Youssef Cleans Up on Day 1b as 32 Players Advance to Day 2
Crown Poker's 2012 Aussie Millions Championship continued on Friday with Day 1b of Event 1: $1,100 Opening Event. The first flight drew 274 players and saw 34 advanced to Day 2, while the Day 1b flight was on par, drawing 251 players, making the total so far 525 players, and sending through 32 survivors.
Leading the way with 240,100 chips is Sam Youssef, who made some moves in the last few levels. The first came with a board showing 
and a big pot building. By the time all the action on the turn was over, the two players had all their chips in the middle.
Showdown
Youssef: 
Opponent: 
When Youssef noticed that his opponent hit a set on the flop he joked that he was drawing dead. That certainly wasn't the case by the time the river was dealt, with the 
giving Youssef the straight.
Another man who was doing quite well was James Dempsey, who many may recall as the man who recently won over $820K for his victory in the World Poker Tour Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic back in December.
Unfortunately for Dempsey, he was unable to hold onto his big stack as he ran into Youssef. In that hand, there was plenty of action between Youssef and Dempsey with the former holding 
and the latter
. The flop housed a along with two hearts and this is when all the chips went in. Dempsey would need a heart that would never come as the kings of Youssef were enough to see his stack skyrocket to over 250,000!
The unique “repecharge” format of the event means that Dempsey, as well as any other eliminated player, can come back on Day 1c, if they're willing to pay the price of admission of course. There were plenty of other players like Mizzi who were eliminated in Flight 1 and opted to take advantage of the repecharge format and reentered. They included Maria Ho, Simon Watt, Daniel Laidlaw, Benn Skendar, and Vesko Zmukic. Unfortunately, none of them would survive the day, though we expect most will return on Day 1c for one last try.
The second starting flight of the Opening Event may have attracted the previous day’s dead, but there were a slew of new players in attendance as well, including 2010 World Series of Poker third-place finisher, Joseph Cheong; 2011 Aussie Millions Champ, David Gorr; local legend and 2011 Australian Poker Hall of Fame inductee, Leo Boxell; UK pro, Richard Ashby; world traveler, McLean Karr, and online stars Daniel “djk123” Kelly, Toby “810ofclubs” Lewis, and Jim “Mr_BigQueso” Collopy. Unfortunately, all of these players hit the rail by night’s end.
Joining Youssef in making it Day 2, along with the 34 survivors from Day 1a, are Bernard Beh, Mel Judah, Billy Jordanou, Brendon Rubie, and last year's winner of this very event, Martin Drewe, just to name a few.
Top 5 Chip Counts
| Player | Chips |
|---|---|
| Sam Youssef | 240,100 |
| Brendon Rubie | 148,000 |
| Bernard Beh | 134,000 |
| Michael Comer | 132,600 |
| Jack Ellwood | 124,000 |
The last Day 1 starting flight is set to begin at 1230 AEST Saturday (1730 PST Friday), so be sure to join us then as the PokerNews Live Reporting Team will bring you all the action and eliminations, live, from the floor of the Crown Poker Room.