For six days, the Crown Poker Room hosted a daily freeroll on there Poker Pro Electronic Tables. The winners of each day advanced to the six-handed final, which concluded on Sunday. While five players went home empty handed, the victor, Dean Blatt, walked away with a free seat into the 2012 Aussie Millions Main Event.
Blatt is in action today and looking to catch some lightening in a bottle and freeroll his way to a championship.
Here's a look at the Crown's Poker Pro Freeroll results:
We didn't catch all the details, but we do know that a player in Seat 5 check and Vitaly Lunkin bet 3,000 on a board reading . Seat 5 called and showed for an ace-high flush, which bested Lunkin's king-high flush.
It's recap time at the 2012 Aussie Millions. Find out the winner of the Bounties Event, how many starters were in day 1a of the 10th Annual Main Event and what else is on for the day.
Four tables have been moved up to Studio 3, where the final table of the $100k challenge is taking place. We think that they think it'll add a little atmosphere to the room and cut the tension with so much money at stake.
Annette Obrestad, Mel Juda and Sam Capra's tables are three that have moved. Capra has Yin Li and Jean-Paul Helderman for company and the latter of these two just risked his whole stack against the former.
Li raised from the button only to face a Helderman three-bet to 1,300 from the small blind. His response was to four-bet to 4,500. Helderman really wanted the pot though and shoved for another 30,000 to force a fold from Li.
A few minutes later, Li was looking at the players taking their seats for the restart of the $100k challenge and, thinking it was a Main Event Day 1b table, he said how he thought it was very unlucky that Joe Hachem and Tony G had been drawn together. Capra laughed and pointed out Nam Le, Sam Trickett and Sorel Mizzi, before making Li aware of his mistake.
The action started off with a raise to 525 and James Dempsey decided to three-bet from the cutoff. The action got folded to Michael Kanaan who four-bet from the small blind to 3,600. The initial raiser folded his cards after which Dempsey threw out a five-bet to 6,600.
The pressure was now on Kanaan who went into the tank. Billy Jordanou called the clock but the dealer stated that Kanaan still had time. The young American, who won an AZNPT tournament in Sydney last year for $195,000, finally pulled out one of his earbuds and asked Dempsey how much he had behind. The Brit stacked his chips neatly and counted out 28,225. Kanaan threw in the six-bet to 10,000 and Dempsey sighed as he released his hand.
Kanaan didn't wast any time and flipped over the . "Nice hand" Dempsey said with a smile after which the other players at the table started chatting about this crazy hand. "There is some honest poker being played over here!", one player shouted. The only thing Billy Jordanou could say was, "Wow!" as the dealer shuffled the cards and the players got dealt another hand.
With 2,800 in the pot and a board reading , David Bach bet 2,200 and was called by Jason Pritchard, who was seated to his immediate left. When the appeared on the river, Bach fired out a big bet of 6,200, which sent Pritchard into the tank for about three minutes before he slowly slid his cards to the muck.
Even with that win, Bach is below the starting stack of 30K.
Yesterday, Jonathan Karamalikis tried his luck in the $100,000 Challenge, though things did not go as well as he'd hoped and he was eliminated early on. Today, Karamalikis returns to the felt and is looking to add a Main Event title to his laundry list of accomplishments.
In a recent hand, Karamalikis opened under the gun for 500 and was called by both the hijack and the big blind. When the flop fell , The big blind checked, Karamalikis bet 825, and the hijack folded. The big blind then woke up with a check-raise to 1,650, Karamalikis called, and the was put out on the turn.
The big blind decided to slow down with a check, which opened the door for Karamalikis to bet 2,200. The big blind wasted little time in throwing away his hand, and Karamalikis took down the small pot.
Marvin Rettenmaier strolled into the poker room with only twenty minutes to go in the first level. This didn't hurt his stack one bit even though he dropped 2,000 from the bat. Rettenmaier found his swing pretty quickly and ended up having a 5,000 profit in the first break.
The German told us a player in the cut-off limped after which the button called. From the small blind Rettenmaier raised to 500 with and all of a sudden the cut-off three-bet to 1,400. Rettenmaier got heads up to the flop which brought out with a flush draw. The action went check-check and Rettenmaier lead out for 1,800 on the turn. His opponent made the call and the river was a . This time Rettenmaier bet 4,200 and once again his opponent called. Rettenmaier showed the winner and raked in the pot.
We've just spotted 2009 Aussie Millions champ, Stewart Scott, tucked away in the corner and playing in today's field. If you recall, Scott was the first Australian to win the Aussie Millions title.
With 1,200 in the pot and a flop of , Kenna James bet 325 from the small blind and his opponent called from middle position. Both players checked the turn, and then James bet 850 on the river. His opponent made the call and James confidently showed a , but it was no good against the MP's .
. Seat 5 called and showed 
for an ace-high flush, which bested Lunkin's 
king-high flush.
, David Bach bet 2,200 and was called by Jason Pritchard, who was seated to his immediate left. When the 
appeared on the river, Bach fired out a big bet of 6,200, which sent Pritchard into the tank for about three minutes before he slowly slid his cards to the muck.
was put out on the turn.
and all of a sudden the cut-off three-bet to 1,400. Rettenmaier got heads up to the flop which brought out 
with a flush draw. The action went check-check and Rettenmaier lead out for 1,800 on the 
turn. His opponent made the call and the river was a 
. This time Rettenmaier bet 4,200 and once again his opponent called. Rettenmaier showed the winner and raked in the pot.
, Kenna James bet 325 from the small blind and his opponent called from middle position. Both players checked the 
turn, and then James bet 850 on the 
river. His opponent made the call and James confidently showed a 
.
