Two eliminations have happened in quick succession to bring us to 89 players on the bubble of the Main Event.
First, 2018 Opening Event champion Benedikt Eberle held 
and held to eliminate an opponent holding 
.
Then, Ash Gupta was up against 
, but he held 
and they held on a 
board, dodging straight outs to eliminate another player.
There was already around 150,000 in the pot between Maria Lampropulos in the small blind and Jinsoo Kang in the cutoff. The board read 
. Lampropulos opted for a small bet of 45,000, but Kang wanted to play for more and put in 115,000. Lampropulos tanked for several minutes then called. On the 
river, she again tanked a few minutes then moved all in.
Kang snap-called for her last 105,000 or so and turned over 
for a full house. Lampropulos could only muster 
.
Alan Friedmann was all-in for 116,500 with the and Erik Seidel looked him up with the inferior pair in 
.
The board came 
and Friedmann remained in contention three eliminations away fro the money bubble.
Scott Margereson opened to 11,000 and got one caller before a third player three-bet all in for 109,000. Margereson called and the other player folded.
Scott Margereson: 
All-in Player:
The flop came 
and the all-in player put his hands together as if in prayer over the board.
"Diamond for a sweat," said the rail as the turn came the 
giving Margereson the nut-flush draw.
The 
completely the river, sending the all-in player to the rail.
The field has been reduced to the final 93 hopefuls as Dan Shak has been sent to the rail after a clash with Randy Lew. The latter opened to 11,000 in the cutoff and Shak moved all in for 156,500, which Lew called with the slightly superior stack.
Dan Shak: 
Randy Lew: 
Both suits were covered also and the board of 
brought no help to Shak, who became the first casualty of the fourth level on Day 3.
Bernie Stang was all in for 130,000 or so from early position into a pot of about 45,000. The flop had come 
and Paawan Bansal was in the tank on his left. He stacked up enough chips to call and took a deep breath, seeming ready to slide in the chips.
In response, Stang covered his head with his hood.
"He's got a read on me," Stang declared.
Bansal laughed and asked if Stang would show even one if he folded. Stang shook his head negative.
"OK, I feel like this is a very tight fold," Bansal said, sliding his cards in.
Stang did show one: .
Rahul Melwani was down to a mere 52,000 and those went in with the 
. Russell Thomas took the flip with and the board came 
to keep Melwani in contention.
Ben Lamb was all in from the small blind for 80,500 with and he had been called by Fabian Quoss in the big blind with
There was queen on the flop of 
and he held for the double on the runout.
Sometimes, it takes a while before one gets dealt a decent poker hand in a poker tournament. Other times, it's a matter of minutes. But when Yake Wu looked down at pocket queens only minutes into the Day 1b of the Aussie Millions Main Event, his tournament was almost over.
With 300 big blinds to start with, it's rare to hear the words "all in-call" in a poker room when most players haven't even warmed their chairs yet. Wu, however, called with his queens on a ten-high double flush draw, only to double Heinz Schlueter who showed aces.
"I'm not afraid of busting, it's okay, it's normal, "Wu claimed. He was left with 4,000, just over one-tenth of the starting stack.
What makes his story impressing is that he bounced back. Then he got back down. Then he bounced back. Wu stayed in the tournament until Day 3, and his chip-measurement trended in sinusoids.
The above-mentioned encounter against Schlueter didn't leave any mark on Wu's subsequent play. He understood that while his stack got significantly diminished, he didn't have to panic.
"It's still 40 big blinds, you can do a lot of things," he said, adding: "I think a tournament is about surviving sometimes. Because when I call him, I'm ready to see aces or kings. And I did, but I was still alive – I still had a chance."
Wu is relatively a new face on the tournament circuit, but he managed to amass over $1 million in cashes in 2019. Before then, he had had only two small cashes to his name. Wu played cash games while he studied in the United Kingdom. He didn't have enough time to play tournaments, let alone travel around the world to compete in the major events.
That changed when he moved back home to Shanghai. Wu started a company which specializes in interim design and selling furniture.
"Right now, my company is very stable, so I have time [for tournaments]. I don't have to stay at the company; we still have a manager to run it. So I can choose from some games," Wu revealed.
Last year, Wu notched 38 cashes in eight countries (including China). He had already made it to Aussie Millions, competed at a few European Poker Tour stops, and made a summer trip to Las Vegas. That's where he got his breakthrough result, finishing 2nd in the Card Player Poker Tour Main Event for $336,497 on a final table that featured the likes of Andrey Pateychuk, Stephen Chidwick, and Chris Klodnicki.
So far, it looks like Wu's poker calendar won't be less packed in 2020. If anything, the opposite. Wu has plans to travel around most of the major stops, so he naturally couldn't miss the Aussie Millions. A ninth-place finish in the A$25k Challenge might have got him some more recognition from the top-level players.
Unfortunately for Wu, it wouldn't work out for him in the Main Event – even though he was able to regroup after the huge initial loss. It was a tournament full of coolers for Wu, whose run included kings cracked by queens and a set-under-set collision, among other clashes.
The final blow would be delivered somewhat symbolically–by pocket ace. It was Steve O'Dwyer who ended Wu's chances to cash in the Main Event. Wu had, of course, kings. But one might not see as many players taking the beats as casually as Wu. He doesn't complain. He doesn't stress out:
"It's normal in the tournaments. I love this game."
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