The Beginning of the End

Two very long days of poker (which were really four very long days of poker) have thinned the herd here at the 2009 Aussie Millions Poker Championship Main Event. From a starting field of 681 runners, we are down to the final 85. 64 of these players will walk away with a minimum of AU$15,000. One of them will amass all of the chips and earn AU$2,000,000.

A champion won't be crowned today though. First we have to pop the money bubble. That should happen before dinner. From there the pace of play will pick up slightly. The ever-increasing blinds should apply enough pressure to thin the field to a much more manageable 35 by day's end.

The story of Day 2 was the play of two young women: Annica Ivert and Annette Obrestad. They start the day at the very top of the leaderboard. Absent catastrophe, both should easily make the money.

Our feature table today is a doozy. Seat at Table 10 are Team PokerNews player Luke Abolins, "Prince of Poker" Scotty Nguyen, Patrik Antonius, Omid Azadpeyma, Swedish player Michael Tureniec, local favorite Sam Khouiss, Andy Church and Damon Lum.

The bare-knuckle brawl kicks off in 30 minutes.