Sitbon and Jacobson Bag Big in Aussie Millions Opening Event Flight 1
A total of 242 players jumped into the 2020 Aussie Millions Opening Event on the first of five flights, and after twelve 40-minute levels just 28 advanced to Day 2.
Such is befitting of the historic and prestigious tournament, a whole host of big names joined the field including former Main Event winners David Gorr, Ami Barer and Ari Engel along with Joey Weissman, Dzmitry Urbanovich and Kenny Hallaert.
However, these players will all have to try again on subsequent flights after busting today. Big names who have bagged already up include former WSOP Main Event final tablist Martin Jacobson (169,900) who sits third in chips.
"My first Aussie Millions was in 2013," Jacobson told PokerNews shortly after bagging. "I've been to every one since, except for last year! I just love Melbourne overall as a city. The brunch, the people...I'm a big coffee fan so I like that part!
"It's a great time of the year to be here as well, with the tennis, and the tournaments are just great and very well organised."
Other notables include Julien Sitbon (200,000) who is second in chips behind Zack Lowrie (213,800) along with 2019 $1,150 Six Max runner-up Travis Endersby (74,700), 2019 $5,000 Six Max champion Jamie Lee (68,700) and David Yan (30,800).
Lee was also responsible for today's 'Shuffle Up and Deal' and you can read more about what he said, including how his wife's advice helped to his maiden ANTON Championship ring here.
Tomorrow the second flight gets underway at 12:10pm, with another group of players joining the 2020 Aussie Millions as well as others who opt to re-enter.
End of Flight 1 Chip Counts
| Player | Chip Count |
|---|---|
| Zack Lowrie | 213,800 |
| Julien Sitbon | 200,000 |
| Martin Jacobson | 169,900 |
| Michael Egan | 165,000 |
| Michael Faulkner | 135,000 |
| Dejan Boskovic | 123,400 |
| Paul Altis | 121,500 |
| Giang Fu | 119,800 |
| Andrew Shanahan | 108,200 |
| Javad Etaat | 102,900 |
| Rob Raymond | 93,900 |
| Jason Luttgens | 74,800 |
| Travis Endersby | 74,700 |
| Richard Balkan | 72,200 |
| Jamie Lee | 68,700 |
| Luc Meritan | 63,100 |
| Alboozar Azarnoush | 58,800 |
| Tanya Hill | 57,800 |
| Liu Yu Cheng | 55,000 |
| Jacob Howes | 52,400 |
| Scott Wilson | 49,200 |
| Lucas Morrift | 46,000 |
| Brett Murtagh | 42,600 |
| Alex Palantinis | 37,100 |
| Daniel O'Shea | 36,600 |
| Darryl Gassali | 33,100 |
| David Yan | 30,800 |
| Shoshiro Karita | 24,900 |