"I am banana," Robert Nguyen joked in the one seat after just having raked in a huge pot and sent Ferenc Riech to the rail. Nguyen had been the most active player at the table and showed bluffs at least twice, also pretending to be on tilt while listening to music on his headphones.
Just now, Nguyen opened and called the three-bet to 34,000 before the flop came . Nguyen check-called a bet of 28,000 before both checked through the turn. On the river, Nguyen moved all in instantly, which he had done previously already with the nuts to double up.
Riech had 108,000 chips behind and pondered about his decision for some time, then eventually called and much to the surprise of everyone at the table flipped over for a bluff catcher. This time, Nguyen had it again with the for a flush and jumped into the lead.
"He cannot call there with king-high," Vic Spadavecchia said in the two seat while Najeem Ajez replied "if he is bluffing, the king-high is good." The German left the tournament area, but not without saying "if he continues like this (Nguyen), you will have a lot of fun ahead."
After 12 levels of 40 minutes each, the 2016 Aussie Millions Poker Championship A$2,500 No-Limit Hold'em Event #16 has whittled down its field of 190 entries to its last 34 hopefuls, who will return to the poker room of the Crown Entertainment complex in one hour from now at 2 p.m. local time.
Only the top 21 spots get paid at least A$4,255 whereas the winner can look forward to a payday of A$106,920 and the elusive LK Boutique championship ring. Leading the field of survivors is Germany's Ferenc Riech with 183,700, who already had the top spot after Day 1 of the Opening Event #1 and eventually finished 10th. Michael Bouskila is in second place with 171,500 and the Aussie already claimed a title here in Melbourne back in 2013 by taking down a Six Max Event for A$ 110,000.
Other big stacks and notables include World Series of Poker bracelet winner Paul Hoefer (150,000), 2015 WSOP $ 1,500 No Limit Hold'em Millionaire Maker (Event #16) runner-up Javier Zarco (119,000), Frank Williams (107,400), Piyush Gupta (105,400), Geoffrey Mooney (103,600), James Atkin (92,200), Elliot Smith (57,800), Jorn Walthaus (46,200), two times WSOP bracelet winner Brian Yoon (38,000) and Sergio Aido (36,800).
Action recommences with level 13 at blinds 1,200-2,400 and a running ante of 300. The event is scheduled to play down to a winner today and the PokerNews live reporting team will be on hand to provide all key hands until the last river card is dealt.