Aussie Millions, Event #1 Day 1b: Jim Mastorakos Charges Ahead
Day 1b of the inaugural event of the 2010 Aussie Millions saw another 327 players hit the felt at the Crown Casino in Melbourne Australia Friday. When the players bagged and tagged their chips, only 60 remained, with Jim Mastorakos leading the way with 174,700.
Luckily, for the players who did not make it through the day, Saturday brings fresh hope as Day 1c allows players who busted from either of the first two starting days a second chance.
Mastorakos' stack came from one particularly huge hand in which a player on the button raised to 3,500, Mastorakos called from the small blind, as did the big blind, and the players went three-ways to a flop of A♥Q♥8♥. Mastorakos checked, the big blind opened for 5,000 and the button got out of the way before Mastorakos called, so it was heads-up to the turn, which fell the 2♠. Mastorakos check-called the big blind's bet of 15,000, then on the river, the 4♠, Mastorakos checked again, the big blind player shoved for around 100,000 and Mastorakos snap-called all-in for 73,400 with A♠Q♣. His opponent flipped over QxJx, which the dealer quickly mucked.
Rounding out the top five on Day 1b were Dean McIver, who had a late charge moving up to 155,800, Kerry Stead who sits on 131,700, Trung Tran with 130,100 and Sarvesh Pershad with 129,000. Some other notables who will be back for a shot at the first Aussie Millions championship ring include Jimmy Wong (74,400), Ben Savage (71,200), Brendon Rubie (65,200), Dennis Huntly (52,200) and Stephen Topakas (27,600).
Three Aussie Millions Main Event champions, Stewart Scott, Tony Bloom and Team PokerStars Pro Lee Nelson, are just a few of the big name players who could be digging up another $1,100 AUD for tomorrow's repechage, along with Gary Benson, Leo Boxell, Andrew Jeffreys, Julian Powell, Tino Lechich, Marsha Waggoner and Tony Dunst.
Day 1c gets under way Saturday in Melbourne at 12:30 p.m. GMT +11, and PokerNews will be covering all the action.
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