Christian Heich has had some excellent results during the 2009 Aussie Millions and he's currently trying to add a Main Event title to the list. Taking a pot off Stewart Scott certainly gets him that much closer to his goal.
Heich opened the pot for 26,000 from the button. Both Stewart Scott and Dixon Ruecker called out of the blinds. All three players checked a flop of . On the turn , action passed to Heich. He took a stab at the pot with a bet of 40,000. Only Scott called.
On the river , Scott checked a third time. Heich made it 95,000 to go. Scott called with a hand we never got to see. He mucked when Heich rolled over for flopped trip fives.
Heich is back up to 770,000. Scott has less than a million chips once again.
NPL qualifier Chris Fullwood has doubled up at the expense of overnight chip leader Michael Tureniec.
Tureniec had raised to 26,000 from the button and Fullwood moved all in for 192,000 from the big blind. Tureniec snap-called.
Tureniec:
Fullwood:
Fullwood had been caught, but wasn't in bad shape with live cards, and he improved to a pair on the flop. The turn brought the to make two pair for Fullwood as Tureniec would need to hit his gutshot straight draw. It wasn't to be as the river was the .
Fullwood doubles through to 390,000 with Tureniec now in trouble on 140,000.
In the end, Michael Turneniec couldn't stop bleeding chips. He started Day 4 as chip leader; he ends it as the 19th place finisher. Tureniec raised all in from the big blind for 132,000 chips after Zach Gruneberg opened with a raise from the button. Gruneberg tanked for two minutes, as 132,000 chips represented about half of his total stack. He did finally elect to make the call.
Tureniec:
Gruneberg:
The flop was . Both players missed, but Gruneberg picked up outs to a straight or a running flush to go along with his live cards. The turn paired his jack; the river paired Tureniec's ace but also made a straight for Gruneberg. He knocked out Tureniec well short of the final table; surely a disappointment for the Swede. AU$50,000 should dull the pain.
Sorel Mizzi is hitting jacks when he needs to hit them today. He open-shoved all in for 163,000 chips preflop. Action passed to Elliot Smith, who re-shoved for more than 400,000. Everyone else cleared out.
Mizzi:
Smith:
The window card was the , but when the dealer spread the flop, Mizzi found a and to go along with it. He took the lead, then sweated the turn and refused to look at the board as the dealer put down the river. He doubled to roughly 340,000 chips; Smith is down to 270,000.
With action a bit slower now that we're down to three tables, we have some time to see what else is going on in the room. One thing we've noticed is that the Main Event has attracted quite a rail. There are only 18 players remaining in the field, but there are between 80 and 100 spectators on the rail sweating the action. They're basically two-deep all around the remaining three tables.
Chris Fullwood opened with a raise from under the gun to 25,000 and Zach Gruneberg re-popped it to 75,000. The action folded around and Fullwood moved all in for 333,000. Gruneberg thought for a few minutes before making a huge call.
Gruneberg:
Fullwood:
The flop brought a huge sweat for the fans on the rail as it fell . The turn was the , but the river landed the and Gruneberg let out a shreik of delight as Fullwood was sent to the rail in 18th place for AU$65,000 in prize money.
Stewart Scott has a cadre of fans in the Shout Box. They'll be pleased to know he has an extra 176,000 chips, courtesy of Chris Chronis. Chronis was in the big blind and called a raise to 26,000 made by Scott from late position. Both players checked a flop of . On the turn , Chronis led out for 55,000. Scott raised him to 150,000 and Chronis called.
Both players checked the river. Scott showed down , having made a pair of queens on the turn. That was a winner. Scott and Chronis therefore traded places in the counts, with Scott moving up to 1.35 million and Chronis sidling down to 1.20 million.