The third and final day of the A$1,150 Opening Event of the 2016 Aussie Million Poker Championship gets underway in half an hour from now at 12.30 p.m. local time in the poker room of the Crown Entertainment Complex in Melbourne. The biggest casino in the southern hemisphere saw a stunning field of 1,320 entries throughout four starting flights and yesterday's second tournament day reduced the hopefuls to only 17.
Leading the field is Canadian poker pro Sean Giesbrecht with 1,690,000 followed by American Jacob Elmore Dahl with 1,449,000. Aditya Rao completes the overnight podium with a stack of 1,398,000 and another two players crossed one million in chips: Louis Salter (1,300,000) and Day 2 chip leader Ferenc Riech (1,001,000).
The remaining field mostly consists of players from Australia such as Kevin Blackwood (935,000), Matthew Wakeman (706,000), Alexandre Thomas (521,000) and Daniel Neilson (298,000). Tatjana Zizic (271,000) is the last woman remaining and starts under immediate pressure with returning blinds of 15,000-30,000 and a running ante of 5,000 for level 23.
The PokerNews live reporting team will be on hand until a winner is crowned, all remaining contenders are guaranteed at least A$10,145 for their efforts whereas all eyes are set on the first-place payout of A$275,300 and the LK Boutique winner ring.
The action folded all the way around to Kim Au in the small blind and he pushed all in for what looked like 450,000. Ferenc Riech in the big blind peeked at his cards and then opted for the call for slightly less than half of his own stack.
Au:
Riech:
The battle of the ace rags picked up some momentum on the flop with Au finding a gutshot straight draw. On the turn, he even got a flush draw on top but the river bricked and ensured that the kicker played. Au was sent to the rail in 17th place for a payday of A$10,450.
From middle position, Ferenc Riech raised to 65,000 and short stack Daniel Neilson moved all in from the big blind for what looked like 250,000. Riech quickly tossed in the extra chips for the call and it was a coin flip for the tournament life:
Riech:
Neilson:
The flop came and the German had made quads. Neilson was not drawing dead yet, but needed perfect running cards for a straight flush. It was all over after the turn, making the river a painful formality as Neilson completed a worthless flush. The Aussie picked up A$10,145 for his efforts and Riech jumped into second place overall.
Aditya Rao open shoved for 450,000 and Sean Giesbrecht pushed in a stack of brown 25,000-denomination chips, announcing he was all in as well.
The rest of the table folded and Giesbrecht showed . Rao was in trouble with the and it got even worse for him when the flop gave Giesbrecht a full house.
Drawing to running aces for his tournament life, the turn and river sent Rao packing.
From early position, Eric Thiessen moved all in for just under 300,000 chips. Tatjana Zizic reshoved for slightly more, after just having doubled up, and all other players folded.
Thiessen:
Zizic:
The flop paired the queen of Thiessen, but the Belgian needed further help. Neither the turn nor the river provided such and Thiessen headed to the rail in 14th place for a payday of $A12,855.
It had been a slippery slope thus far for Louis Salter with barely any pot going towards the Brit. The stack had taken a big hit as well and Salter was down to 710,000 chips, then opened to 85,000. In the big blind, Matthew Wakeman moved all in and Salter called:
Wakeman:
Salter:
Similar to the previous showdowns over on table eight, the flop was disastrous for the player at risk. Wakeman was already drawing dead to outright win the pot, only running aces could still ensure a split pot. It was all over after the turn and the river didn't matter anymore.
Louis Salter opened the action with a raise to 100,000 from the button and short stack Michael Seymour announced all in for 425,000. Salter asked for an exact count, then cut out the chips for the call before counting his stack once again. The Brit then slowly but surely slid them forward:
Salter:
Seymour:
On the flop, Salter paired his jack and took the lead. Seymour was in need of a deuce or ace, but the board completed with the turn and river. The field was reduced to 11 players and the tournament went to hand-for-hand, as the unofficial final table combines at 10 players.
Tatjana Zizic open shoved the button for 425,000 and Sinan Aydogan called from the small blind.
The big blind folded and Zizic was in trouble with here dominated by Aydogan's . The board rolled out to send Zizic home 11th and set up a final table of ten.
with Au finding a gutshot straight draw. On the 
turn, he even got a flush draw on top but the 
river bricked and ensured that the kicker played. Au was sent to the rail in 17th place for a payday of A$10,450.
and the German had made quads. Neilson was not drawing dead yet, but needed perfect running cards for a straight flush. It was all over after the 
turn, making the 
river a painful formality as Neilson completed a worthless flush. The Aussie picked up A$10,145 for his efforts and Riech jumped into second place overall.
![[user127999]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
flop gave Giesbrecht a full house.
turn and river sent Rao packing.
paired the queen of Thiessen, but the Belgian needed further help. Neither the 
turn nor the 
river provided such and Thiessen headed to the rail in 14th place for a payday of $A12,855.
turn and the 
over Riech's 
.
and double up Dahl did, knocking Riech off the top spot on the counts.
flop, Salter paired his jack and took the lead. Seymour was in need of a deuce or ace, but the board completed with the 
. Fletcher was light years ahead with the 
