2011 Aussie Millions Event #1 Day 1b: Drewe Leads the Way, Karamalikis in Top Ten
Day 1b of the first event of the 2011 Aussie Millions got under way on Friday in Melbourne, Australia. The AUD$1,100 repechage no-limit hold'em event saw 294 players take their seats on Day 1a, and the Day 1b flight saw just a few less, 283. At the end of 12 levels, there were 42 players left with chips to bag and tag. Leading the Day 1b field is Martin Drewe with 218,800. Just behind him is Tolly Sakellariou with a stack of 207,400. Jonathan "xMONSTERxDONGx" Karamalikis, who had some ups and downs throughout the day finished with 107,300.
Drewe went quickly from middle of the pack on the chip leaderboard to the top. Sakellariou jumped to second in chips on the second-to-last hand of the night when he rivered aces up against his opponent. Karamalikis' stack fluctuated throughout the day, and just before the last level of the night, he was down to 30,000 when his ace-king failed to hit against his opponents queens. Somehow, in the last 40 minutes of play, he more than tripled his stack and can take Saturday off to prepare for Day 2 on Sunday.
Maria Ho, Tony Dunst, and James Akenhead were among those who took advantage of the repechage aspect of the tournament and bought back in for a second shot. Annette Obrestad, Scott Montgomery, Matthew Pearson, Daniel Neilsen, Eric Assadourian, and Brendon Rubie, were also spotted in the field, and they'll be able to take advantage of the repechage aspect of this event, as they failed to make it to Day 2, as well as Ho, Dunst, and Akenhead.
Given that this is a repechage event, players who went busto Friday will get another shot at glory on Saturday, but how does this affect players and their game? Do they change it up a little, knowing that they have another chance or do they do their best to hang on to their chips and make it through the day. Lynn Gilmartin caught up with some players before the event kicked off and asked them what their plans were - would they be nits or would they be going nuts?
The last Day 1 flight kicks off Saturday at the Crown Casino at 12:30 p.m. local time. You can bet Team PokerNews will be there to bring you all the action straight from the felt, so keep it locked on the Live Reporting page.
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