Sam Greenwood raised to 2,500 from middle position and Jan-Eric Schwippert three-bet to 9,000 from the button. Greenwood called.
The flop came and Greenwood check-called a bet of 7,500. The turn was the and Greenwood check-called another bet of 30,000.
The river was the . Greenwood checked a third time and Schwippert bet 80,000. Greenwood then check-raised to 213,000. Schwippert took his time before calling.
Greenwood showed for trip threes and Schwippert mucked. The $25,000 Challenge winner now has around 3,000 chips behind.
Michael Lim raised to 3,000 and picked up calls from Fedor Holz in the small blind as well as Sam Higgs in the big blind. On the flop of , both Holz and Higgs checked and Lim continued for 5,000 to force a fold from Holz and a call from Higgs.
After the turn, Higgs checked once more and Lim made it 16,700 to go. Higgs quickly check-raised to 41,700 and Lim called after just brief consideration. The river brought a bet of 75,000 by Higgs and Lim called to see the Australian turn over for a queen-high straight.
Lim defended his big blind soon after against a raise to 3,000 by Sam Greenwood, but instantly check-folded the flop to a continuation bet.
On a flop of Sam Greenwood check-called a bet of 3,500 from his opponent Dietrich Fast. Both players checked the turn. The river was the and Greenwood bet 22,000. Fast folded.
A short while later, Michael Lim raised to 3,000 on the button and Kahle Burns three-bet to 12,500 from the big blind. Lim called. The flop came . Burns checked to Lim who bet 16,500. Burns called.
The players checked the turn and river. Lim shook his head turning over for a missed flush and gutshot straight draw, while Burns took down the pot with for ace-high.
Sam Higgs won his seat in a A$8,000 satellite yesterday and he is joined by fellow Australian Kahle Burns. Michael Lim, and Sam Greenwood were the first two to show up in the poker room of the Crown Casino while the three Germans Jan-Eric Schwippert, Fedor Holz and Dietrich Fast entered in quick succession.
Schwippert already has two runner-up finishes to his name here in Melbourne in the A$25,000 Challenge and the A$50,000 Challenge, will the third High Roller tournament be a charm?
Tournament officials have announced that the $100,000 Challenge will start five-handed at 15:15 local time. It is unclear as yet who the other four players are (in addition to Sam Greenwood).
With Sam Greenwood sat ready at the table (coincidentally in the same seat he occupied in the $50,000 Challenge), Malaysian Michael Lim waiting in the room, and Fedor Holz nowhere to be seen, there is a delay to the start of the $100,000 Challenge.
Now in its 13th year, the Aussie Millions $100,000 Challenge has handed out just over A$38m in prize money to some of the best players in the world, and the 2018 edition gets underway at 2:15pm local time here in Melbourne.
The tournament has been won by some of the biggest names in world poker. Inaugural winner John Juanda has garnered quite the poker resume since 2006, with the 2008 WSOPE and EPT 12 Barcelona among the highlights. Sam Trickett followed up his 2011 win by finishing runner-up in the $250,000 Challenge the same year, and winning it two years later.
Last year Nick Petrangelo took home the title after beating small field, densely packed with some of the greatest poker players in the world. Petrangelo beat Mike Watson and Fedor Holz into second and third respectively, and it will be interesting to see if any of these players will take to the felt this year.
Year
Winner
Prize
Entries
Total Prize Pool
2006
John Juanda
A$ 1,000,000
10
A$ 1,000,000
2007
Erick Lindgren
A$ 1,000,000
18
A$ 1,800,000
2008
Howard Lederer
A$ 1,250,000
25
A$ 2,500,000
2009
David Steicke
A$ 1,200,000
23
A$ 2,300,000
2010
Daniel Shak
A$ 1,200,000
24
A$ 2,400,000
2011
Sam Trickett
A$ 1,525,000
38
A$ 3,800,000
2012
Dan Smith
A$ 1,012,000
22
A$ 2,200,000
2013
Andrew Robl
A$ 1,000,000
22
A$ 2,200,000
2014
Yevgeniy Timoshenko
A$ 2,000,000
47
A$ 7,486,000
2015
Richard Yong
A$ 1,870,000
70
A$ 6,860,000
2016
Fabian Quoss
A$ 1,446,480
41
A$ 4,018,000
2017
Nick Petrangelo
A$ 882,000
18
A$ 1,764,000
The tournament is a prestigious one, not just in terms of the players that have won it, but in terms of the players who have had repeated success in it. There are only seven players who have cashed multiple times in the Aussie Millions $100,000 Challenge, and Erik Seidel leads the way with four cashes for over A$3m.
Player
Cashes
Total Earnings (AU$)
Erik Seidel
4
$3,201,000
David Steicke
3
$1,975,000
Tony Bloom
3
$1,775,000
Dan Shak
3
$1,637,000
Fedor Holz
2
$634,060
Masa Kagawa
2
$570,000
Tony G
2
$342,000
Players will each receive 250,000 in chips. On Day 1 the levels will be 40-minutes long, and they will increase to 60 minutes in length from Day 2.
Late registration and re-entries are available until the end of Level 10, with nine levels scheduled for Day 1. Here is today's structure:
Level
Small Blind
Big Blind
Ante
1
500
1,000
100
2
700
1,400
200
3
1,000
2,000
300
4
1,500
3,000
500
5
2,000
4,000
500
6
2,500
5,000
500
7
3,000
6,000
1,000
8
4,000
8,000
1,000
9
5,000
10,000
1,000
Stay tuned to PokerNews for all the action live from the Crown Casino in Melbourne.
button in Safari
and Greenwood check-called a bet of 7,500. The turn was the 
and Greenwood check-called another bet of 30,000.
. Greenwood checked a third time and Schwippert bet 80,000. Greenwood then check-raised to 213,000. Schwippert took his time before calling.
for trip threes and Schwippert mucked. The $25,000 Challenge winner now has around 3,000 chips behind.
, both Holz and Higgs checked and Lim continued for 5,000 to force a fold from Holz and a call from Higgs.
turn, Higgs checked once more and Lim made it 16,700 to go. Higgs quickly check-raised to 41,700 and Lim called after just brief consideration. The 
for a queen-high straight.
flop to a continuation bet.
turn. The river was the 
and Greenwood bet 22,000. Fast folded.
. Burns checked to Lim who bet 16,500. Burns called.
turn and 
for a missed flush and gutshot straight draw, while Burns took down the pot with 
for ace-high.
