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$2,500 Victorian Champs Main Event
Day 1c Completed
2026 Victorian Poker Championship
$2,500 Victorian Champs Main Event
Day: 1c
Players Left 286 / 607
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Chip Counts
Chip Counts
Level 12
: Blinds 1,500/3,000, 3,000 ante
The third and penultimate starting flight for the flagship tournament of the 2026 Victorian Poker Championship has wrapped up in the new poker room of Crown Melbourne and has seen the strongest turnout so far. Thanks to a tremendous 188 entries, the overall field size for the AUD 2,500 Victorian Champs crown jewel of the festival has increased the overall tally to 405 entries and boosted the prize pool to AUD 891,000 so far.
However, with the weekend coming up in Australia, an even bigger field can be expected for the fourth and final starting day on Saturday, October 24 in Melbourne. Not only the largest turnout was reached today but a new overall chip leader was crowned, too, as Samuel Cheng soared all the way to 420,500 - well ahead of his nearest followers Chin Chan and Yixian Wang (384,500).
Farhad Mohajerani recovered from an early exit on the first bullet and re-entered successfully to turn his starting stack of 60,000 into very promising 373,000, just ahead of Mario Doria with 365,000.
Top 10 Chip Counts for Day 1c
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds Day 2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Samuel Cheng | Australia | 420,500 | 120 |
| 2 | Chin Chan | Australia | 384,500 | 96 |
| 3 | Yixian Wang | Australia | 384,500 | 96 |
| 4 | Farhad Mohajerani | Australia | 373,000 | 93 |
| 5 | Mario Doria | Australia | 365,000 | 91 |
| 6 | Hongbo Ju | Australia | 354,000 | 88 |
| 7 | Jai Painter | Australia | 316,000 | 79 |
| 8 | George Lagkadiotis | Australia | 301,000 | 75 |
| 9 | Michael Zhang (AUS) | Australia | 298,000 | 74 |
| 10 | Nektarios Dimitrakis | Australia | 281,500 | 70 |
Among the well-known Aussie players outside of today's flight are the likes of Michael Egan (207,000), Tam Truong (199,500), Patrick Barba (175,500), Yoon Kang (135,000), and Sean Ragozzini (118,000). Also in the mix was Vincent "Wonky" Wan, the 2020 Aussie Millions Main Event champion, who bagged up 86,500 among the shorter stacks in today's field.
Local royalty could also be found at the tables albeit late on, as 2005 WSOP Main Event champion Joe Hachem entered and ran up a small profit to 63,500. His son Anthony Hachem more than doubled his stack during the same period to a healthy 145,000.
Cheng appeared near the top of the leaderboard in the third level of the day when Rachel Caloran jammed at the wrong time with pocket queens and ran into the flopped set of kings by Cheng, who consistently chipped up from there on. He was also responsible for the elimination of Celina Lin after turning a set of sixes in level ten.
Running pocket kings into pocket aces was a very common theme in the first two starting days as well and the same scenario unfolded several times today. Charalampos Petsos was on the wrong end of the preflop cooler against Yixiao Wang and the same also happened prior to WSOP bracelet winner Heidi May as well.
Shem Goltz was among those to profit with the rockets when Kieran Tapley looked him up at the wrong time, but he was unable to bag up chips on Day 1c. More standard was the elimination of Phat Nguyen when his straight draw came up short against top set.
Ultimately, more than half of the field departed throughout the 12 levels of 40 minutes each and the same can also expected from the final starting day tomorrow. Floor staff is expecting another big turnout to not only reach but easily surpass AUD 1 million in prize money and the late registration remains open beyond that for the first level on Day 2 on Sunday, October 25, 2026, as well.
Expected to jump back into the action then are Luke Martinelli, Paris Sitzoukis, Jim Andreadis, Gary Benson, Cooper Feltham, and Chad Awerbuch to name all but a few of the notable casualties today. They will likely joined by all of the finalists in the AUD 10,000 High Roller except for those who already bagged up chips in the previous two flights.
Stay tuned for continued coverage of the exclusive PokerNews live updates from the 2026 Victorian Champs Main Event at Crown Melbourne until a winner has been crowned on October 28.
Level 12
: Blinds 1,500/3,000, 3,000 ante
Level 12
: Blinds 1,500/3,000, 3,000 ante
An unofficial 70 players out of 188 entries have bagged up their chips and the full counts as well as a recap of today's action are to follow.
Level 12
: Blinds 1,500/3,000, 3,000 ante
On a flop of 8♦6♣5♦, Daniel Gabriel bumped it up to 15,500 only to then face a reraise to 36,000 by Tim English. After some consideration, Gabriel folded and English claimed the second pot in the final three hands of the night before bagging and tagging.
Level 12
: Blinds 1,500/3,000, 3,000 ante
The tournament clock has been paused, and action will continue for three more hands on each table before bagging for the night.
Level 12
: Blinds 1,500/3,000, 3,000 ante
Anthony Xu moved all in from early position, and was at risk when Kareem Kilany shoved on the button. Yoon Kang then stuck in his stack from the big blind, and all three hands were turned up.
Anthony Xu: A♥A♦ 
Kareem Kilany: 10♠10♦
Yoon Kang: J♠J♦
Xu was never in danger on the 6♦K♠K♣5♠4♣ runout, seeing his aces hold to triple up. Kilany was unable to improve, losing the side pot to Kang.
Level 12
: Blinds 1,500/3,000, 3,000 ante
On the tail end of the Q♠7♣4♥7♠J♦ board, Mario Doria had checked out of the big blind and Ronan Hanley bet 21,000. Doria used one time bank extension and let the next one run down to the last three seconds before he made the call.
Hanley revealed the 9♥7♥ for trips to scoop the pot.
At the same table, Anthony Hachem has already run up a profit on his late entry while Joe Hachem and Gary Benson also jumped in late, too.
Level 12
: Blinds 1,500/3,000, 3,000 ante
Three-way action to the Q♣7♠4♥ flop saw a round of checks, and Kareem Kilany led out for 6,500 from the big blind on the J♠ turn. Michael Pinzone folded in early position, and Yesha Punjabi made the call in middle position.
Kilany fired again on the 5♥ river, this time for 15,000. That produced a fold from Punjabi, and Kilany collected the pot.
Level 12
: Blinds 1,500/3,000, 3,000 ante
"That wasn't GTO," Moz Edelstein said when Lorraine Stupak was knocked out by the table big stack Farhad Mohajerani.
Stupak's 5♦4♥ had flopped bottom pair on 9♠6♦5♥ but had a mountain to climb versus A♣9♣. The A♥ turn and 7♠ river ended her run late on Day 1c.
