2016 Aussie Millions

The first of three starting day of the 2016 Aussie Millions drew a crowd of 180 players, and it was top Australian pro James Obst who came out on top with a massive 212,100-chip stack. On one of the last hands of the night Obst grabbed the lead when a player six-bet shoved on him holding ten-jack suites, while Obst held aces.

After a word from defending champion Manny Stavropoulos the action got underway, and Stavropoulos took his seat as well. The man who won nearly $1.4 million last year didn't have a very spectacular day, but he still managed to bag up 19,500 chips.

Plenty of familiar faces played on Day 1a, Philipp Gruissem was among those that did very well, bagging up 97,900. Other top pros that advanced include Max Silver (84,300), Michael Egan (133,600) and Jonathan Karamalikis (70,000).

Things didn't go well for Jack Salter, who was among the first players go get knocked out, and the same could be said for Leo Boxell. Christopher Frank and Oliver Gill were among the early casualties as wel while former WSOP Europe Main Event winner Kevin MacPhee ran pocket tens into aces, and that made sure wouldn't make a deep run in this event.

Last year's Day 1a chip leader, Jan Suchanek, had another successful day, took 104,800 to Day 2 today, and that means in contention once again.

Play will continue tomorrow at 12:30 p.m. local time with Day 1b, and PokerNews will be right there with you for all the coverage.

On one of the last hands of the night Australian pro James Obst found himself in one of the best situations possible. The player under the gun raised to 1,500 after which one player called before Obst made it 5,500 on the button.

The initial raiser four-bet to 14,000 and the player in-between folded before Obst made it 26,000.

"He then jammed about 100k into me," Obst said, as he called right away holding pocket aces.

Obst's opponent held and flopped a pair, but couldn't crack the top starting hand of his opponent.

The tournament staff has announced that each table will play four more hands before the surviving players bag and tag their chips.

After a player in middle position limped in, Matas Cimbolas raised to 2,000 in the hijack seat. Liam O'Rourke called on the button, and the limper also called.

The flop fell , and Cimbolas bet 3,200 after the first player checked. O'Rourke called, and the other player folded.

The turn was the to pair the board, and Cimbolas tanked for a little bit before he moved all in for approximately 18,000. O'Rourke tanked himself for three or four minutes. He eventually folded, and Cimbolas won the pot.

The board showed when Jonathan Karamlikis bet 2,400 and Jan Suchanek called, after which a third player folded.

The river was the and Karamalikis check-called 7,000. Suchanek showed , but that was no good against .

Greg Goldberg raised to 1,400 and the player in the cutoff called after which Brian Yoon moved all in for 12,400 from the big blind. Goldberg folded and the player in the cutoff called.

Yoon:
Opponent:

The board ran out and Yoon's nut flush took down the pot.

The board showed when Jamie Pickering checked to Richard Ashby who bet 1,700 and Pickering called. The river was the and now both players checked.

Pickering showed , and that was good as Ashby flashed the before mucking his cards.