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As the Aussie Millions Poker Championship 2026 Presented by CrownBet enters its final stretch, it’s time for the high rollers to take center stage in the $25,000 Challenge — the highest buy-in event of the series — before the Main Event gets fully underway.
A total of 58 entrants turned out for the prestigious event so far, and after 10 hour-long levels of play, Joe Sandaev emerged as the overall chip leader over the 26 remaining players after bagging up 1,464,000. His closest challenger is GG Poker Ambassador Yuxi Huang (1,267,000), while Japanese pro and YouTube sensation Masato Yokosawa rounds out the top three as the only other player to bag a seven-figure stack with 1,101,000.
No stranger to the high roller scene, Sandaev is a seasoned Australian grinder with over $1,300,000 in live tournament earnings and several titles to his name. His breakout result came with a victory in the WPT Australia Gold Coast High Roller for $296,589 AUD. Armed with a commanding stack and plenty of experience, Sandaev will be the player to watch heading into Day 2.
Start of Day 2 Top Ten Chip Counts
| PLACE | PLAYER | CHIP COUNT | BIG BLINDS |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Joe Sandaev | 1,464,000 | 122 |
| 2 | Yuxi Huang | 1,267,000 | 106 |
| 3 | Masato Yokosawa | 1,101,000 | 92 |
| 4 | Joshua Hutchins | 986,000 | 82 |
| 5 | Andy Lee | 911,000 | 76 |
| 6 | Alex Lynskey | 892,000 | 74 |
| 7 | Najeem Ajez | 868,000 | 72 |
| 8 | Stevan Chew | 838,000 | 70 |
| 9 | Shenglan Yu | 787,000 | 66 |
| 10 | Win Tan | 786,000 | 65 |
Other notables still in contention include Ehsan Amiri (768,000), Weiran Pu (708,000), Matthew Wakeman (577,000), Corey Kempson (510,000), Michael Wang (498,000), and Kahle Burns, who returns as the short stack with 234,000.
Play resumes at 2:10 p.m. local time on Level 11, with blinds at 6,000/12,000 and a 12,000 big blind ante. Late registration remains open until the start of Level 12, with plans to play either 10 additional levels or down to six players, subject to tournament director discretion.
Stay tuned to PokerNews for continued coverage as the $25,000 Challenge plays down to a champion!
For live stream coverage, check out the Crown Resorts YouTube here
