button in SafariKei Tanaka Surges into the Lead in Day 2 of $25k Challege
Sometimes in poker, everything just clicks.
That was certainly the case for Kei Tanaka, a Japanese actor and avid poker player who late-regged on Day 2 of the $25,000 Challenge at the Aussie Millions Poker Championship 2026 Presented by CrownBet. It took Tanaka just seven levels of play to grow his stack from 300,000 to 8,450,000 — more than twice that of his next-closest competitor Andy Lee (4,160,000).
Tanaka went on an absolute tear on the final level of the day. From flopping two pair against a dominated two pair to making three consecutive sets, he could seemingly do no wrong. Tanaka was even responsible for bursting the final table bubble and ending play for the day after winning a flip to eliminate YouTube personality Masato Yokosawa.
However, while Tanaka will be the clear favorite heading into the final table tomorrow with his mountain of chips, he will have a lot to contend with as plenty of poker talent will also be vying for the title. Sitting on Tanaka's direct left is Luke Martinelli (1,705,000) and Michael Egan (3,650,000) — two seasoned professionals with a combined $4,000,000 in live tournament earnings and extensive final table experience.
Final Table Seat Draw
| Seat | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Michael Egan | Australia | 3,650,000 | 61 |
| 2 | Trung Nguyen | Australia | 1,260,000 | 21 |
| 3 | Matthew Wakeman | Australia | 3,950,000 | 66 |
| 4 | Joe Sandaev | Australia | 2,300,000 | 38 |
| 5 | Andy Lee | Australia | 4,160,000 | 69 |
| 6 | Aaron Li | Australia | 2,080,000 | 35 |
| 7 | Josh Hutchins | Australia | 1,850,000 | 31 |
| 8 | Kei Tanaka | Japan | 8,450,000 | 141 |
| 9 | Luke Martinelli | Australia | 1,705,000 | 28 |
Each of the remaining finalists have already locked up a minimum payday of $75,265 AUD stemming from the $2,352,000 AUD prize pool, but everyone will be gunning for the $652,670 AUD first-place prize that goes along with the Aussie Millions trophy.
Final Table Payouts
| Place | Payout (AUD) |
|---|---|
| 1 | $652,670 |
| 2 | $405,720 |
| 3 | $264,600 |
| 4 | $209,330 |
| 5 | $162,290 |
| 6 | $132,890 |
| 7 | $111,720 |
| 8 | $92,905 |
| 9 | $75,265 |
Day 2 Action
Day 2 began with 26 returning players and that number quickly soared as 40 additional players found their way the registration line within the first level of play. Kitty Kuo and Michael Addamo were among the late registrants, but neither player lasted until the second break, seemingly unable to capture any real momentum.
Other notables who made an early exit include Kahle Burns, Weiran Pu, Angel Guillen, Ehsan Amiri, and Michael Wang — who ended up shoving with a dominated king into Martinelli a couple spots shy of the final two tables.
Meanwhile, Yokosawa, who entered Day 2 as one of the chip leaders, remained active and steadily grew his stack, including a hand where he made a nice call against Alex Lynskey to soar up the ranks.
Hand-for-hand play began two spots off the money bubble to ensure the two remaining tables were dealt the same amount of hands. Benjamin Pockett burst the soft bubble after an unfortunate cooler saw him pick up jacks against Joe Sandaev's pocket kings. Pockett was unable to improve and he was eliminated to set up the stone bubble.
Matthew Wakeman narrowly avoided becoming the bubble boy after shoving over a raise holding king-queen against Egan's pocket nines. Wakeman was one card away from elimination, but spiked a king on the river to double up instead.
Alex Trevallion found himself critically short stacked and committed his miniscule stack into the middle with jack-ten. He was called by Tanaka and Martinelli, who checked down only for Tanaka to hit a pair of sixes to eliminate Trevallion one spot shy of the money.
Najeem Ajez followed Trevallion out the door after almost immediately busting following the money bubble. Ajez committed his stack with an ace only to get called by Lee holding a dominating ace and holding.
Banipal Babana would be next to fall in 12th place after riding a short stack for much of the bubble period, and last lady standing—Yuxi Huang—bowed out in 11th place after shoving into Tanaka's pocket tens with a suited ace and failing to improve.
With no real short stacks in sight, the final table bubble would last for a significant period. It was about this time when Tanaka caught fire — first by coolering Martinelli with two pair over two pair and then by cracking Trung Nguyen's pocket aces with pocket fives.
Tanaka capped off his stellar Day 2 by winning a race against Yokosawa, eliminating his fellow countryman to set the final table of nine and bring play to a close.
Day 3 is set to begin on Tuesday, May 5 at 2:10 p.m. local time and play down to a winner. Play will resume on Level 18, which features 30,000/60,000 blinds with a 60,000 big blind ante. Levels will continue to last 60 minutes each and breaks will be held after every two levels.
Live stream coverage of the final table will be available on a 30-minute delay on the Crown Resorts YouTube page.
With plenty of play left and a stacked field chasing a $652,670 top prize, the stage is set for an epic finale. Be sure to stick with PokerNews for full coverage as the $25,000 Challenge plays down to a champion.