$5,000 Challenge Day 2 | 2026 Aussie Millions Poker Championship

1 day 9 hours ago

Haidary Flips Bansal Out

Dan O'Hair

Level 11 : 6,000/12,000, 12,000 ante

Paawan Bansal opened to 25,000 from middle position and was three-bet to 70,000 by Mostafa Haidary on the button. Action folded back to Bansal, who announced he was all in for a bit over 300,000 total. Haidary quickly called to put him at risk and hands were revealed.

Paawan Bansal: 7♠7♦ All in
Mostafa Haidary: A♥K♣

It was a flip for Bansal's tournament life, which ended after the 2♠A♠9♥J♥3♣ runout paired Haidary's ace for the winning hand.

Player	Chips	Progress
Mostafa Haidary	700,000 700,000	700,000

Paawan Bansal	Busted

Tags: Mostafa Haidary Pawan Bansal

1 day 9 hours ago

Kempson Forces a Tough Fold From Marcus

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Dan O'Hair

Level 11 : 6,000/12,000, 12,000 ante

Van Marcus opened to 25,000 from under the gun and just behind him, Corey Kempson three-bet to 80,000. Action folded back around to Marcus, who called for a bloated heads-up pot.

Both players checked on the 2♥9♠10♣ flop and then Kempson called a 65,000 bet from Marcus on the 8♦ turn.

The 3♣ completed the board and Marcus put 90,000 into the middle. Kempson responded with a raise to 375,000 — sending Marcus deep into the tank.

"I think I might have to pay you off..." Marcus said after burning up several time extensions. "Unless you can convince me otherwise."

Marcus used up a couple of more time extensions, but eventually sent his cards into the muck — conceding the pot to Kempson.

"Very interesting," Marcus said as Kempson collected the pot.

Player	Chips	Progress
Corey Kempson	2,100,000 266,000	266,000

Van Marcus	620,000 276,000	276,000

Tags: Corey Kempson Van Marcus

1 day 9 hours ago

Cards in the Air

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Dan O'Hair

Level 11 : 6,000/12,000, 12,000 ante

Players have taken their seats and action is underway!

Level: 11

Blinds: 6,000/12,000

Ante: 12,000

1 day 11 hours ago

Kempson Leads as Burns Seeks Second Aussie Millions Title in Day 2 of $5,000 Challenge

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Dan O'Hair

Another outstanding turnout for the Aussie Millions Poker Championship 2026 Presented by CrownBet saw 353 entrants make their way to the Crown Casino for Day 1 of the $5,000 No-Limit Hold'em Challenge. Today, just 142 players will return with bags at 12:10 p.m. for another full day of action.

Leading the charge is Aussie Corey Kempson, who bagged an impressive 1,834,000 by the time the last card was dealt on Day 1.

Claiming the fourth spot overall with 1,557,000 was none other than Aussie Millions ambassador and 2005 WSOP Main Event Champion Joe Hachem. The iconic figure in the Australian poker scene joined late in Day and wasted little time building his chip stack. Hachem enjoyed a late-night surge after picking up Cowboys on the last level of play to secure his spot among the chip leaders.

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

Also in the hunt is Aussie tournament legend Kahle Burns, who was able to claim a seven-figure stack worth 1,190,000 last night. Burns is a regular in high stakes events with over $14,000,000 in live-tournament earnings. The last time the Aussie Millions was held in 2020, Burns took down the $100k Challenge for $1,746,360 AUD — his third highest score to date. Burns also made the final table of the 2018 Aussie Millions Main Event and is looking poised to make another deep run at the iconic series.

Other notables who bagged up a nice stack include Angel Guillen (1,160,000), Noman Mirza (1,143,000), Travis Endersby (1,036,000), Van Marcus (896,000), and Tristan Wade (672,000).

Late registration remains open until the start of Level 12 (approximately 1:10 p.m.), with unlimited reentries available. With the prize pool already surpassing $1,600,000 AUD, payouts are expected to be substantial and will be confirmed once final numbers are in.

Day 2 will begin on Level 11, which features 6,000/12,000 blinds with a 12,000 big blind ante. Levels will continue to last 60 minutes each and the plan to play an additional 11 levels today (one more than on Day 1). Players will get breaks after every two levels.

PokerNews will be on the floor throughout, bringing you all the action as the $5,000 No Limit Hold'em Challenge moves toward the money and beyond.

Tags: Angel Guillen Corey Kempson Jian Ting Cai Joe Hachem Kahle Burns Linus Goh Michael Gathy Noman Mirza Spencer Davies Sung Chen Yu Travis Endersby Tristan Wade Van Marcus Xiaosheng Zheng Xin Xu

$5,000 Challenge

Day 2 Started

1 day 17 hours ago

Day 2 Seat Draw

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Dan O'Hair

Table	Seat	Name	Chip Count	Big Blinds
47	1	Po-Sen Wang	326,000	27
47	2	Nathan Ong	1,271,000	106
47	3	Wang Li	249,000	21
47	4	Ping Lin	354,000	30
47	5	Yifeng Zhang	835,000	70
47	6	~ EMPTY ~
47	7	Noman Mirza	1,143,000	95
47	8	Connor Walters	119,000	10

48	1	Senthil Subramaniam	190,000	16
48	2	Natalia Rozova	138,000	12
48	3	Nickolas Oiberman	994,000	83
48	4	Shenglan Yu	453,000	38
48	5	Win Meng Tan	293,000	24
48	6	~ EMPTY ~
48	7	~ EMPTY ~
48	8	Xin (Tim) Xu	1,639,000	137

50	1	Kamyar Ekrami	421,000	35
50	2	Shurane Vijayaram	150,000	13
50	3	~ EMPTY ~
50	4	Josh Barrett	215,000	18
50	5	Junjie Liu	454,000	38
50	6	Vladas Tamasauskas	423,000	35
50	7	Angel Guillen	1,160,000	97
50	8	Jianting Cai	1,458,000	122

51	1	Farhad Mohajerani	499,000	42
51	2	~ EMPTY ~
51	3	Quan Dinh	529,000	44
51	4	Matthew Wakeman	333,000	28
51	5	Zong Chi He	935,000	78
51	6	Qi Xu	387,000	32
51	7	Amador Bermejo	582,000	49
51	8	~ EMPTY ~

52	1	Chris Zenonos	70,000	6
52	2	Paul Hong	702,000	59
52	3	John Perry	470,000	39
52	4	Mishel Anunu	516,000	43
52	5	~ EMPTY ~
52	6	Yushun Ji	803,000	67
52	7	Shengfeng Ma	462,000	39
52	8	Luca Rizzello	389,000	32

53	1	MIchael Egan	1,175,000	98
53	2	Patrick Crivell	558,000	47
53	3	Amir Minagar	289,000	24
53	4	Wenjie Sun	473,000	39
53	6	Timon Prill	248,000	21
53	5	Clifford Lee	695,000	58
53	7	~ EMPTY ~
53	8	James Broom	1,200,000	100

54	1	Taylor Grube	944,000	79
54	2	~ EMPTY ~
54	3	Christopher Colaneri	586,000	49
54	4	Tomas Szwarcberg	354,000	30
54	5	Jiapeng Yang	576,000	48
54	6	Kei Tanaka	659,000	55
54	7	~ EMPTY ~
54	8	Johan Schumacher	210,000	18

55	1	Robert Damelian	452,000	38
55	2	Matthew Carlson	573,000	48
55	3	Wai An	272,000	23
55	4	~ EMPTY ~
55	5	Pawan Bansal	529,000	44
55	6	Chin Yaw Chan	444,000	37
55	7	Didier Guerin	619,000	52
55	8	~ EMPTY ~

56	1	Nathan O'Brien	491,000	41
56	2	Ben Pockett	351,000	29
56	3	~ EMPTY ~
56	4	Paris Sitzoukis	501,000	42
56	5	Sergio Soto	963,000	80
56	6	Tristan Wade	672,000	56
56	7	Billy (Croc) Argyros	959,000	80
56	8	Darragh Curtin	291,000	24

57	1	Benjamin Leblond	215,000	18
57	2	Naz Sibaei	181,000	15
57	3	Phillip Siddell	133,000	11
57	4	~ EMPTY ~
57	5	Xin Li	1,170,000	98
57	6	Michael Tchong	937,000	78
57	7	Michael Wang	159,000	13
57	8	Ankit Ahuja	409,000	34

58	1	~ EMPTY ~
58	2	Siyu Du	834,000	70
58	3	Hayato Kitajima	488,000	41
58	4	Anthony Xu	358,000	30
58	5	Malcolm Trayner	65,000	5
58	6	Thomas Pearce	831,000	69
58	7	Zheming Zhu	354,000	30
58	8	Gary Retallick	144,000	12

59	1	Maxwell Young	522,000	44
59	2	Roderick Shen	992,000	83
59	3	Carlos Youssef	783,000	65
59	4	Liam Jehu	584,000	49
59	5	Ron Bean	1,145,000	95
59	6	Jun Jia	141,000	12
59	7	~ EMPTY ~
59	8	Cameron Robertson	555,000	46

60	1	~ EMPTY ~
60	2	Rehman Kassam	1,080,000	90
60	3	Adam Khaman	442,000	37
60	4	Spencer Davies	1,377,000	115
60	5	Troy Sweet	762,000	64
60	6	~ EMPTY ~
60	7	Damien Lynch	421,000	35
60	8	Luka Djumic	638,000	53

61	1	Travis Endersby	1,036,000	86
61	2	~ EMPTY ~
61	3	Joe Hachem	1,532,000	128
61	4	Yu Hai Kee	425,000	35
61	5	Bernardo Toro	404,000	34
61	6	Luke Martinelli	180,000	15
61	7	Patrick Healy	559,000	47
61	8	William Jia	460,000	38

62	1	Irene Bennett	153,000	13
62	2	~ EMPTY ~
62	3	Carl Conroy	595,000	50
62	4	Daniel Murphy	375,000	31
62	5	Michael O'Grady	317,000	26
62	6	Tyron Krost	289,000	24
62	7	Jiang Pu	476,000	40
62	8	~ EMPTY ~

63	1	Rulin Zhao	200,000	17
63	2	Johan Lees	1,364,000	114
63	3	EMPTY
63	4	Sean Ragozzini	872,000	73
63	5	~ EMPTY ~
63	6	Linus Goh	1,320,000	110
63	7	Brett Marshall	361,000	30
63	8	Hsiang Yang	365,000	30

64	1	Joshua McSwiney	907,000	76
64	2	Jim Giannoukos	461,000	38
64	3	Cheng Gu	1,194,000	100
64	4	Steven Chew	348,000	29
64	5	Ta-wei Tou	595,000	50
64	6	~ EMPTY ~
64	7	~ EMPTY ~
64	8	Antonius Krijn	320,000	27

65	1	Andrew Hinrichsen	405,000	34
65	2	Sung Chen Yu	1,396,000	116
65	3	Kahle Burns	1,190,000	99
65	4	Ryan Pignatelli	401,000	33
65	5	Joseph Sandaev	400,000	33
65	6	Stephen Woodhead	745,000	62
65	7	Eugene Tung	1,106,000	92
65	8	~ EMPTY ~

66	1	Ali Ghezelbash	709,000	59
66	2	~ EMPTY ~
66	3	Timothy Jenkins	371,000	31
66	4	Chao Duan	612,000	51
66	5	Po (Keith) Khaw	912,000	76
66	6	~ EMPTY ~
66	7	Joseph Antar	375,000	31
66	8	Jia-Chi Li	235,000	20

67	1	~ EMPTY ~
67	2	Jaxon Byrne	329,000	27
67	3	~ EMPTY ~
67	4	Itsuki Aburatani	1,557,000	130
67	5	Van Marcus	896,000	75
67	6	Corey Kempson	1,834,000	153
67	7	Scott Stewart	999,000	83
67	8	Danielle Noja	329,000	27

68	1	Shao Liu	225,000	19
68	2	~ EMPTY ~
68	3	Samantha Cohen	590,000	49
68	4	Patrick Vo	534,000	45
68	5	Xiaosheng Zheng	1,277,000	106
68	6	Anton Lu	1,070,000	89
68	7	~ EMPTY ~
68	8	Ehsan Amiri	307,000	26

69	1	Michael Gathy	1,355,000	113
69	2	Rui (Ray) Ming	487,000	41
69	3	Kenta Ito	957,000	80
69	4	~ EMPTY ~
69	5	David Yan	505,000	42
69	6	~ EMPTY ~
69	7	Yuxi Huang	206,000	17
69	8	Michael Tomeny	534,000	45