2013 Aussie Millions Main Event Day 2: James Obst Leads; Antonius and Ivey in the Hunt
With 68 players remaining in the 2013 Aussie Millions Main Event, James Obst is leading with 1,061,000 in chips. Obst is the only player above seven-figures, but Scott Wilson won a massive pot during the last few minutes of play, and bagged 933,500 in chips.
Top 10 Counts After Day 2
| Rank | Name | Chips |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | James Obst | 1,061,000 |
| 2nd | Scott Wilson | 933,500 |
| 3rd | Mervin Chan | 774,500 |
| 4th | Jay Tan | 633,000 |
| 5th | Ping Chan | 630,500 |
| 6th | Daniel Neilson | 508,000 |
| 7th | Ang Pangleng | 491,000 |
| 8th | Zoltan Szabo | 486,000 |
| 9th | Man Hei Lam | 469,500 |
| 10th | Mark Betts | 464,500 |
Brian Payne was chip leader on Day 2, which began with 312 players. Payne began the day with just under 300,000 in chips but quickly plummeted in the counts. In one particular hand, Payne and Mark Teltscher took a flop of 7♠2♥10♣. Payne led out for 4,000, and Teltscher called. With the turn the Q♠, both players checked and the 3♠ completed the board. Payne tossed out 6,000, Teltscher moved all in for 20,000, and Payne folded, leaving himself with under 200,000 in chips. A few hours later, Payne was eliminated.
Payne wasn’t the only notable to hit the rail during play on Day 2. Stephen Chidwick, Russell Thomas, Eoghan O’Dea, Nate Silver, Richard Yong, Paul Phua, Neil Channing, Eric Liu, Annette Obrestad and Joe Hachem were all eliminated.
Chidwick made his exit in the last level of play with the A♦K♥ against the K♣K♠ of Ray Ellis. According to the PokerNews Odds Calculator, Ellis was a 69.61 percent favorite while Chidwick had a 29.60 percent chance of survival. The 2♦7♦2♠ flop dropped Chidwick's chances to 16.46 percent while the 5♥ turn cut it down to just 6.82 percent. Chidwick needed an ace on the river to keep his 2013 Aussie Millions Main Event hopes alive, but he would find no salvation as the useless Q♣ peeled off.
Silver, who appeared on the PokerNews Podcast earlier this week, had a roller-coaster day, but the famous statistician was ultimately eliminated in the ultimate cooler scenario. Silver was all-in and at risk preflop with two kings against Gary Benson’s two aces. Benson held, winning the 240,000-chip pot, sending Silver to the rail.
Among the survivors, no one was more aggressive than Obst, who rocketed up the counts. In one particular hand, he and Brandon Adams were heads up on a board of 2♠4♦10♥3♠. Obst checked, Adams bet 60,000 into a pot of around 80,000, and Obst check-raised all in for 200,000. Adams quickly folded and Obst raked in the pot.
There was a very interesting ruling made during the day that concerned Jay Tan and "Hong Kong" Kenny Wong — who are openly in a relationship. Tan was moved to Wong’s table, and when she was, she asked for a seat change. At Crown Casino, the staff tries to keep relatives and couples separated as much as possible for as long as possible to avoid collusion or other strange scenarios.
“When there’s two full tables left we’re not gonna re-seat players, because that would be unfair,” Tournament Director Christian Vaughn told PokerNews. “Personally, I think it would be good if we were able to split up players who have substantial stakes in each other, but that’s far more complicated."
Tan’s request was granted, and she moved to a separate table. Both players cruised for the remainder of the day, and both players ended the day with healthy stacks.
The PokerNews Live Reporting Team also had its eyes on Phil Ivey and Patrik Antonius. Antonius was moved to Ivey’s table in the middle of the day, and the two controlled the table until it broke with less than 20 minutes to play in the seventh and final level. During one orbit of play, four hands were won by Antonius and two by Ivey. In one particular hand, Antonius three-bet over an Ivey raise, prompting the rail to lean in and gawk at the table. Ivey folded, allowing the spectators to finally exhale.
The two poker icons finished the day with solid stacks — Ivey with 390,500 and Antonius with 332,000.
The prize pool was announced during Day 2, and the 629 players generated a total purse of AU$6,290,000. The top 64 players will earn a minimum of AU$15,000, and the winner will take home AU$1,600,000 and a Chrysler 300C sports car.
2013 Aussie Millions Final Table Payouts
| Place | Prize (AU$) |
|---|---|
| 1st | $1,600,000* |
| 2nd | $1,000,000 |
| 3rd | $600,000 |
| 4th | $400,000 |
| 5th | $290,000 |
| 6th | $220,000 |
*Will also receive a car.
Day 3 will begin on Thursday at 12:30 p.m. local time. Be sure to head over to the PokerNews Live Reporting Page for exclusive up-to-the-minute reports directly from the poker room floor.
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