Aussie Millions Highlights
Day 8 Started
2019 Aussie Millions
Aussie Millions Highlights
Day: 8
Today at the Aussie Millions: Who Wins the PLO and Mix Max Events?
Two more champions will be crowned today at the 2019 Aussie Millions as both the Pot-Limit Omaha and Mix Max events play down to a winner.
There's also the start of Event #6: No-Limit Hold'em Six Max which gets underway just after noon here at the Crown Melbourne.
Here's today's schedule:
| Day | Event | Time | Buy-in |
|---|---|---|---|
| 22nd January | Event #6: No Limit Hold'em Six Max | 12:10 PM | AUD$1,150 |
| Event #4: Pot-Limit Omaha Day 2 | 1 pm | Registration closed | |
| Event #5: No Limit Hold'em Mix Max Day 2 | 2:10 pm | Registration closed |
American Chance Kornuth won the Six Max last year, earning himself AUD$134,850 and a second Aussie Millions title to his impressive poker resume.
Players will start the tournament with 10,000 in chips and play 40-minute levels. One re-entry per player is permitted with late registration open for six levels. Play will cease at the end of Level 18 or at the final table if earlier.
This tournament will also be played with a big blind ante, with the big blind posted before the ante.
After just shy of 18 levels yesterday, the Pot-Limit Omaha event is down to a final table with Malaysian Christine Hia leading the way with more than double the chips of second place in chips Dylan Kii.
Meanwhile, after the remaining 35 players in the Mix Max event are playing down to eight today, after which the players will then be ranked according to chip count and four heads-up rounds will commence as follows:
| Match | Player 1 | Player 2 |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1st in chips | 8th in chips |
| 2 | 2nd in chips | 7th in chips |
| 3 | 3rd in chips | 6th in chips |
| 4 | 4th in chips | 5th in chips |
Stay tuned to PokerNews for all the updates live from the 2019 Aussie Millions.
Former Main Event Champ Engel Leads Mix Max Final 35
The Mix Max event attracted 284 players, and after playing down to the money late last night just 35 players remain, with former Aussie Millions Main Event champion Ari Engel in pole position with close to 200,000 in chips.
Engel took home A$1,600,000 for defeating Tony Dunst heads-up back in 2016, and safely made it through to Day 2 along with 2014 WSOP APAC Main Event runner-up Jack Salter, Kenny Hallaert, Aymon Hata, Andreas Klatt and Sarah Bilney who swapped cashing in the shootout for the Mix Max, cashing in her second tournament of the day.
Players who busted out during Day 1 included Usman Siddique, Russell Thomas, Jan Suchanek, Jesse Sylvia, Jack Sinclair, Maria Lampropulos, and Shootout Champion Justin Liberto.
Here's the seating draw for the start of Day 2:
| Table | Seat | Name | Chip Count |
|---|---|---|---|
| 7 | 1 | Hwan Myeong Park | 125,600 |
| 2 | Dzmitry Urbanovich | 29,700 | |
| 3 | Alex Lee Lee | 102,300 | |
| 4 | Nariman Yaghami | 138,000 | |
| 5 | Wei Zhu | 51,800 | |
| 6 | Julien Sitbon | 4,600 | |
| 8 | 1 | Sarah Bilney | 40,600 |
| 2 | Natalia Rosova | 56,900 | |
| 3 | Carter Chen | 43,800 | |
| 4 | David Vinayagamoorthy | 92,000 | |
| 5 | Ari Engel | 192,200 | |
| 6 | Jin Li | 77,100 | |
| 16 | 2 | Fabian Gomz | 154,400 |
| 3 | Jack Salter | 146,500 | |
| 4 | Mooren Guillaville | 43,900 | |
| 5 | Lee David Thorns | 55,800 | |
| 6 | Enching Wu | 45,600 | |
| 17 | 1 | Timothy Kuok | 36,000 |
| 2 | Lin Hung Sheng | 32,600 | |
| 3 | Mai Te | 118,300 | |
| 4 | Charlton Hawes | 93,400 | |
| 5 | Adam Smith | 33,900 | |
| 6 | Li Xia Qing | 166,200 | |
| 10 | 1 | Nicholas Pugillo | 96,000 |
| 2 | Marc Macdonnell | 45,100 | |
| 3 | Casey Kastle | 152,300 | |
| 4 | Frederich Martin | 16,000 | |
| 5 | Brett Whitney | 127,600 | |
| 6 | Kenny Hallaert | 84,600 | |
| 14 | 1 | Josh McCully | 61,600 |
| 2 | Chao Duan | 152,500 | |
| 3 | Ryan Bownds | 89,900 | |
| 4 | Stephen Sharp | 28,500 | |
| 5 | Andreas Klatt | 16,200 | |
| 6 | Aymon Hata | 120,500 |
Starting out as a full-ring tournament, with 60 players left the tournament was redrawn to six-handed. When play resumes at 2 pm later today, this will continue until just eight players remain.
The remainder of the tournament will be in a heads-up format, with the first four matches being as follows:
| Match | Player 1 | Player 2 |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1st in chips | 8th in chips |
| 2 | 2nd in chips | 7th in chips |
| 3 | 3rd in chips | 6th in chips |
| 4 | 4th in chips | 5th in chips |
Hia Holds All the Cards Ahead of Pot Limit Omaha Final Table
Christine Hia sits with more than a quarter of the chips in play at the start of the Event #5: Pot Limit Omaha final table. Hia has added a second Aussie Millions cash to her name in this event, four years after cashing in the same event in 20th place.
She's already locked up more than that today, with the final nine guaranteed A$7,085.
Here's how the final table looks, with Hia leading the way:
| Seat | Name | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Michael Seymour | Australia | 171,000 | 21 |
| 2 | Johan Dalessandri | Australia | 260,000 | 33 |
| 3 | Dylan Kii | Australia | 395,000 | 49 |
| 4 | Paul Hockin | New Zealand | 302,000 | 38 |
| 5 | Peter Brasile | Australia | 70,000 | 9 |
| 6 | Christine Hia | Malaysia | 856,000 | 107 |
| 7 | William Mitchell | Australia | 230,000 | 29 |
| 8 | Ryan Hong | Australia | 322,000 | 40 |
| 9 | Michael Hahn | United States | 273,000 | 34 |
This is Michael Seymour's fourth Aussie Millions cash in four year including a third place in this event in 2017 for A$32,600. Another player who hastasted the final table before in this event not once, but twice is Johan Dalessandri, who finished third last year for A$26,225 and fifth back in 2014 for A$18,000.
Meanwhile, Ryan Hong finished fifth in this event last year for A$22,050. Michael Hahn finished 21st in the Aussie Millions Main Event last year, and this is only his second-ever cash outside of the United States.
The winner of this event will take home A$70,115. Here are the remaining payouts:
| Place | Payout (AUD) | Payout (USD) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | $70,115 | $50,483 |
| 2 | $45,025 | $32,418 |
| 3 | $28,780 | $20,722 |
| 4 | $22,880 | $16,474 |
| 5 | $17,270 | $12,434 |
| 6 | $14,020 | $10,094 |
| 7 | $11,070 | $7,970 |
| 8 | $8,855 | $6,376 |
| 9 | $7,085 | $5,101 |
Stay tuned to PokerNews as we crown the latest Aussie Millions Pot Limit Omaha champion!
Structure and Study Key for Hopkins in his Pursuit of Poker Success
Last year, James Hopkins shot to poker fame not by binking a major title, but by an astonishing lay down live on the feature table at the 2018 Aussie Millions on his way to finishing 42nd for A$25,000.
Both Hopkins and opponent Duy Ho turning a straight, with Ho holding the nuts. Ho check min-raised, putting Hopkins to the test who agonized before eventually folding, to the adulation of Twitch chat watching the live stream.
Twelve months on from the 2018 Aussie Millions, Hopkins says that he has been working on his game off the tables while playing online poker in Toronto.
“I’ve been hanging around with Benny Richardson, Corey Kempson and Steven Chew. That’s helping my game progression. I’ve started doing a lot more studying and work on my game. I actually met Matt “mjw006” Wakeman at the 2018 Aussie Millions. He had a spot free for a new student so I think I’ve progressed quite a lot.”
Just landed in Australia to play the Melbourne Poker Champs at @CrownPoker for the next week and a half! Will be go… https://t.co/syzydUc7mo
— James Hopkins (@Pocket_Punter)
Looking back, Hopkins says that in his opinion he played “terrible” twelve months ago compared to now.
“It’s like when you look back at yourself in a lot of things in life. You always grow better. But my game’s been helped by life choices; getting me into the gym, eating healthier. Other more poker-related things like bankroll management, and what tournaments I have an edge in.
Another thing that has helped Hopkins is structure which he hopes will have a noticeable effect on his poker performance.
“On poker trips like these, it’s easy to just get lazy, sleep in and just eat crap food. Then come down and late reg tournaments at five, but now I’ve got much more of a structure and I make sure that I’m up, breakfast sorted and get a work out in before playing.
“It’s only a few days into the Aussie Millions and I definitely feel a lot better. People like Martin Jacobson always say that a big part of how you play is how you feel off the poker table. I think this year I’ll start to see some better results live.”
Is this the fold of the @AussieMillions #? via @JasonSomerville on https://t.co/F6A3enZ2zN https://t.co/LlYHMC1zUD
— TwitchPoker (@TwitchPoker)
Hopkins says that he gets sent the hand from last year’s Main Event by a lot of people.
“When it gets posted, someone new will see it and be like ‘Oh my god!’ I suppose it’s a proud moment; it’s cool to be recognized a little bit.
“After all that happened with it getting shared and the people talking about it, it’s just driven me to get better at my game. It just motivated me to keep on getting better and to one day be known not just for a fold, but for winning something big.”
This year's Aussie Millions livestream kicks off on January 31st with commentary from Jason Somerville, Kevin Martin and Ricky Guan over on runitup.tv!
Paul Hockin Wins Event #4: A$1,150 Pot Limit Omaha for A$60,070 (US$43,250)
New Zealander Paul Hockin has won the 2019 Aussie Millions Pot Limit Omaha event for A$60,070 after a heads-up deal, beating 288 players in the process.
Hockin made two final tables in 2018, finishing ninth in the Shot Clock Shootout for A$4,920, followed by a fifth place in the Six Max for A$26,975.
This isn't the first time Hockin has tasted victory here in Melbourne; he won the ANZPT Main Event here back in 2012 for over A$100,000 but this is his first Aussie Millions ANTON Championship ring.
He beat Dylan Kii into second place who had toppled start-of-day chip leader and was setting the pace during the early stages. He takes home A$55,070 in prize money.
Here are the final table results:
| Place | Name | Country | Payout (AUD) | Payout (USD) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Paul Hockin | New Zealand | $60,070* | $43,250* |
| 2 | Dylan Kii | Australia | $55,070* | $39,650* |
| 3 | Michael Hahn | United States | $28,780 | $20,722 |
| 4 | Johan Dalessandri | Australia | $22,880 | $16,474 |
| 5 | Michael Seymour | Australia | $17,270 | $12,434 |
| 6 | William Mitchell | Australia | $14,020 | $10,094 |
| 7 | Ryan Hong | Australia | $11,070 | $7,970 |
| 8 | Peter Brasile | Australia | $8,855 | $6,376 |
| 9 | Christine Hia | Malaysia | $7,085 | $5,101 |
Christine Hia came into the day as the overwhelming chip leader with more than twice her nearest challenger's chips, but after two big hands against Dylan Kii she was out!
The first hand was a case of having too many outs with flush and straight draws against Kii's top two. Then, Kii potted pre-flop, Hia re-potted and Kii then re-potted. Hia called and shoved flop straight into the suited aces of Kii who turned a flush to send Hia to the rail in ninth for A$7,085.
As a result Peter Brasile, who started the day as the clear short stack with nine big blinds, managed to jump up a pay jump before also busting at the hands of Kii. He takes home A$8,855.
With seven players left, it was now Kii with the clear chip advantage, over one million in chips compared to Michael Hahn who was second in chips at the first break.
After the break William Mitchell exited, grabbing himself his first Aussie Millions before last year's fifth place finisher Ryan Hong failed to beat his 2018 result, finishing in sixth.
Michael Seymour was another player with a good record in this tournament, and after coming into the day second-shortest in chips he battled to finish fifth for A$17,270 two years after he finished third in this event. This is his fourth Aussie Millions cash in four years.
Kii still lead with four players left, but would have to be wary of Johan Dalessandri who was yet another player at this final table who had tasted a deep run in this event before. Sadly for Dalessandri, he would be eliminated next and now has a third, fourth and fifth place in the Pot Limit Omaha event at the Aussie Millions.
For a player that predominantly plays in the United States, Michael Hahn seems to have gotten the knack of playing poker here in Australia. After a 21st place finish in last year's Main Event, he followed that up with a third place finish here in only his second cash outside of North America. The American adds A$28,870 to his over US$1,000,000 in career earnings.
The final two players had a fairly short heads-up battle - just 30 minutes - during which they made the following deal:
| Player | Payout (AUD) | Payout (USD) |
|---|---|---|
| Paul Hockin | $60,070 | $43,250 |
| Dylan Kii | $45,025 | $32,418 |
Eventually, it was Hockin who denied Kii the victory after the New Zealander went runner-runner to river a straight and secure the A$60,070 payday.
Stay tuned to PokerNews for more coverage of the 2019 Aussie Millions, with live reporting kicking off on Friday with the A$25,000 Challenge.
Ari Engel Wins Second Aussie Millions Ring in Event #5: Mix Max
Three years ago, Ari Engel finished second in the Mix Max Event at the Aussie Millions. Today he went one better and won his second Aussie Millions ring since the Main Event title he won in that very same year.
In an exciting tournament over two days, Engel excelled at full ring, six max and heads-up play to bank A$65,400, beating Charlie Hawes in the final match of the eight-player heads-up bracket.
This is by far the biggest cash of Hawes' poker career, eclipsing a second place in the 2015 New Zealand Poker Open.
Engel, who in 2016 took home a career-best A$1,600,000 for winning the Aussie Millions Main Event, says that the Crown is "by far his most profitable venue in the world to play."
"I mean obviously it's just because of one tournament, but why would I not come back?" he said. "Just being at the Crown there's automatically a sense of deja vu. It feels good, but I'm too tired to feel much."
It looked like the pair were going to postpone the final match until later on Wednesday, but the decision was made to play out the tournament, with Engel emerging victorious.
"Charlie played really well," Engel said. "There's a good chance if the cards were reversed he would have won."
Here are the payouts in the Mix Max tournament.
| Place | Name | Country | Payout (AUD) | Payout (USD) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ari Engel | Canada | $65,400 | $47,088 |
| 2 | Charlie Hawes | New Zealand | $53,800 | $38,736 |
| 3 | Alex Lee | Singapore | $23,665 | $17,039 |
| 4 | Hwan Park | Korea | $23,655 | $17,032 |
| 5 | Casey Kastle | Slovenia | $9,835 | $7,081 |
| 6 | Friedrich Martin | Australia | $9,835 | $7,081 |
| 7 | Jack Salter | United Kingdom | $9,835 | $7,081 |
| 8 | Sarah Bilney | Australia | $9,835 | $7,081 |
With 35 players remaining at the start of the day, the likes of Julien Sitbon (35th - A$2,330), Andreas Klatt (33rd - A$2,330), Kenny Hallaert (32nd - A$2,330) and Dzmitry Urbanovich (31st - A($2,330) all bust early.
Marc Macdonnell (14th - A$3,345) and Aymon Hata (13th - A$3,345) all missed out on the heads-up portion of the tournament.
Here's how the quarter-final draw of the Shot Clock Shootout looked like:
| Name (Seed) | Chip Count | Name (Seed) | Chip Count | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| QF1 | Casey Kastle (1) | 706,000 | Alex Lee (8) | 98,000 |
| QF2 | Jack Salter (2) | 584,000 | Ari Engel (7) | 147,000 |
| QF3 | Charlton Hawes (3) | 441,000 | Friedrich Martin (6) | 195,000 |
| QF4 | Sarah Bilney (4) | 432,000 | Hwan Park (5) | 240,000 |
There were upsets in the first two matches with the top two seeds in the heads-up portion of the tournament bowing up.
Chip leader at eight-handed Casey Kastle's match was the longest and it eventually resulted in him bowing out at the hands of short-stack Alex Lee.
QF2 was the match of the round, pitting five-time Aussie Millions final tablist Jack Salter against former Main Event champion Ari Engel. Eventually it was Engel who booked his place in the semi-finals.
"He had all the pressure because I was the short stack," said Engel. "I got it in bad first hand and doubled up, and from then on it was kind of a match. It was really cool to be able to play a guy that play High Rollers heads-up and not for too much money at that stage. It was a weird experience!"
Meanwhile, Charlie Hawes defeated Friedrich Martin , and Sarah Bilney lost out to Hwan Park, meaning Biliney added A$9,835 to the A$8,485 she won at the Shot Clock Shootout final table yesterday.
The remaining four players carried through their chip stacks and were into two semi-final heads-up matches. Here's how the semi-finals look like:
| Name (Seed) | Chip Count | Name (Seed) | Chip Count | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SF1 | Alex Lee (1) | 804,000 | Charlie Hawes (4) | 636,000 |
| SF2 | Ari Engel (2) | 731,000 | Hwan Park (3) | 672,000 |
Engel quickly won his heads-up match, eliminating Park who takes home A$23,655 for his efforts. The second match was a long one, with Lee taking on Park. Eventually, Hawes called a shove from Lee on the river with top pair. Lee turned over a rivered pair which wasn't enough to keep him in the tournament.
The final heads-up was between Engel (1,403,000) and Hawes (1,440,000) got underway late at night, and at the end of it it was Engel who walked away with his second Aussie Millions ANTON Championship ring.
"I feel really good here," said an exhausted Engel after winning. "I have friends here railing so it's really good."
Glaser and Lybaert Advance to Six Max Day 2
Just 17 players remain in Event #6: A$1,150 Six Max including Benny Glaser and Bart Lybaert with all players in the money and guaranteed A$5,685
Coming into this event, both Lybaert and Glaser had one previous Aussie Millions cash from last year's event, with Glaser's coming in the 8 Game which he final tabled, and Lybaert in the Bounty.
"I do love Melbourne," said Glaser shortly after bagging. "It's probably my favourite city and my favourite stop. I'm not gonna lie, I'm pretty exhausted. I arrived two days ago and have been playing a lot.
After 14 hours of play, Glaser was happy to bag up an above average stack.
"This could easily have been a three day tournament - it's so big! 542 runners; it's a lot."
Leading the way is Ta-Wei Tou, with Lybaert in second place. Other notables include New Zealand's David Yan, 2018 WPT New Zealand Champion Nauv Kashyap, 2019 Shot Clock Shootout final tablist Travis Endersby and Peter Brasile who jumped in the Six Max after busting the Pot Limit Omaha final table in eighth place.
Here's the list of the 17 players advancing to Day 2
| Name | Chip Count |
|---|---|
| Ta-Wei Tou | 813,000 |
| Bart Lybaert | 595,000 |
| Gautam Dhingra | 562,000 |
| Michel Bouskila | 523,000 |
| Benny Glaser | 366,000 |
| Ali Ghezelbash | 361,000 |
| Nauvneel Kashyap | 361,000 |
| Sam Vakili | 324,000 |
| David Yan | 301,000 |
| Luen Hei Kwok | 243,000 |
| Ari Shin | 236,000 |
| Ong Dingxiang | 205,000 |
| Peter Brasile | 191,000 |
| Travis Endersby | 188,000 |
| Moreau Yohann | 161,000 |
A big field was expected on Day 1, and with over 250 players registered by the end of the first level and 404 by the first break, the field continued to grow.
Entry closed with a total of 544 entries, 53 of which would be paid. A min-cash was worth A$2,340 and the winner will walk away with $124,355.
The bubble burst with two eliminations at the same time, meaning Michael Harb and Richard Davis split the payout.
Notable eliminations in the money included Sorel Mizzi (52nd - A$2,340), Johan Schumacher (43rd - A$2,900), Dara O'Kearney (37th - A$3,455), Jackie Glazier (36th - A$3,455), Mark Betts (35th - A$4,015 and Vojtech Ruzicka (27th - A$4,570).
Opening Event champion Muhammad Asad narrowly missed out on a place in Day 2, finishing in 17th place for A$5,685.
Here are the remaining payouts:
| Place | Payout (AUD) | Payout (USD) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | $124,355 | $89,536 |
| 2 | $82,695 | $59,540 |
| 3 | $48,905 | $35,212 |
| 4 | $36,080 | $25,978 |
| 5 | $24,930 | $17,950 |
| 6 | $17,960 | $12,931 |
| 7-8 | $12,385 | $8,917 |
| 9-10 | $9,595 | $6,908 |
| 11-12 | $7,080 | $5,098 |
| 13-18 | $5,685 | $4,093 |
| 19 | $5,130 | $3,694 |
Play resumes on Wednesday at 1 pm and plays down to a winner. Stay tuned to PokerNews for more coverage from the Aussie Millions here in Melbourne.
Aussie Millions Highlights
Day 8 Completed