Aussie Millions Down to 38; Mike Del Vecchio Leads
After seven levels on Day 3 of the 2019 Aussie Millions Main Event, the record-breaking field of 822 has been whittled down to just 42 with a familiar name leading the way.
Mike Del Vecchio finished fifth in last year's Main Event for A$370,000 ($299,033) and told PokerNews that a "pretty incredible" Day 3 resulted in him bagging 2,403,000.
"Honestly it was about as perfect as it could possibly have gone. I can't understand how it could have gone any better."
"I never really lost a pot the entire day," said Del Vecchio. "I had a really frustrating Day 1, with a good last level. Then a really frustrating Day 2, but again a good last level. But today I just won every pot all day.
"Honestly it was about as perfect as it could possibly have gone. I can't understand how it could have gone any better."
However, Del Vecchio has his sights set on another deep run and potentially another final table.
"In my mind, I'd love some redemption. In my mind, last year I played a poor final table, and I'd really like to make the final table and make up for it."
Other big stacks include Dingxiang Ong (1,402,000) who jumped up the leaderboard after his aces eliminated Hayato Kitajima who held kings, Matthew Wakeman (1,292,000) who cracked Michael Soyza's queens, and David Wang (1,247,000) who rivered an ace with ace-king to crack Jesse Sylvia's jacks late in the day.
| Position | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mike Del Vecchio | United States | 2,403,000 | 200 |
| 2 | Dingxiang Ong | Singapore | 1,402,000 | 117 |
| 3 | Matthew Wakeman | Australia | 1,292,000 | 108 |
| 4 | David Wang | Australia | 1,247,000 | 104 |
| 5 | Andrew Hinrichsen | Australia | 1,230,000 | 103 |
| 6 | Gavin Flynn | Ireland | 1,050,000 | 88 |
| 7 | Greg Heaver | Australia | 962,000 | 80 |
| 8 | Ryan Otto | New Zealand | 927,000 | 77 |
| 9 | Chun Kwok | Hong Kong | 923,000 | 77 |
| 10 | Andrian Chin | Australia | 838,000 | 70 |
Big names still in the Main Event are former bracelet-winner Andrew Hinrichsen (1,230,000), Bryn Kenney (782,000), Pim de Goede (780,000), Michael Addamo (623,000), Michael Egan (609,000), Quan Zhou (528,000), Farid Jattin (493,000), Vojtech Ruzicka (443,000), Jack Salter (239,000), Day 1c chip leader Cole Swannack (204,000), and Dominik Panka (185,000).
Day 3 Recap
If Day 2 was moving day, then Day 3 was money day in the record-breaking 2019 Aussie Millions Main Event. Just 88 players from the 168 who started the day were guaranteed a min-cash of AU$15,600, and it took until just before the dinner break for the money bubble to appear on the horizon.
Among the players to bust before the money was reached were Jackie Glazier, who lost out to Michael Soyza early; Day 1b chip leader Julian Stuer, who ran ace-king into the kings of Robert Glasspool; and 2019 Aussie Millions 8 Game champion Michael Gathy, whose two pair fell foul of the straight of Gyeong Byeong Lee.
Tyron Krost, the last Aussie Millions champion, was eliminated before the money, losing ace-queen to the ace-king of Jim Chahoud for most of his chips.
The players headed off on dinner break just one elimination away from the money, with Farid Jattin the clear chip leader with over 1,500,000 in chips. When the players returned, there were doubles for Bruno Portaro, Hayato Kitajima, Michael Addamo, and Anthony Kingston before the bubble eventually burst.
Del Vecchio explained how he chipped up on the bubble despite being seated at a tough table.
"I had a really tough table with Jake Salter and [eventual bubble boy] Maxi Lehmanski, and we all had a ton of chips, so I was prepared for a tough battle. But eventually they lost some chips - some to me, some to others - and all of a sudden I had a dominating stack and I had the leverage to eventually burst the bubble."
Bubble boy Maxi Lehmanski was was eliminated after running his pocket jacks ran into the pocket kings of Del Vecchio. After a queen-high board was dealt, Lehmanski was eliminated, guaranteeing the remaining players AU$15,600.
Early eliminations in the money included Ajay Chabra (86th - AU$15,600), Andrew Chen (74th - AU$15,600), Oliver Gill (73rd - AU$15,600), Billy 'The Croc' Argyros (67th - AU$20,500), Michael Soyza (57th - AU$20,500), Rory Young (54th - AU$25,400), and Nauvneel Kashyap (51st - AU$25,400).
The Aussie Millions Main Event resumes at 12:30 p.m. local time on Friday, 1 February with the aim to play down to a final table of seven. The tournament will redraw at 36 players to create six tables of six players and will continue six-handed for the remainder of the tournament.
Stay tuned to PokerNews for Aussie Millions Main Event live updates. The Aussie Millions live reporting on PokerNews.com includes live updates of the AU$100,000 Challenge on Friday.
Based in the United Kingdom, Will started working for PokerNews as a freelance live reporter in 2015 and joined the full-time staff in 2019. He graduated from the University of Kent in 2017 with a B.A. in German. He also holds an NCTJ Diploma in Sports Journalism.
