and went, but it would be Brett Daphne and Josh Malone out in fron as the Day 1b leaders.

Snapping on his heels is Sam Vakili, Joe Cabret, Marty Smyth and Michael 'Timex' McDonald, all with stacks that will help them fare well when they return to the felt on Wednesday.

A 300-plus field is expected to turn out tomorrow to compete on the final flight of play. Joe Hachem, Gus Hansen, John Juanda, JC Tran and Nam Le are certain to take their opportunity on being crowned the 2009 Aussie Millions Main Event champion and be AU$2,000,000 richer.

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Maya Geller-Antonius Loses Most of Stack

Maya Geller-Antonius has taken a large hit to finish off the day. Geller-Antonius and her opponent got all the chips in preflop, she tabled while her opponent rolled over to race for a 60,000 chip pot.

An on the flop and a on the turn have left Geller-Antonius with just 12,000 chips and only a couple of hands left in the day.

Tags: Maya Geller-Antonius.

Three More Hands

The tournament clock is paused. The dealers were just instructed to deal out three more hands to each table and then bag and tag all survivors. We're in the home stretch.

Levy Doubles

Grant Levy has managed to find a vital double-up with his against his opponent's .

The board ran out to see 'grunter' double to 26,000 which managed to bring about some cheers from the rail; especially from Jai Kemp who final tabled the 2007 APPT Grand Final that Levy won.

Tags: Grant Levy.

Ta-Ta Tahtouh

Emad Tahtouh moved all in preflop with his and found a caller in Josh Onas holding .

The flop fell a nice sweat for both players landing , and Tahtouh picked up a few more outs with the peeling on the turn. However it would be an unexciting landing on the river to see Tahtouh exit the tournament as Onas chips up to104,000.

Tags: Emad Tahtouh, James Onas.

Tabatabai-bye

John Tabatabai took a chance when the flop came down all babies, . He moved all in for his last 8,200. Joseph Thiel made the call, having flopped two pair with . Tabatabai turned over , an up-and-down straight draw. It bricked the turn and the river, sending Tabatabai to join the ranks of the dearly departed on the rail of the tournament.

Tags: John Tabatabai.

Channing Busts MacNaughton

On a flop of Pam MacNaughton moved her last 12,000 into the middle and Neil Channing made the call holding to be well in front of MacNaughton's .

The turn fell the and river the to see MacNaughton head to the rail as Channing chipped up to 70,000 in chips.

Tags: Neil Channing, Pam MacNaughton.

Vakili's Monster Draw Sends Another to the Rail

Reza Vakili has been active at Table 26. He took a raised flop with the small blind that came down . The small blind led into Vakili for 3,100, a bet that Vakili raised to 8,600. The small blind then pushed all in for 26,275 and was instantly called.

Small blind:
Vakili:

The small blind made top pair, but Vakili had a monster draw: any ace, any jack, and any club. He caught the best of all possible outs, a club, when the turn fell . His opponent was drawing dead and beat a hasty exit from the table.

"For how slow this table started, it's sure picked up!" said another player at the table. He pointed at Vakili. "Ever since HE got here."

Vakili is closing in on 100,000 in chips.

Tags: Reza Vakili.

Demidov Takes Down 30,000 Chip Pot Without Showdown

A player in middle position opened to 1,525 with the cutoff and Demidov in the small blind both making the call. The big blind then raised it to 5,000 and all of the players called, to take it four-handed to the flop.

With over 20,000 in the pot, the flop was always going to be interesting, especially when it came . Both of the blinds checked, and the middle position player fired 9,675. With action on the cutoff, he went into the tank for a fair while before folding.

Action now passed to Demidov who also went into the tank before blasting out a bet of 57,500 all in. The big blind folded, and action passed back to the middle position player who had raised on the flop originally.

He went into the tank for the best part of four minutes before finally laying his hand down.

Demidov went to muck his cards, but before he had the opportunity, his table eagerly begged him to show the hand. Demidov obliged rolling over the and dragged a 30,000 pot pushing his stack to around 90,000.

Tags: Ivan Demidov.