Asia Millions Main Event Day 2: Sorel Mizzi Leads Stacked Final Table
The GuangDong Ltd Asia Millions (GDAM) Main Event continued on Thursday, and after a long day of poker only eight players were still in contention for the massive HK$34,600,000 (US$4,464,516) first-place prize.
Sorel Mizzi leads the way heading into the GDAM Main Event final table. He's joined by a talented group that includes Isaac Haxton, Igor Kurganov, Pratyush Budigga, Jeff Rossiter, and Niklas Heinecker. With the stacks extremely shallow going into the final day, the GDAM championship trophy could be awarded to any of the eight remaining players.
| Seat | Player | Chips |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Igor Kurganov | 18,400,000 |
| 2 | Pratyush Budigga | 13,075,000 |
| 3 | Jeff Rossiter | 12,825,000 |
| 4 | Anson Tsang | 5,750,000 |
| 5 | Sorel Mizzi | 28,300,000 |
| 6 | Niklas Heinecker | 15,275,000 |
| 7 | Isaac Haxton | 7,075,000 |
| 8 | Zheng Tang | 24,300,000 |
Day 2 of the GDAM Main Event saw 51 players all hoping to make it to the final table. Some of the players who weren’t able to do that were Philip Gruissem, Fabian Quoss, Joseph Cheong, John Juanda, Greg Merson, Gus Hansen, Mike McDonald and Team PokerStars Pros Bertrand Grospellier and Jonathan Duhamel.
For much of the day it was PokerStars Team Online's Isaac Haxton who held the chip lead as he was eliminating players seemingly every few hands. One of the players Haxton sent to the rail was Dan Smith. It came after a preflop raising war that saw all the chips get in the middle, with Smith running his A♠K♣ into the A♦A♥ of Haxton. The board ran out 3♦K♦4♥5♣3♥, and with that Smith was sent home and Haxton was the first player to find himself with an eight-figure chip stack.
One by one the players hit the rail, and by the time 10 players remained, the blinds were so large that a player was all-in every hand. At this point the plan was to eliminate one more player before moving to an “unofficial” live streamed final table. Nick Wong, who took down the GDAM Warm-Up on Tuesday, ended up as the 10th place finisher.
Wong got all his chips in preflop holding K♣Q♣ and was flipping against Aussie Jeff Rossiter’s 6♥6♣. The board ran out A♦9♥7♥A♣8♠, and just like that Wong was sent home.
Only one player felt more devastation than Wong, and that was Rono Lo. Heading into the unofficial final table, Lo had the second smallest stack with just over 7 million in chips. However, with the blinds at 500,000-1,000,000, Lo quickly found himself left with just over one big blind when he moved all in holding Q♣10♣. It was the worst possible outcome for Lo when Pratyush Buddiga woke up with A♠A♦, which he promptly re-shoved from the button. The rest of the table was out of the way and the 5♦2♥8♦3♥6♣ board secured the GDAM final table.
GDAM Final Table Payouts
| Place | Prize (HKD) | Prize (USD) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | $34,600,000 | $4,464,516 |
| 2 | $24,500,000 | $3,161,290 |
| 3 | $16,100,000 | $2,077,419 |
| 4 | $12,525,000 | $1,616,129 |
| 5 | $10,200,000 | $1,316,129 |
| 6 | $8,300,000 | $1,070,967 |
| 7 | $7,150,000 | $922,580 |
| 8 | $6,000,000 | $774,193 |
The final table will take place at 3.00 p.m. local time (12.00 a.m. PDT) on Friday, and the PokerNews Live Reporting Team will once again be at the felt bringing you all the action, while the final table will also feature a live stream. Join us then!
