An unknown player opened from the hijack for 1,600 only to have Jeff Lisandro move all in for 9,800 from the small blind. The hijack thought for a few moments before calling, and then said, "Are you kidding me?" upon seeing Lisandro's . The hijack then tabled the far inferior . Lisandro was in great shape to double, which is exactly what he did when the board ran out .
Meanwhile, one table over, Dimitri Mascarenhas was been eliminated from the tournament.
Tony Hachem and an opponent were heads up on a board of . Hachem's opponent tossed out a 6,000-chip bet, and 2005 World Series of Poker Main Event champion called.
The completed the board, and the player led again - this time for 7,500. Hachem mulled the decision over for the better part of 90 seconds, then folded.
Everyone knows that Joe Hachem won the 2005 World Series of Poker and sparked a poker boom here in Australia. Some may even remember that year's sixth-place finisher Scott Lazar. What they might not know is that Hachem and Lazar actually became very good friends after that year's event, so much so that Hachem actually brought Lazar to his first Aussie Millions.
"Actually Joe Hachem. He brought me down," Lazar explained to PokerNews. "He’s been bugging me for about six years to just come on down. He’s told me all about the Aussie Millions, and this year I just had the time to do it. This is my first time to Australia. Melbourne is incredible. It’s a clean, Boston/New York/San Francisco-like city."
For better or worse, Lazar will have a chance to explore Melbourne even further as he's been eliminated from the Main Event. In the first hand back from the break, Lazar was crippled after turning the nuts only to have his opponent river a flush.
As Lazar explained it, a player opened from middle position holding and he called from the big blind with . He then check-called a bet on the flop, and then led out big on the turn. His opponent called off, and then the spiked on the river, leaving Lazar with approximately 5,000.
A short time later, Lazar shoved over a raise for around 5,000 holding suited. His opponent called with and that was all she wrote for the man from Studio City, California.
We don't always catch monster pots; in fact, most of the ones we watch are rather run of the mill. Here are two:
Hand #1: Dan Shak opened for 1,500 from middle position and Stephen Chidwick defended from the big blind. The duo then checked both the flop and , and then did it one more time when the completed the board on the river. Shak sheepishly showed , and it was good as Chidwick tossed his hand to the muck cards unseen.
Hand #2: An early-position player opened for 1,400 and received calls from Patrik Antonius and Tony Bloom in the cutoff and big blind respectively. All three players then checked the flop, and two more checks followed on the turn. That opened the door for Antonius to bet 1,700, which took down the pot.
Last year the poker world met Slade Fisher, the man with a full head of dreadlocks. Fisher finished 18th in the Aussie Millions Main Event and this year he's back to try and make another run.
Fisher has a mountain of chips in front of him which add up to around 195,000 after he just raked in another pot. When we arrived on the scene when the player two to Fisher's left had a big decision. The player had already invested 3,800 chips into the pot and was facing Fisher's re-raise to 11,600. After a while he made the call.
The third player involved was Brandon Adams. Adams had also invested 3,800 but he opted to fold. The flop brought out and Fisher picked up the pot with a 13,700-chip bet.
The turn was the , Wong's opponent led out for 3,500, and Wong again called.
The completed the board, and Wong's opponent fired a third and final bullet worth 4,800. Wong tanked for the better part of a minute, then tossed his cards into the muck.
It's been an up-and-down day for Gus Hansen, and right now it's more down than up.
In a recent hand, Hansen got his stack of 6,800 all in preflop holding the and was in good shape against the of his unknown opponent in the small blind. The flop was safe enough for Hansen, as was the turn. The small blind had some chop outs and could still win with a deuce, but neither happened as the harmless fell on the river.
With that Hansen, who won this event back in 2007, has kept his hopes of a second Aussie Millions Main Event alive.