Event 7 - $1,650 Bounty Feature Event Day 1 | 2009 Aussie Millions

01-16-2009 12:12 UTC+11

It's Time To Hunt Some Bounties!

[user67765]

Welcome back to the Crown Poker Room in Melbourne, Australia for our continued coverage of the 2009 Aussie Millions Poker Championships.

Today will see a large turnout hit the felt for one of the popular feature events of the series. It's Event #7: $1,650 Bounty Feature Event where one player on each table will have a cash bounty placed on their head for their elimination.

The players are filling the registration area as the action kicks off at 12:30 p.m. local time which is about 20 minutes from now. Stay tuned for all the live action as it happens from the tournament floor.

01-16-2009 12:19 UTC+11

The People Have Spoken

[user67765]

There are some incredible scenes here in the Crown Poker Room right now. The queue for the registration booth has stretched the length of the room and is currently all the way back to our PokerNews desk. There are 50 or more people standing in line - a pretty clear indication that this is going to be a huge field.

It's likely the start of this event will be delayed a few minutes until everyone is registered and seated.

Level: 1

Blinds: 25/50

Ante: 0

01-16-2009 12:31 UTC+11

Shuffle Up and Deal!

[user75032]

Despite the masses of people still waiting in the registration line, cards are in the air.

01-16-2009 12:38 UTC+11

A Format Unlike Any Other

[user75032]

Today's event features a rather unusual format. First of all, each player will have only twenty seconds to act on his or her hand. There are no extensions. If after twenty seconds a player has not acted, the hand is dead.

There will be one "bounty player" drawn to each table. Any player who eliminates a bounty player will receive a cash prize of AU$1,000 directly from the prize pool.

Play will otherwise proceed as normal until there are thirty-two players remaining. At that time, players will be seeded, based on chip count, into four shootout tables. The clock will be rewound one full level, and then play will proceed in a shootout format, with the top two players from each table advancing to the final table. The twenty-second rule for acting on a hand still applies.

At the final table, scheduled to take place tomorrow, the level will be set to the level that was in play at the time of the completion of the second of the four shootout tables. Players will carry over their exact chip counts from the shootout tables to the final table and will be given several forty-second time extensions.

The novelty of the format seems to have drawn quite a few players. We imagine it will take at least an hour to process the registration line.

01-16-2009 12:40 UTC+11

Players Still Registering

[user67765]

Several minutes into the event and there are still over 50 people waiting in line! The Crown tournament staff have been doing a tremendous job trying to get everyone registered and seated quickly.

This is clearly a very popular event, but note to players: register in advance to avoid delays!

01-16-2009 12:51 UTC+11

Steicke Unstuck

[user67765]

Cult hero David Steicke is the first casualty of the day. With all the frantic excitement of people still registering, there is actually some poker action underway!

We didn't catch the action, but believe that Steicke ran into an opponent's pocket kings to be sent crashing the to the rail.

01-16-2009 12:52 UTC+11

"This Bounty Hunter is My Kind of Scum"

[user75032]

Everyone in today's tournament is potentially a bounty hunter, but only a few players actually have bounties on their heads. Notables bounties that we have already spotted include: Andrew Demetriou, Ben Delaney, Emad Tahtouh, George Cotaidis, Michael Vartan, Nick Binger, Live Boeree, Mick "the Hoon" Stanton, Ross Boatman, David Saab and H.O.R.S.E. runner-up Van Marcus. With one bounty at each starting table, there is plenty of opportunity for players to recoup their buy-in with a single elimination.

01-16-2009 13:05 UTC+11

Hunted Becomes the Hunter

[user75032]

Liv Boeree is one of the players with a bounty on her head today. Her opponent in Seat 5 must have thought he was going in for the kill when Boeree reraised him all in on a board of {5-Spades}

. Boeree's opponent made the call with {K-Hearts}

, probably already able to visualize a giant bag of cash (complete with dollar sign painted on the side) when Boeree called. Boeree, however, tabled a slightly better flush -- the nut flush, {A-Hearts}