Tam Troung Leads the Day 1a Field as 34 Players Remain

It took almost nine hours of grueling poker action, but the first flight of Event 1: $1,100 Opening Event has finally come to an end and it certainly kicked off the 2012 Aussie Millions with a bang.

The action started at 7:10 pm, with the late starting time and promises of a very late evening not deterring players from taking to the felt. By the time the numbers were in, there were 274 players who took part in Day 1a and by the end of the night only 34 of those would survive to Day 2.

Some of the best players from around Australia and the world began the day, but of course, they couldn’t all survive, with the likes of Mel Judah, Jeff Rossiter, Bruno Portaro and Brendon Rubie all succumbing to the rail throughout the day.

At least the above players are Australian locals and didn’t have to come too far to bust out of the event. The same can’t be said for players like Maria Ho, Sorel Mizzi, Tony Bloom and Simon Watt as they each traveled from far and wide to be eliminated. Fortunately for these international players though, the unique “repecharge” format of the event means they will be allowed a second chance to buy-in on Day 1b or Day 1c.

The night started off with action coming from every direction as dozens of players hit the rail within the first few levels. The chip lead changed many times throughout the night with the 2011 champion of this very event, Martin Drewe, the first player to accumulate a huge stack. Drewe held onto his lead for quite some time before a few hands left him with an average stack. In the end, Drewe couldn't survive as one all-in flip sent him to the rail.

After Drewe’s demise the chip lead was up for grabs and that’s when Joel Dodds started making his way up the leader board. Dodds had somewhat of a roller coaster climb up the chip counts, with him becoming the first player to hold a six-figure chip stack.

While Dodds sat as the chip leader for much of the evening, there were a few players who made a late charge at that title and eventually surpassed Dodds. When the dust settled at the end of the night, the largest stack was Tam Truong (209,0000). Truong was lucky to have the chip lead at all, with the young Alex Lynskey (208,000) trailing him by only 1,000.

Some other players to climb up the chip leader board throughout the evening included Damir Alidzanovic (188,000) and Joel Feldman (180,500).

Joining the above players on Day 2 with quite a few less chips, but still surviving, include Andrew Hinrichsen (81,500), Grant Levy (72,900) and Jackie Glazier (68,300).

Tomorrow is set to begin in just over 8-hours’ time at 12:10 pm EST and PokerNews will again be on the floor of the Crown Poker Room providing live coverage of the opening event of the 2012 Aussie Millions!