button in Safari2026 Victorian Poker Champs Soars to Seven Figure Prize Pool; Registration Remains Open
It was a very busy day on the poker floor here at Crown Melbourne for the final starting day of the 2026 Victorian Poker Champs AUD 2,500 Main Event. With another 220 entries generated throughout the 12 levels of 40 minutes each, the overall tally increased to 625 entries to generate a prize pool of AUD 1,375,000 thus far. However, both impressive figures are subject to change as the late registration remains open for the first level of Day 2 on Sunday, October 25.
More than half of the field was sent to the rail while the cash games were claiming all of the open tables almost as instantly as they became available. When the dust had settled, Jonathan Braude emerged at the top of the Day 1d leaderboard with 382,000 in chips and remained ahead of notable poker pros such as Jarred Graham (330,000) and Paris Sitzoukis (320,000). Graham already has one WSOP gold bracelet to his name, and the same also applies for Martin Kozlov who reached the top ten for this flight on a stack of 251,000 one chip ahead of Chad Awerbuch (250,000).
Top 10 Chip Counts for Day 1d
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jonathan Braude | Australia | 382,000 | 96 |
| 2 | Jarred Graham | Australia | 330,000 | 83 |
| 3 | Paris Sitzoukis | Australia | 320,000 | 80 |
| 4 | Ruben Padilla | Australia | 298,000 | 75 |
| 5 | Idris Hassan | Australia | 271,500 | 68 |
| 6 | Kwang Nguyen | Australia | 266,000 | 67 |
| 7 | Troy Bell | Australia | 263,000 | 66 |
| 8 | Francesco Tripodi | Australia | 256,000 | 64 |
| 9 | Martin Kozlov | Australia | 251,000 | 63 |
| 10 | Chad Awerbuch | Australia | 250,000 | 63 |
In an earlier starting flight, Troy Bell ran pocket kings into pocket aces twice to bust both bullets but he came back with a vengeance today. This time, he mentioned to have cracked pocket aces with pocket fours and then doubled once again just before the final hands of the night to soar all the way to 263,000.
Rising Aussie Pot-Limit Omaha specialist Najeem Ajez bagged a healthy 223,000 just ahead of Dean Blatt (208,500) whereas 2014 WSOP APAC PLO bracelet winner Sam Higgs entered late and ran up his stack to 184,000. Other known names of the Aussie poker scene such as Cooper Feltham (171,000), Nickolas Oiberman (168,000), Joshua McSwiney (151,500), and Gary Benson (99,000) also made it through. Former EPT Main Event champion Martin Finger, who moved to Australia a few years ago, bagged up 132,500.
In the first level of play, two players were knocked out and the first to go was the very jovial Bruno Portaro who admitted that he was gonna gamble on the first bullet and lost his stack to arch-nemesis of sorts Dean Blatt. Shortly after, Bobby Oparaocha sent Anthony Ronalds packing when he rivered a flush on a paired board.
Early into the second level, Shirley Tang was caught barreling through a pair of jacks on a straight and flush draw heavy board and "local legend" Riff Mustafa rivered the ace-high flush. Down to fumes, Tang bowed out shortly after whereas Mustafa hit the rail in the final few levels as well.
Australian Poker Hall of Fame member Leo Boxell found top pair on a short stack in multi-way action after the first break, but wound up drawing dead on the turn to bust much earlier than he'd hoped for.
The rise of Paris Sitzoukis on the leaderboard started with a double through Wee Shee on a gutsy move that paid off, and the he never looked back from there to end Day 1d with a big stack.
Far different was the path of Celina Lin who suffered several bad beats. On her first bullet she lost a three-way all-in with the best of it preflop to then have her pocket kings cracked by the 6♥2♥ of Nick Williams in a four-bet pot. Xiangxi Zheng was the nemesis in the first encounter and finished the job in level ten, Lin reentered and bagged up a short stack of 33,500.
Across the four starting days, around 250 players survived their respective 12 levels of play and will return at 12.30 p.m. local time to their seats inside of the poker room on the second floor at Crown Melbourne. As of Day 2, the level duration increases to 60 minutes each and the late registration will remain open for the first level which features blinds of 2,000-4,000 with a big blind ante of 4,000.
It is expected that the crown jewel of the 2026 Victorian Poker Championship will reach the money and the PokerNews live reporting team will be back then to try and catch as many of the pivotal hands along the way. The winner of the 2026 Victorian Poker Champs Main Event is set to be crowned in three days from now on October 27.