button in SafariJoe Hachem Bags Big in Day 1 of $5,000 Challenge
The turnout at the Aussie Millions Poker Championship 2026 Presented by CrownBet continues to surpass all expectations, and the $5,000 Challenge proved no exception as 353 entrants found their way to the luxurious Crown Casino to take part — solidly surpassing the 305-entry field from the $5,000 Six-Max NLHE event held just days earlier. The prize pool is already knocking on the door of the $2,000,000 AUD mark, and with late registration remaining open for one level into Day 2, that number is likely to be surpassed.
Leading the way of the 142 players who found a bag at the end of Day 1 was Australia's own Corey Kempson, who secured 1,834,000 through the first 10 levels of play. He is followed closely by Xin Xu of China (1,639,000) and Itsuki Aburatani of Japan (1,557,000) — who finished third in the Opening event for $220,300.
Also bagging among the chip leaders in Day 1 was none other than Aussie Millions Ambassador and 2005 Main Event Champion Joe Hachem, who joined late but quickly made a splash, including a hand toward the end of the night wherein Hachem got his opponent all in with kings against ace-king and held to surge up the leaderboard, finishing with 1,532,000.
Day 1 Top Ten Chip Counts
| PLACE | PLAYER | COUNTRY | CHIP COUNT | BIG BLINDS |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Corey Kempson | Australia | 1,834,000 | 153 |
| 2 | Xin Xu | China | 1,639,000 | 137 |
| 3 | Itsuki Aburatani | Japan | 1,557,000 | 130 |
| 4 | Joe Hachem | Australia | 1,532,000 | 128 |
| 5 | Jian Ting Cai | China | 1,458,000 | 122 |
| 6 | Sung Chen Yu | Taiwan | 1,396,000 | 116 |
| 7 | Spencer Davies | Australia | 1,377,000 | 115 |
| 8 | Michael Gathy | Belgium | 1,355,000 | 113 |
| 9 | Linus Goh | Australia | 1,320,000 | 110 |
| 10 | Xiaosheng Zheng | China | 1,277,000 | 106 |
No shortage of notables were present in the field and many of them enjoyed significant gains to their chip stacks, including Van Marcus (896,000), Tristan Wade (672,000), Liam Jehu (584,000), Maxwell Young (522,000), John Perry (470,000), and Kahle Burns, who made a tough call down against Young late in the day en route to bagging 1,190,000.
Among the notables who fared less well on Day 1 include Timon Prill (248,000), Johan Schumacher (210,000), and Michael Wang (159,000) — all of whom bagged up less than a starting stack. Randy Lew hopped in late but was unable to gain much momentum before ultimately busting in the last levels of the day. However, with late registration remaining open until the start of Level 12 on Day 2, there is still plenty of time for Lew or anyone else who busted to take another shot.
Day 2 is scheduled to get underway at 12:10 p.m. on Saturday, May 2 and play an additional 11 levels. Although originally scheduled as a two-day event, due to the unexpected field size, a third day is guaranteed. Play will resume on Level 11, which features 6,000/12,000 blinds with a 12,000 big blind ante. Levels will remain 60 minutes in length each and players will be sent on break after every two levels.
Be sure to stick with PokerNews for continued coverage from the floor as the race to crown the next Aussie Millions champion unfolds.