Martin Rowe opened for 45,000 from the button only to have Tony Dunst three-bet to 135,000 from the small blind. Rowe made the call and then called a bet of 115,000 on the flop. After the dealer burned and turned the , Dunst led out for a hefty 400,000 and Rowe responded by moving all in for what looked to be 825,000. Dunst looked back at his cards one last time and then made the call.
Rowe:
Dunst:
Dunst held top two pair, but Rowe was drawing live both a diamond and nine. It was a massive pot, and the dealer burned one last time before putting out the . Rowe missed and hit the rail in 18th place for an AU$85,000 payday.
The stack of Alexander Lynskey just catapulted all the way to the top of the leaderboard, thanks two two small pots and then an absolutely huge one.
On the first hand, Lynskey limped in from the small blind, and Mikel Habb checked his option out of the big blind to see the flop come down . Lynskey bet 22,000, and Habb folded.
On the next hand, Dylan Honeyman opened with a raise to 40,000 from under the gun. Lynskey reraised in the cutoff seat to 110,000, and play folded back to Honeyman. He also gave it up, and Lynskey won the pot.
Then, the big one happened, and here's how it went down.
Lynskey kept up his aggressive ways with a raise from the hijack seat to 40,000. Samantha Abernathy reraised to 85,000 out of the small blind, and Lynskey made the call to take the flop. After Abernathy bet 95,000, Lynskey made the call.
The was added to the board on fourth street, and Abernathy kept her foot on the gas with a bet of 225,000. Lynskey stuck around, and the two were delivered the river card. Abernathy took a few moments before she looked at the dealer and announced that she was all in. Lynskey wasted little time in making the call, to which Abernathy responded by revealed her for top set. Unfortunately for her, Lynskey had the for the nut flush and his hand was the winning one.
Upon counting the stacks, it was determined that Lynskey was all in on the river for 751,000. Abernathy sent over the chips to pay him off and dropped all the way down to about 215,000 in chips.
Samantha Abernathy min raised the button to 40,000 and Jack O'Neill in the big blind was the only caller.
O'Neill checked on and Abernathy made a continuation bet of 40,000. O'Neil called and the hit the turn. Both players checked.
The river was the and O'Neill bet out 70,000. Abernathy raised to 150,000 and O'Neill shoved for around 580,000 total. Abernathy wasn't snap calling, but she did toss in some chips to go to showdown after about 10 seconds thinking about it.
O'Neill had been caught with his hand in the cookie jar as all he could show for was . Abernathy tabled and O'Neilll had to make his exit.
John Apostolidis commented he found O'Neill's play very strong and so did Abernathy when the two of them shook hands.
O'Neill collects AU$60,000 for his deep run at the 2016 Aussie Millions Poker Championship. The remaining 18 players are now playing on 3 different tables and are all guaranteed AU$85,000 from here on out.
The action folded to Mikel Habb in the small blind, and he quickly moved all in for his last 119,000. Tino Lechich gave it some thought before making the call, creating the following showdown.
"Let's go baby!" Habb shouted, when the cards were turned face up.
Habb:
Lechich:
Habb walked away from the table, and he stood covering his eyes with his back to the table for the duration of the showdown.
The board ran out , and Habb celebrated loudly, as usual.
"Final table is coming!!" Habb screamed off the top of his lungs.
"Ship it to papa!" he then yelled.
Habb then gathered all his energy and screamed, "NEVER GIVE UP! EVER EVER!"
The people at the table, and on the rail, got a kick out of Habb's antics, and he's now just a few double ups away from contending for a place a the final table.
The action folded to Kitty Kuo on the button after she got moved to Table 10, and she raised to 35,000. James Ong called from the small blind and the flop brought out .
Ong check-called a bet of 45,000 and the turn brought the .
Ong moved all in on the turn for about 200,000 chips and Kuo snap-called.
Kuo:
Ong:
Holding ace-king, Ong was already drawing dead and the river was the meaningless .
Kitty Kuo raised to 35,000, Andrew Bassat reraised to 76,000, and then Kuo came back over the top with an all-in shove.
"All right, I'll call you," said an innocent Bassat, turning up the to put himself at risk.
Kuo had the .
What's interesting about this all-in situation was the railbirds that swarmed to the table. The group of them seemed much more interested in rooting for Kuo to win, but not because they favored Kuo as a player. It was because they were the railbirds of Mikel Habb at the other table who was short, had just doubled up, and was looking to hit a pay jump.
"Queen! Queen!" they yelled, as an anxious Bassat stood behind his chair waiting for the flop to come out.
The flop came , and Bassat's kings were still best. Even so, the railbirds held out hope that Kuo would win the hand.
"A queen is coming on the river, don't worry," one of them said. "There's always the river."
"Queen! Queen!" another pleaded.
Another man, who didn't seem to be associated with any particular party, also chimed in. "The river is going to be an ace or whatever," he said.
The turn was the , and Bassat only needed to dodge one more card to double up, but when the smacked on fifth street you could see his heart drop to the floor. Kuo had made a winning set of queens, and Bassat looked dejected.
The railbirds jumped up and down as they yelled over to Habb what happened. Habb was excited with the bustout and gave another one of his patented yells of "C'mon!" before he clapped his hands together again.
As for Bassat, he shook the hands of some players at his table, grabbed his backpack, and made his way to the payout desk.
Yuki Ko raised the button and Samantha Abernathy made the call from the big blind. Abernathy checked the flop of , and called Ko's 55,000 bet.
The fell on the turn and Abernathy checked again. Ko made a bet of 135,000 with 467,000 behind. Abernathy didn't waste all that much time shoving all in.
Ko had a big decision and wasn't too thrilled about calling all in, but in the end he did so anyway.
Yuki Ko:
Samantha Abernathy:
Abernathy was drawing dead, the on the river was there just to make things official. Double up for Ko, big hit for Abernathy.
Laurence Hall got his last 169,000 chips in the middle holding . He was up against Kitty Kuo who had the .
Hall's rail asked for an eight on the flop and they got what they asked for. It did give Kuo an open ended though: .
The on the turn filled up Kuo's straight and now the rail begged the dealer for a jack. He did not oblige as the completed the board and Hall made his exit.
"Next year huh?! Thanks guys!" Hall said to the buzzing camera.
He shook hands and fist bumped everyone at the table, and made his way to the pay out desk to collect his AU$40,000.
The action just folded to Kitty Kuo and she raised enough to put Alex Lee all in in the big blind. Lee only had about 80,000 chips left and he called all in.
Lee:
Kuo:
The board ran out and Kuo knocked another player out.
Action folded to Samantha Abernathy and she limped in from the small blind. Xingrong Ren in the big blind pushed all in for 262,000 and Abernathy made the call.
Samantha Abernathy:
Xingrong Ren:
The board ran out and Ren made his exit in 32nd place, netting him AU$30,000.