Dzmitry Urbanovich was first to act and raised to 7,500. Allan Dabbajh three-bet to 11,500 from the button, followed by a four-bet to 45,000 from small blind Demicki, with just a bit behind. Urbanovich repotted, Dabbajh folded.
Daniel Demicki:
Dzmitry Urbanovich:
The board ran out and Urbanovich collected the chips, adding another big amount of chips to his stack. Daniel Demicki won this event last year, now he had to settle for the min cash of $18,330.
The remaining six players are guaranteed AUD$21,385 from here on out.
Under the gun, Raj Ramakrishnan raised to 12,000 and Allan Dabbajh called from the cutoff. Big blind Espen Solaas over called and checked on . Ramakrishnan bet 38,500 and Dabbajh shoved for 72,000. Solaas repotted and Dabbajh folded.
Espen Solaas:
Allan Dabbajh:
It was a set over set situation and Dabbajh wouldn't recover. The on the turn brought him some hope but the on the river wasn't one of the cards he was looking for.
Down to four players now, all guaranteed AUD$33,605.
First to act Dzmitry Urbanovich accidently exposed his hand as he folded showing . Action folded around to Espen Solaas on the button who did not look too happy about this but chose to open the action with a raise to 21,000 with Belgium's Jonathan Abdellatif (big blind) the only caller.
The dealer spread a flop of and, first to act, Abdellatif led out for a pot sized bet of 45,000. Solaas quickly re-potted to put Abdellatif all-in and the Belgium player called off the rest of his stack for his tournament life.
Jonathan Abdellatif:
Espen Solaas:
Abdellatif had flopped middle set and was leading Solaas' aces, and it is easy to see why the Norwegian player was unhappy that Urbanovich had folded three hearts.
"This is my best chance for a double I think," said Abdalletif.
However, the poker gods has other ideas and while the turn kept the Belgium in front, the river saw Solaas spike a bigger set to send Abdellatif crashing out of the tournament.
Raj Ramakrishnan limped in from the small blind for 8,000 and big blind Dzmitry Urbanovich raised to 23,000. Ramakrishnan came over the top for 69,000 and Urbanovich called in position.
The flop came and Ramakrishnan bet 100,000, or announced pot - that we don't know. Urbanovich shoved all of his chip to the middle and Ramakrishnan added some more towers of chips to get to showdown.
Raj Ramakrishnan:
Dmitry Urbanovich:
The on the turn and on the river did not help Urbanovich and the Pole had to settle for third place, worth AUD$42,770.
It took just one hand at the new level before all the chips went in when Raj Ramakrishnan and Espen Solaas became embroiled in a pre-flop raising war.
At first, it looked like the pot could be an anti-climatic chop with both players holding kings, but fate had other ideas.
Raj Ramakrishnan:
Espen Solaas:
Ramakrishnan was the at-risk player but both had the support of their respective rails, with the Australians calling for diamonds and the Norwegians calling for hearts.
The flop came down a diamond-less to give both players a pair, leaving Solaas the only player who could hit a backdoor flush.
The gave the Norwegian two pair, though when the hit the river Ramakrishnan thought he had it with nines and twos and looked crestfallen when Solaas pointed out he had the higher two pair.
That was an epic heads-up battle, but in the end, Ramakrishnan had to settle for second place while an elated Espen Solaas was embraced by his watching rail.
On the last day of the 2017 Aussie Millions, Crown Casino Melbourne was still buzzing with poker players. The chip riffling must have been heard from across the Yara river with cash games and multiple tournaments still running.
The closing party that was called the AUD$5,000 Pot Limit Omaha attracted a field of 65 entries, with a lot of them being reentries from players that busted early and used their single reentry option to give it another go.
After 14 hours of play, Espen Solaas from Norway came out as the victor, beating the likes of Dzmitry Urbanovich and title defender Daniel Demicki on the final table. Solaas walked away with AUD$100,815.
Position
Player
Country
Prize
1
Espen Solaas
Norway
AUD$100,815
2
Raj Ramakrishnan
Australia
AUD$64,155
3
Dzmitry Urbanovich
Poland
AUD$42,770
4
Jonathan Abdellatif
Belgium
AUD$33,605
5
Allan Dabbajh
Australia
AUD$24,440
6
Thomas Levine
United Kingdom
AUD$21,385
7
Daniel Demicki
Poland
AUD$18,330
The $5,000 Pot Limit Omaha event had a shot clock of just 20 seconds. Time breaker chips, like the high rollers had earlier this Aussie Millions, were nowhere to be seen. Every hand was quick, no one had time to ponder deep about decisions - 20 seconds and not a second more was what the player had to do with.
Many of the regulars entered late with Bryn Kenney, Jeff Rossiter and Joni Jouhkimainen just some of the names entering as the closing of registration was getting nearer. All four them busted well before the seven-handed in the money table was even close to being formed.
Phil Laak, who had sat down the moment the tournament had started, came closer but eventually had to surrender his chips with double suited kings to Dzmitry Urbanovich' single suited aces.
There would be no real bubble excitement as two players departed in the same hand to go from nine to seven. Jarrad Godema and Gary Benson both lost to Raj Ramakrishnan. The latter was lucky enough to hit a nine on the river to crush both Godema's and Benson's hands who had been leading till that point.
With the bubble out of the way, usually a lot of players bust in quick succession. That wasn't the case here as everyone had plenty of chips for some post-flop action. Still, play was relatively tight with many hands not even seeing a turn. Dzmitry Urbanovich picked up a lot of hands and won just about all of them. He soon build a stack worth 400,000 in chips, more than double that of even his closest competitor.
The first in the money player to go was Daniel Demicki. The Polish player, who won this event last year for AUD$98,980, fell victim to Urbanovich. The latter made two pair with a double suited ace-queen-jack-five to crack Demicki's double suited kings.
Six-handed play lasted for an hour before Thomas Levine hit the rail. He got it in with top two against the wrap of Raj Ramakrishnan and the latter hit on the river to send the Brit home.
Allan Dabbajh eventually had to bow out in fifth place. He was the victim of a set over set situation where his set of sevens looked bleak against the set of nines of Espen Solaas. Not enough help on the turn and river and Dabbajh went on to collect AUD$24,440 for fifth place.
Not much later, Jonathan Abdellatif would suffer the same fate. He got it in with a set against the over pair of Solaas, but the latter rivered a queen to make the bigger set and send his Belgian opponent to the rail.
Dzmitry Urbanovich had been the chip leader for most of the final table but three-handed, his lead started to crumble. He lost more and more pots, especially to Raj Ramakrishnan who was playing Omaha for the first time but was hitting like no other.
After multiple levels of play, Ramakrishnan had both of his opponents well covered and would soon eliminate the former chip leader Urbanovich. Ramakrishnan limp-reraised and then bet pot on a flop with two hearts. Urbanovich went with his flush draw and turned out to be up against a bare top pair. Urbanovich failed to hit on the turn or river and went to the cashier to collect his AUD$42,770 for third place prize.
The chip lead changed hands multiple times in the several-hour-long heads-up but in the end it was Espen Solaas from Norway who walked away a winner. The two players got it in, both holding kings but thanks to hitting both his other two cards, Solaas was awarded the Aussie Millions ring and AUD$100,815 first-place prize.