Aussie Millions Poker Tournament Update
by Bodog Poker | Jan 29 2010
If there's one annual
poker tournament that continues to grow in popularity it's the Aussie Millions. Whether it's the fact that it coincides with the Australian Open, or because it's the middle of summer Down Under, this tournament attracts some of the biggest names in the game year after year. Action began back on January 14, and the Main Event got underway last Sunday. The day before that, the much anticipated $100K high roller event began and the champion was decided the next day. Results from both events have some big-name players making their mark on the field, and the legacy of young Annette Obrestad could take another step towards its eventual greatness.
The $100K Challenge high roller event attracted 24 players for a 2.4 million Australian dollar prize pool. Five places got paid, and when the dust had settled it was Daniel Shak who walked away with the $1.2M AUS first-place prize. It wasn't an easy victory; he had to beat out the likes of Tony Bloom and Phil Ivey heads-up to become the champion and win his ring. Ivey got the $600K AUS second-place prize, while third-place finisher Bill Jordanou got $300K AUS.
Currently the Main Event has dwindled down to 13 players who are playing down to the final eight for the final table on Friday January 29. 746 players paid the $10K-plus buy-in over the last three days, and the big story has been the dominance of Annette Obrestad. The 21-year-old European poker star is currently second in chips with 1.7 million and is posed to make a run at her second big title. She won the WSOPE before she was old enough to play in Vegas Casinos, and she's set to make another huge notch on her
poker belt if she can manage to take down the remaining players. She's also running well right now and has already won one preliminary event at this year's festival Down Under.
With only 80K more than Obrestad, the chip leader is Kosmas Dratsas with 1,792,000. In third place, and on a good run of cards, is Sorel Mizzi, who ended the day with 1,695,000. Three spots down the chip leaderboard is Dan Shak, who as previously mentioned took down Ivey in the $100,000 Challenge at Crown
Casino earlier this week. Also right up there with the leaders is Stephen Shelly with 1,626,000.
Not making it to the final day were a few fan favorites who started the day with hopes of taking down the prestigious title. Barry Greenstein was out in 50th place, while Gus Hansen realized he wouldn't repeat as champion this year, going out in 23rd. Other notables that made it to the money included Andrew Feldman (24th), Nico Behling (35th), Marsha Waggoner (59th), Van Marcus (60th), and J.P. Kelly (67th).
