[user75032]
We've already commented today how Richard Ashby took somewhat unusual lines with pocket aces and pocket kings, playing them incredibly soft. He's done it again, with queens, but this time he was joined by Sam Capra's softplay of kings!
Capra opened the pot for 55,000 and Ashby called out of the big blind. Both players were a bit leery of a flop that came and checked it through to the turn, which was the . Ashby had first action and checked again. Capra checked behind. On the river , Ashby led out for 60,000. Capra just called. Ashby showed his queens for queens full of aces; Capra showed his pocket kings and mucked.
It was a very curious hand all around. If the players won't give action in a hand of queens versus kings five-handed, what will it take?
[user67765]
The format of the Aussie Millions starts with nine-handed tables and moves to eight-handed as soon as possible until we reach the final thirty-six players. At that point (yesterday afternoon) the players redrew into six-handed tables, and play continues six-handed for the remainder of the tournament.
However this evening we are playing down to a final table of seven players. Why seven? Well quite simply it is too great of a disadvantage to have one four-handed and one three-handed table at that point of the tournament. Therefore the final table will commence tomorrow seven-handed. Clear as mud?
The beauty of this format is that the Aussie Millions is a true test of one's poker abilities, both in full ring and short-handed play.
[user75032]
Peter Rho and Tino Lechich limped into the pot preflop. That put the action to Zach Gruneberg, who raised to 80,000. Rho and Lechich both called. Lechich had first action on a flop of and took a chance by moving all in. Both of his opponents folded.
[user75032]
If flops have been scarce, showdowns have been non-existent on either of our final two tables. We just had one on Table 10 that didn't get checked all the way down.
Richard Ashby limped in from the small blind and Sam Capra declined his big-blind option. The flop was , prompting the reticent Ashby to lead out for 20,000. Capra called.
The turn came . Ashby made it 35,000 to go but was raised to 135,000 by Capra. He elected to call that bet and check-call another 75,000 on the river . Capra turned over for a small flopped flush; Ashby flashed for two pair before throwing his hand into the muck.
That was a 250,000-chip swing for each player. Capra now has approximately 1.4 million; Ashby is down to about 750,000.
[user75032]
Annica Ivert - 11th Place
There are no women left in the field. Just as the players were heading into break. Annica Ivert got all of her chips in the middle against Barny Boatman. Boatman limped on the small blind before Ivert raised to 70,000. Boatman reraised all in for 458,000 and Ivert made the call. It turned out that she was the one at risk of elimination, but she was in the lead preflop with against Boatman's .
The crowd let out a murmur of excitement when the flop missed both players but came down to give Boatman an up-and-down straight draw to go along with his live card outs. The turn was the , making a pair of sixes for Boatman. Ivert needed a five or a ten on the river to chop, or an ace or a queen for the win. She got none of them. The river fell to send the Swedish-born Japanese local out of the tournament in 11th place.
[user75032]
The structure here is deeper than that well that kid fell down that one time. Know what we mean? No? Ok, fine, just take our word for it. Lots of play. AU$2,000,000 on the line. Even the AU$1,000,000 prize for the runner-up is not bad for a week's work. The play has therefore become as tight as a snare drum.
We set the line this morning at somewhere between 3am and 4am before we had our final seven players. At the rate this thing is going, the overs are looking pretty good.
At least a bag of jelly worms was delivered to media row so we can all get our sugar fix.
[user75032]
Tino Lechich - 10th Place
No sooner had we posted about how the play was pretty tight then Tino Lechich called all in with after Rajkumar Ramakrishnan moved all in with the powerhouse . To be fair, Rajkumar had three times as many chips as Lehich. Lechich was at risk of elimination, but at least his chips were in the middle as a roughly three-to-one favorite.
was not a flop Lechich wanted to see. It gave Ramakrishnan the nut flush draw, which promptly filled when the turn fell . Lechich was drawing dead. He left for the payout cage after the river fell . Ramakrishnan's count was propelled to 2.05 million.
![[user75032]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
and checked it through to the turn, which was the 
. Ashby had first action and checked again. Capra checked behind. On the river 
, Ashby led out for 60,000. Capra just called. Ashby showed his queens for queens full of aces; Capra showed his pocket kings and mucked.
, prompting the reticent Ashby to lead out for 20,000. Capra called.
. Ashby made it 35,000 to go but was raised to 135,000 by Capra. He elected to call that bet and check-call another 75,000 on the river 
. Capra turned over 
for a small flopped flush; Ashby flashed 
for two pair before throwing his hand into the muck.
, making a pair of sixes for Boatman. Ivert needed a five or a ten on the river to chop, or an ace or a queen for the win. She got none of them. The river fell 
to send the Swedish-born Japanese local out of the tournament in 11th place.
after Rajkumar Ramakrishnan moved all in with the powerhouse 
