A rather unusual hand happened over at Daniel Strelitz' table, where the American was involved in three-way action on an flop. Strelitz bet 1,000, Hachem raised to 3,200, the third player folded and Strelitz called. On the turn, Strelitz check-called 4,700 from Hachem.
The river was the and Hachem bet 8,800. Strelitz called after some thought and Hachem flipped over for a lowly pair of eights. It was the best hand, though, as Strelitz mucked his hand to slip to 15k.
A player opened to 550 in the hijack and got action from Joe Hachem on his left and both blinds. The flop came and the preflop raiser fired another 550. Hachem made it 2,000, the small blind cold-called, the big blind folded and the opener came along to a turn. Hachem bet 4,500 this time and only the small blind stuck around. On the river, both players checked, with Hachem turning over to indicate he was finished betting.
It was no good, as he'd been caught on the river by .
With 7,100 already in the middle and the turn showing , Joni Jouhkimainen checked in the cutoff and Shane Stewart bet 3,000 on the button, which Jouhkimainen called.
The river completed the board and Jouhkimainen checked once more. Stewart shoved for 12,700 and the Finn eventually called, but instantly mucked his cards when Stewart turned over the for a full house.
Four years ago Scott Davies took down the second-ever WSOP APAC Main Event here in Melbourne and he is back in 2018 for the Aussie Millions. We sat down on break to chat about him and how he very nearly didn't come this year!
"Back in 2014, that was my first time," said Davies. "I've come every year since then for the Aussie Millions. A big part of it for me personally is the nostalgia. [Winning the WSOP APAC] was the biggest thing ever to happen to me, and probably ever will happen to me.
"Even if I won something big again, the feeling just won't match up to the first time. Add on to that the fact that it's a beautiful city, and when you come down here you just get to fade the winter and have a little summer and it's great. Some of my best friends are Australian so it's really nice to come down here and spend time with them
"I almost didn’t come. My wife’s family are in Maui and we spend the holidays there. So after that, it's usually a really easy trip because you're already halfway here! This year, however, we didn't go. I spent the holidays in South America and it was difficult to get a flight here.
"So I ended up going home to play in Miami. I busted out of that on Day 2 and there was a flight available to Melbourne a couple of days later. So I booked it and packed my bags up and came down here!"
Davies bought in during the second level of the day, and admits that it's been slow going.
"I have just under starting stack. I wasn't going to play today. But I had to come in to pick up my receipt. And once I got here I really felt like playing! The field looks juicy! So I switched my ticket and bought in today."
At the other end of Davies' table is 2018 Aussie Millions $25,000 Challenge winner Ben Lamb.
"I don’t think I’ve played with him before," said Davies. "He plays a lot higher stakes cash than I do! He also doesn’t play a lot of MTTs. He's down the other end and lost a cooler port so he's pretty short at the moment. I'm not going to say I wasn't happy to see that!
"The aim for today is to build a stack; slow and steady. It's important not to have any blow-ups in a structure like this. Just really pick your spots and feel out the table. I have a favourable table draw, and probably the best seat at that table.
"I just want to pick my spots carefully and just grind and try and not do anything stupid!"
The most famous of all Australian poker players, former WSOP Main Event winner Joe Hachem, has joined the field. A contingent of Germans has also populated the tables.
Former Aussie Millions $100,000 Challenge champion Fabian Quoss has been spotted in the field and the German is here in Australia for vacation and hasn't played as many tournaments as previously. Winfred Yu and Sam Higgs also joined the field that now shows 180 entries, of which 172 remain.
All players have been sent into their second 15-minute break of the day.