Antonius Leads Day 1c of the 2013 Aussie Millions Millions Main Event
On Tuesday, the 2013 Aussie Millions Main Event continued with Day 1c action. While Days 1a and 1b drew 157 and 196 players, respectively, Day 1c was the biggest with 269 entries — though official numbers aren’t finalized as registration is open until the start of Day 2. After seven 90-minute levels of play, Patrik Antonius emerged as the day's chip leader with 204,800.
Antonius entered the field in Level 4 and doubled up within minutes. Although his double hand wasn't caught, we did see Antonius win a decent one against Bruno Portaro a short time later.
It happened when five players saw a flop of 
and three checks put action on Antonius, who bet 2,600 from the cutoff. Portaro then called from the button, the rest of the field folded, and the dealer burned and turned the 
. Antonius eyed up his opponent's stack of around 15,000 and then tossed out four dark blue T5,000 chips. Portaro insta-mucked. From there, Antonius was in a holding pattern until the last 15 minutes of the night when he shot to the top of the chip counts.
Obviously not everyone was as fortunate as Antonius on Day 1c. Australian cricket superstar Shane Warne gave it his best, but he met his end in Level 5 with the blinds at 200/400/50. Sam Korman limped for 400, and two players followed suit. Warne was sitting in the small blind and raised to 1,500. All three limpers called, the flop came down 
, and Warne fired out 6,000. Only Korman called, and Warne fired 10,000 on the 
turn. Korman called once again, and the river brought a third heart. Both players checked, Warne showed pocket aces, and Korman took the pot down with 
.
"We were playing pretty deep and I had around 50,000 to start the hand. He wasn't happy at all after the hand and asked why I was playing that hand," Korman told PokerNews before talking about the very next hand in which he knocked Warne out.
In that hand, Warne raised with the 
, and Korman decided to make the call with the 
. The flop brought 
, and Warne bet 2,500. Korman raised to 6,100, and Warne moved all in for around 20,000 chips according to Korman. Korman called with the straight, and no help on the turn nor river for Warne to knock him out.
Other Day 1c eliminations included Masa Kagawa, Jesse "OnTheMac" McKenzie, Tony Hachem, John Juanda, Brendon Rubie, Dimitri Mascarenhas, Steven Gee, Scott Lazar and Gus Hansen.
Hansen, who won the Aussie Millions Main Event back in 2007, met his end in the last level of the night with the blinds at 400/800/100. The “Great Dane” was short stacked when he moved in for just 9,100 from the button holding the 
, and Daniel Ljung called from the small blind with the 
. The board ran out 
and Hansen’s dreams of becoming the first-ever two-time Aussie Millions Main Event champion were shattered.
Not everyone fared badly on Day 1c. Among those to punch their ticket to Day 2 were the winner of the 2011 Aussie Millions $100,000 Challenge Sam Trickett; last year's 12th-place finisher in the Aussie Millions Main Event, Phil Ivey; 2012 World Series of Poker runner-up Jesse Sylvia; Macau high-stakes businessman Paul Phua; and 2005 WSOP Main Event winner Joe Hachem.
All of those players will join Day 1a and 1b survivors like Tyron Krost, Neil Channing, Jason Mercier, James Obst, Kevin Rabichow, Ayaz Mahmood, Phillip Willcocks, Day 1a chip leader Brian Payne (299,900) and Day 1b chip leader Frank Rusnak (165,100) for Day 2. Will any of those players add their name to the prestigious list of Aussie Millions Main Event winners? Only time will tell.
| Year | Winner | Prize | No. of Entries | Prize Pool |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | Oliver Speidel | AU$1,600,000 | 659 | AU$6,590,000 |
| 2011 | David Gorr | AU$2,000,000 | 721 | AU$7,210,000 |
| 2010 | Tyron Krost | AU$2,000,000 | 746 | AU$7,460,000 |
| 2009 | Stewart Scott | AU$2,000,000 | 681 | AU$6,810,000 |
| 2008 | Alexander Kostritsyn | AU$1,650,000 | 780 | AU$7,800,000 |
| 2007 | Gus Hansen | AU$1,500,000 | 747 | AU$7,470,000 |
| 2006 | Lee Nelson | AU$1,295,800 | 418 | AU$4,180,000 |
| 2005 | Jamil Dia | AU$1,000,000 | 263 | AU$2,630,000 |
| 2004 | Tony Bloom | AU$426,500 | 133 | AU$1,330,000 |
| 2003 | Peter Costa | AU$394,870 | 122 | AU$1,220,000 |
Approximately 320 survivors from all three starting days will return for Day 2 action on Wednesday at 12:30 p.m. EDT (20:30 EST Tuesday), which will consist of seven more 90-minute levels. The PokerNews Live Reporting Team will be on hand throughout, so be sure to join them then for all the latest and greatest from the land down under.