2011 Aussie Millions Event #3 Day 1: Final Table Decided; Haibo Chu Leads the Way
Event #3, $1,100 pot-limit Omaha, of the 2011 Aussie Millions kicked off Monday in the poker room at Crown Casino. Last year, Annette Obrestad won the event, becoming the first woman Aussie Millions champion, would she be able to repeat her performance?
Obrestad was among the 151 players who entered the event, which included 2010 Aussie Millions winner Tyron Krost, James Akenhead, Scott Montgomery, Jeff Sarwer, Van Marcus, Billy "the Croc" Argyros, and 2011 Event #2 winner, Jarred Soloman. Unfortunately for Obrestad, her day was cut short and she was the first to exit the tournament when her AxQxJx10x fell to the A♦A♣J♥3♥ of her opponent Jimmy Wong.
Jason Bandouvakis was granted the moniker of bubble boy for this tournament, giving the final 16 players at least AUD$2,015. Just seven eliminations later, and the final table was set. Haibo Chu is the chip leader going into the final table on Day 2 of play. Just before the dinner break Monday, Chu won a sizable pot from Grant Trask and continued to play solid throughout the rest of the day. His double knockout of Trask and Daniel Ospina moved him into the chip lead after dinner and he sealed the fates of Anton Wigg (out in 13th place) and Mark Segal (out in 11th place).
Chu, who won the 2007 Melbourne Championships, isn't going to have an easy run at the gold ring and AUD$37,750 first-place prize. Sitting just behind him in chips is 2010 Adelaide Poker Championship Main Event winner Sean Dunwoodie, as well as Australian Poker Hall of Famer Mel Judah, Michael "Sticky" Guttman who shares an Aussie Millions title with Judah (they won the Teams Event last year), and Antoine Bechara, who final tabled the 2011 Aussie Millions Opening Event, finishing sixth.
Final Table Seat Draw & Chip Counts
Seat 1: Michael Guttman - 52,000
Seat 2: Joel Gaffney - 75,000
Seat 3: Matthew Konnecke - 133,000
Seat 4: Sean Dunwoodie - 339,000
Seat 5: Aarno Kivelio - 139,000
Seat 6: Haibo Chu - 395,000
Seat 7: Mel Judah - 99,000
Seat 8: Antoine Bechara - 65,000
Seat 9: Harry Demetriou - 222,000
The final table of Event #3 kicks off at 4 p.m. local time in Melbourne, but if you're dying for some action, be sure to check out the Live Reporting Blog at 12:30 p.m. local time for Event #4, the $1,100 No-Limit Hold'em Shootout.
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