$25,000 Challenge
Day 2 Started
2013 Aussie Millions
$25,000 Challenge
Day: 2
Event Info
Final Results
Event Info
Level Info
2013 Aussie Millions
Buy-in
25,000 AUD
Prize Pool
723,000 AUD
Entries
30
Level
17
Blinds
8,000 / 16,000
Ante
2,000
Only Erik Seidel Can Stop the German Invasion
Welcome back for Day 2 of the 2013 Aussie Millions $25,000 Challenge. Yesterday saw 30 entries make up the field, but that has all been whittled down to the final five. Each player returning today is in the money and guaranteed at least AU$51,000, but they're all gunning for the AU$275,000 top prize.
Fabian Quoss heads the final table with just over 500,000 in chips, and he'll be leading Team Germany into the fire as four of the five players left are fellow countrymen. Erik Seidel is the only player not German coming back today, and he'll be returning as the shortest stack left.
Here at the 2013 Aussie Millions, it's been all about Team Germany. In the $100,000 Challenge, Igor Kurganov took second place for AU$610,000, and he's also at this final table. In the $250,000 Challenge, three of the four players in the money were German. Tobias Reinkemeier took second for AU$1.25 million, Quoss took third for AU$750,000 and Kurganov netted another big score by taking fourth for AU$500,000.
Niklas Heinecker and Philipp Gruissem round out the German Fab Five, and they're also in the money here in this event. It's an amazing thing to witness and a true testament to how successful a close-nit group of friends with brilliant poker minds can be in this game. Now we'll just have to see how they do here today to close out the series.
| Seat | Player | Chips |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Igor Kurganov | 293,000 |
| 2 | Philipp Gruissem | 126,000 |
| 3 | Erik Seidel | 120,000 |
| 4 | Fabian Quoss | 504,500 |
| 5 | Niklas Heinecker | 455,000 |
Play is scheduled to kick off at 5:00 p.m. local time, so be sure to stay tuned right here to PokerNews for all the live updates straight to your screen from the table.
Seat 5: Niklas Heinecker -- 455,000
Niklas Heinecker is earning his first cash at the Aussie Millions, and that will help get the bitter taste out of his mouth after bubbling the $100,000 Challenge less than a week ago.
Heinecker is known as "ragen70" online, where he plays high-stakes cash games. In the live realm, Heinecker boasts over $225,000 in live earnings, and much of that comes from an 80th-place finish in the 2007 World Series of Poker Main Event where he earned $106,382. Even without a massive list of live results, Heinecker is widely considered as one of the best poker minds around today.
Heinecker hails from Germany and rolls with the the rest of the crew that includes Fabian Quoss, Igor Kurganov, Philipp Gruissem and Tobias Reinkemeier. This is already Heinecker's second-largest score of his career, but sitting second in chips should surely help him be able to work his way up the ladder in hopes of claiming victory.
Seat 4: Fabian Quoss -- 504,500
Fabian Quoss will enter the final table as the chip leader with 504,500 in chips ahead of fellow Germans Niklas Heinecker, Igor Kurganov and Philipp Gruissem.
Just a couple days ago, Quoss had over $2,000,000 in live tournament earnings and three years on his record with over $500,000 in cashes. After placing third in the $250,000 Challenge just two days ago for AU$750,000, Quoss now has nearly $3 million in live tournament earnings and another year with over half a million dollars in winnings.
Prior to that finish, Quoss' best result came in 2009 when he took second place in the World Series of Poker's $5,000 No-Limit Hold'em event for $427,911. The biggest victory of his career was in 2010 wen he won the English Poker Open for £220,650.
Seat 3: Erik Seidel -- 120,000
Erik Seidel is no stranger to the poker scene, and he's especially no stranger to high buy-in events like this one. Seidel won the Aussie Millions $250,000 Challenge in 2011 for AU$2,500,000.
Seidel boasts a career tournament record of over $17,000,000, and over $4,500,000 of that comes from the Oceania region where he just seems to kill it. Here at the Aussie Millions alone, Seidel has seven cashses, and all of those cashes are finishes in the top four of the event.
In 2003, Seidel took fourth in the AU$2,000 Limit Omaha Hi/Lo event for AU$9,200, then took second in the AU$1,000 Pot-Limit Hold'em event for AU$35,000. In 2007, Seidel placed second in the $100,000 Challenge for AU$550,000 and topped that earning the next year when he came runner-up in the Aussie Millions Main Event for AU$1,000,000. He then won the AU$10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha in 2010 for AU$120,000 in 2010, but 2011 proved to be his best year ever Down Under.
In 2011, Seidel first placed third in the $100,000 Challenge for AU$625,000 and then went on to win the $250,000 Challenge as mentioned above. Needless to say, Seidel crushes Australia.
At this final table, Seidel will enter as the shortest stack with 120,000, but that's only 6,000 behind Philipp Gruissem. In the $250,000 Challenge just two days ago, Seidel entered the final table as the shortest stack, but was unable to manage a comeback and finish in the money. Here, he's already locked up AU$51,000.
Seat 2: Philipp Gruissem -- 126,000
Every time there is a high roller event somewhere in the world, you can expect Philipp Gruissem to be in the field. In fact, you can probably expect him to finish in the money and be a very big threat to win the thing.
Gruissem will enter the final table fourth in chips and ahead of only Erik Seidel. Already this year, Gruissem landed himself a score of $400,700 by placing fifth in the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure $100,000 Super High Roller. This is after coming off a career year that saw him earn over $1.7 million in live tournaments.
In 2011, Gruissem won two high rollers on the European Poker Tour (EPT Barcelona and EPT London), earning a combined $1,041,495. In fact, Gruissem defeated another player at this final table, Igor Kurganov, in the EPT London High Roller to take that title. He also finished 28th in the World Series of Poker Main Event that year, earning $242,636.
Gruissem continued to crush in 2012, final tabling the World Poker Tour Grand Prix de Paris, the WSOP Europe €50,000 Majestic High Roller and finishing 10th in the Macau High Stakes Challenge. In the latter two, he earned €275,000 and $587,778, respectively.
In total, Gruissem has netted over $3.77 million in live tournaments earnings, and will already be adding to that today as he's in the money and guaranteed at least AU$51,000.
Seat 1: Igor Kurganov -- 293,000
Igor Kurganov has had himself one heck of a 2013 Aussie Millions. It all started just about a week ago when he took second place in the $100,000 Challenge for AU$610,000. After busting the Main Event, Kurganov was right back in action in the $250,000 Challenge. He cashed in that event as well, placing fourth for AU$500,000.
Kurganov used to be just a regular on the European Pour Tour, but he's now taken his talents worldwide. He's no stranger to high roller events, as evidenced by the prior two results here at this year's Aussie Millions, and most of Kurganov's winnings have come in big buy-in events.
In May of 2011, he took second in the €10,000 High Roller Turbo at the EPT Grand Final in Madrid for €123,000. He then went on to finish third in the EPT Tallinn High Roller for €40,450 and second in the EPT London High Roller for £318,300 after losing to Philipp Gruissem, who is also at this final table.
Then in April of 2012, Kurganov broke through in a big way by taking down the EPT Grand Final €25,000 High Roller for €1,080,000. He topped a field of 133 players to win that event, including a heads-up victory over poker legend Daniel Negreanu.
Kurganov will enter the final table third in chips with 293,000 and is one of four Germans left.
Level: 13
Blinds: 3,000/6,000
Ante: 500
Go Time!
Level 13
: 3,000/6,000, 500 ante
The cards are in the air for just two more minutes in the current level before we switch to 4,000/8,000 with a 1,000 ante.
Kurgashove
Level 13
: 3,000/6,000, 500 ante
Igor Kurganov had the button during the first hand of play and he decided to move all in. Philipp Gruissem and Erik Seidel, the two short stacks, folded their cards and Kurganov picked up the first pot of the day.