Hansen, Hachem Head the Final Eight
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That's a wrap for Day 1 of the Aussie Millions $100,000 Challenge, and it's been quite a day.
Twenty-two players turned up to Studio 3 inside the Crown Casino this afternoon with a strong desire to spend six figures on a slip of numbered paper. About 10 hours later, that field has been reduced to just eight as the final table is locked up for tomorrow.
Mike "SirWatts" Watson was the first one to make his exit today when Sam Trickett's combo draw came through to best his top pair with ace-king. Watson was soon joined on the rail by quite a cast of characters including Dan Shak, Tom Dwan, Masa Kagawa, Tony Bloom, and Jonathan Karamalikis — all before the dinner break at the end of the second level. The latter was sent off by Daniel Alaei, but Alaei would be the first one to fall after the recess in a bit of a nasty beat to Joe Hachem. Alaei flopped top set with tens, and Hachem put him to the test on fourth street with only a gutshot straight draw. The four-outer came through with a vengeance, though, and Alaei was sent off in the middle of the pack.
Others to fall today included a couple more Daniels — Negreanu and Cates — along with Tobias Reinkemeier, JC Tran, Jason Mercier (#whenwillitend), and last year's third-place finisher, Erik Seidel.
The field had been reduced to nine players around just one table, and right around 1:00am, the final hand played out. Gus Hansen flopped two pair with six-seven, and Phil Ivey went with pocket eights for a pair and an open-ender. His hand never got over the hump after a blank apiece on the turn and river, and Ivey's exit made things a little easier on the eight who are set to return tomorrow.
As our pal RedBull Robbie would say, "LLLLLLLet's meet them now."
| Seat | Player | Chips |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tony G | 102,000 |
| 2 | Gus Hansen | 567,000 |
| 3 | Nam Le | 79,500 |
| 4 | Sam Trickett | 73,000 |
| 5 | Mikhail Smirnov | 265,000 |
| 6 | Joe Hachem | 538,500 |
| 7 | Sorel Mizzi | 228,500 |
| 8 | Dan Smith | 346,500 |
That's who we've got left, and they're set to return tomorrow at precisely 2:30pm-or-so to play it out to a winner. We'll be here, too, and we hope to see you back here to finish up the story.