Liu Yang Takes Charge of Aussie Millions Main Event

Day 2 in the Aussie Millions A$10,600 Main Event has wrapped up after seven levels of play. The day started with 491 players with 64 more joining during late registration, taking the total entries to 770. That was just 52 players shy of beating the 2019 Main Event registrant record of 822.

Only 176 players made it through the full seven levels of play today and bagged a stack of chips, ready to return to Day 3.

The event created a huge A$7,700,000 total prize pool, with just over 12 percent of the field being paid. The bubble will burst at 95 players who will each lock up the minimum cash of A$20,020. Those who locked up a bag today will have their hearts set on surviving until at least the money bubble bursts. Sights will then turn to the final table, with a seat there locking up at least A$154,000.

The luck two, who make it to heads-up, will be battling for the top A$1,667,050 prize and a chance to take home the ANTON Jewellery winner's ring.

Day 2 Top Ten Chip Counts

Rank	Player	Country	Chip Count	Big Blinds
1	Liu Yang	China	1,028,000	206
2	Tom McMahon	Australia	986,000	197
3	Scot Malseed	Australia	737,000	147
4	Sooriya Rajeswaran	Australia	638,500	128
5	Didier Guerin	Australia	637,500	128
6	Aamir Choudry	Australia	624,000	125
7	Scott Stewart	United States	609,500	122
8	Jason Lefevre	Australia	560,500	112
9	Anthony Xu	Australia	555,500	111
10	Denis Jankovic	Australia	539,500	108

It was Liu Yang who took the chip lead at the end of Day 2, after having a solid run towards the end of play. One hand saw Yang pick up a stack after putting on the pressure and continuing to fire into his opponent. Yang also had some early momenum after seeing to the elimination of Troy McLean, helping take an early standing in the day.

Day 1a and start of Day 2 chip leader Tom McMahon is hot on his tails as he bagged 986,000. McMahon was looking to be the three-day running consecutive chip lead as just 30 minutes before the end of the day he was sitting on over a million in chips, but fell just short of the hold.

Scot Malseed is also sitting high in the counts, and bagged 737,000 after starting the day in the middle of the pack with 157,200. He got a late-night stack up after pinching the pot from his opponent, securing one of the last eliminations of the night.

Prize Pool & Payouts

Place	Payout (AUD)	Place	Payout (AUD)
1	$1,667,050	15-17	$60,830
2	$1,001,000	18-23	$48,510
3	$635,250	24-29	$41,580
4	$466,620	30-35	$34,650
5	$346,500	36-39	$30,800
6	$269,500	40-37	$27,720
7	$211,750	48-63	$24,640
8-9	$154,000	64-79	$22,330
10-11	$154,000	80-95	$20,020
12-14	$77,000

Scott Stewart was bulldozing his way through Day 2 as he saw to an early elimination of Kevin Lee, giving him a significant chip up. Stewart picked up more later in the day after he led to a significant tumble of Andy Lee. Lee’s kings got cracked, ending his chance for a double title here at the Aussie Millions after he was crowned the A$25,000 Challenge champion just a few days prior.

A number of notables still have a seat in the Main Event including WSOP Main Event Winner Joe Hachem. Sam Higgs and Michael Gathy also will return tomorrow, making for a fierce Day 3.

Other players saw their tournament life come to an abrupt end during Day 2 including Adrian Attenborough, Tristan Wade and Josh Giddey. Attenborough brought through a shorter stack into Day 2 (41,500) and wasn’t able to find a spin early in the day. He was knocked down by Najeem Ajez after getting caught up in a three-way pot with fellow table mate Wade. The next hand saw him get in his remaining change against Gary Fisher, with Attenborough getting rivered.

Giddey built up a stack earlier in the day but then took a tumble back down to around twenty big blinds in Level 11 and got his remaining chips in with king-queen but ran into Jun Wen Ooi’s ace-king and saw no improvement.

The remaining 176 players will resume play tomorrow on May 8 at 12.30 p.m. local time at the Crown Casino here in Melbourne. Action picks up at Level 14 with blinds of 2,500/5,000 and a 5,000 big blind ante. Breaks are scheduled every level, and the day will play through seven levels, then stopping to bag up for Day 4, the penultimate day of play.