Day 1 of the 2015 Aussie Millions $100,000 Challenge has come to a close. After a star-studded starting day that saw 63 entries generated, it was Jason Mo who finished on top with a stack of 637,000 in chips — more than six times what he and everyone else started the day with.
On the hand against Rossiter, Mo was all in preflop with the for 235,200. Rossiter had the , and he wasn't able to come from behind after the board ran out . That put Mo with around 475,000 in chips, from which he moved up the ranks even more, including scooping a big one from Doug Polk.
Polk was the final elimination of the night, but he will still have the opportunity to return tomorrow if he would like to. Registration and reentry will remain open until the start of Day 2, and that very well means this field could grow even larger.
Other notable players advancing with healthy stacks were Erik Seidel (493,500), Connor Drinan (403,500), Stephen Chidwick (365,500), Dani Stern (358,500), and Jake Abdalla (357,000).
The cards are scheduled to be in the air at 2:15 p.m. local time on Monday, and the day won't see an end until the final table is reached. Be sure to stay tuned right here to PokerNews for continued coverage of this big buy-in extravaganza, and don't forget to slide over to our reporting from the 2015 Aussie Millions Main Event as well.
Igor Kurganov raised from the hijack seat to 4,500, and Philipp Gruissem reraised to 14,000 from the big blind. Kurganov called, and the flop came down . Gruissem checked, Kurganov bet 10,500, and Gruissem made the call.
The turn was the , and both players checked to see the pair the board on the river. Gruissem checked, and Kurganov took his time before moving all in for 61,300. Gruissem snap-called.
Kurganov tabled the for a rivered flush, but it was the same river card that gave him the flush that also gave Gruissem a full house with the . Kurganov was eliminated, and Gruissem moved to about 275,000 in chips.
The Seminole Hard Rock Lucky Hearts Poker Open (LHPO) returns to Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Florida, now through Feb. 11, 2015, held in the resort’s ballrooms. The series will feature 21 main events along with several secondary events and qualifiers. The exciting live poker action culminates with the Seminole Hard Rock WPT Lucky Hearts $3 Million Guaranteed Championship beginning Feb. 5-11, with a $3,500 buy-in and three starting flights. The live streamed Championship final table will be held at the resort’s Paradise Live theater in Seminole Paradise.
The annual series kicks-off on Jan. 22 at 11a.m. ET with a four-day $570 buy-in deep-stack no-limit hold'em event featuring a $1 million guaranteed prize pool with six starting flights.
Super Bowl weekend will bring even more action with the WPTDeepStacks (WPTDS), which will kick off its 2015 tour at Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino. WPTDS is a one-of-a-kind partnership between the world’s most established poker tour, WPT®, and the world’s fastest growing poker tour, DSPT. The $1,100 buy-in, $300,000 Guarantee WPTDeepStacks-Hollywood will start Jan. 29 at 12 p.m. ET in the resort’s ballrooms.
Other highlight tournaments include a $350 buy-in deep-stack no-limit hold'em, $250,000 guarantee with five starting flights, from Jan. 25-28 and a two-day $150 buy-in no-limit hold’em $150,000 guarantee with eight starting flights from Jan. 28-31.
Satellite events for the Seminole Hard Rock Lucky Hearts Poker Open Championship will be held at the Seminole Hard Rock Hollywood Jan. 22-Feb. 7, 2015.
Registration for all LHPO events will be open Dec. 15, 2015. To participate, players must obtain a free “Wild Card” at the Player’s Club or in The Poker Room at Seminole Paradise, located on State Road 7 (U.S. 441) in Hollywood, Florida. Take I-95, exit Stirling Rd. and travel west to 1 Seminole Way.
For more information and schedule visit www.SHRPO.com.
For the second time today, Daniel Cates ran pocket kings into pocket aces. This time, he was much more live than last time when he was all in against Steve O'Dwyer's quad aces on the flop, but that didn't stop Cates from expressing his frustration in a ridiculous manner.
After the money went in and Rossiter tabled the , Cates yelled out, "Are you f***ing kidding me?!?!" before throwing his cards across the table in the direction of Rossiter.
Cates' hand was the , and someone at the table pointed out to Cates that he could still win the hand with five community cards to come.
The flop, turn, and river ran out to give Rossiter the win, but then Cates exploded by grabbing a handful of chips and throwing them like a baseball player across the table at Rossiter. Some of the chips bounced on the table in front of Rossiter, one or two hit him in the chest, and a couple more stumbled onto the floor. After doing so, Cates just sat there, visibly steamed with what had occurred. Rossiter took it quite well, whereas many people might've freaked out in their own right after having chips hurled at them.
The tournament staff was quickly called, and the discussion began with what was to happen now that it wasn't fully clear that Rossiter had Cates covered. Eventually, it was ruled that Cates had less chips than Rossiter and he was eliminated.
Angrily, Cates stormed to the rail and it's left to be seen if he'll fire a third bullet into the event.
Welcome to the original $100,000 event on the planet! Since the inception of this event in 2006, Crown Casino in beautiful Melbourne, Australia, has been hosting this six-figure buy-in affair each and every year at the Aussie Millions. It began as the $100,000 Speed Poker Million Dollar Challenge and has since turned into the $100,000 Challenge.
Last year, a huge field of 76 entries was generated for the $100,000 Challenge, and that was a massive increase from 2013. It was certainly a spectacular event that included six entries from Isaac Haxton and five from Daniel Negreanu. In the end, though, it was Yevgeniy Timoshenko taking home the title and the AU$2,000,000 top prize.
Below you can find a snapshot of the history of the event, dating all the way back to 2006:
Year
Entries
Prize Pool (AU$)
Winner
First Prize (AU$)
2006
10
$1,000,000
John Juanda
$1,000,000
2007
18
$1,800,000
Erick Lindgren
$1,000,000
2008
25
$2,500,000
Howard Lederer
$1,250,000
2009
23
$2,300,000
David Steicke
$1,200,000
2010
24
$2,400,000
Dan Shak
$1,200,000
2011
38
$3,800,000
Sam Trickett
$1,525,000
2012
22
$2,200,000
Dan Smith
$1,012,000
2013
22
$2,167,000
Andrew Robl
$1,000,000
2014
76
$7,486,000
Yevgeniy Timoshenko
$2,000,000
As you can see from that list, plenty of notable poker names have captured the title in this event. Furthermore, the list of all-time cash results from this event is quite an impressive one, and it's topped by Erik Seidel. In this event, Seidel has cashed three times for a combined total of AU$2,701,000.
Player
Cashes
Total Earnings (AU$)
Erik Seidel
3
$2,701,000
Yevgeniy Timoshenko
1
$2,000,000
David Steicke
3
$1,975,000
Tony Bloom
3
$1,775,000
Dan Shak
3
$1,637,000
Sam Trickett
1
$1,525,000
Mike McDonald
1
$1,500,000
Howard Lederer
1
$1,250,000
Dan Smith
1
$1,012,000
John Juanda
1
$1,000,000
Andrew Robl
1
$1,000,000
Doug Polk
1
$860,000
Patrik Antonius
1
$700,000
Mark Teltscher
1
$650,000
Mikhial Smirnov
1
$616,000
Igor Kurganov
1
$610,000
Phil Ivey
1
$600,000
Masa Kagawa
2
$570,000
Daniel Negreanu
1
$550,000
Martin Jacobson
1
$35,0000
Michael Sampoerna
1
$350,000
Tony G
2
$342,000
Joe Hachem
1
$330,000
J.C. Tran
1
$300,000
Billy Jordanou
1
$300,000
James Obst
1
$200,000
Jeff Lisandro
1
$150,000
David Benyamine
1
$150,000
Nikolaus Jedlicka
1
$100,000
The event is set to kick off at 2:15 p.m. local time, and you can expect a strong, elite field of players that include Isaac Haxton, Brian Rast, Scott Seiver, Dan Smith, Steve O'Dwyer, Mike McDonald, and many more. You will also see Alex Trevallion in the field, and he's coming off a big win in the $25,000 Challenge yesterday for AU$645,150.
for 235,200. Rossiter had the 
, and he wasn't able to come from behind after the board ran out 
. That put Mo with around 475,000 in chips, from which he moved up the ranks even more, including scooping a big one from Doug Polk.
. Gruissem checked, Kurganov bet 10,500, and Gruissem made the call.
, and both players checked to see the 
pair the board on the river. Gruissem checked, and Kurganov took his time before moving all in for 61,300. Gruissem snap-called.
for a rivered flush, but it was the same river card that gave him the flush that also gave Gruissem a full house with the 
. Kurganov was eliminated, and Gruissem moved to about 275,000 in chips.
