Raiden Kan Leads Final 30 Players; Ivey and Barer Still in Contention
The 2015 Aussie Millions Poker Championship AU$10,600 Main Event began with 668 players, but after Day 3 concluded just 30 remained. Raiden Kan leads the field with 1,775,000 in chips, but two other names dominate the headlines.
Ami Barer is looking to do the improbable and defend his title, while the legendary Phil Ivey, who has won the AU$250,000 Challenge two out of the last three years, looks to add an Aussie Millions Main Event title to his résumé. Barer and Ivey bagged 443,000 and 439,000 respectively.
Others still in contention for the AU$1,600,000 first-place prize are European Poker Tour regular Andrew Chen (1,165,000); two-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner Brian Rast (1,156,000); online star Richard "nutsinho" Lyndaker (943,000); Australian poker pro Grant Levy (471,000); World Poker Tour champ Jonathan Roy (467,000); and the brother of Joe, Tony Hachem (409,000).
Day 3 began with 135 players looking to claim a portion of the AU$6,480,000 prize pool by cracking the top 72. Among those to leave empty handed were Liam O'Rourke, Angel Guillen, Day 1b chip leader Ian Wassell, Stephen Chidwick, Jarred Graham, Ismael Bojang, Tony Bloom, Jay Kinkade, Gary Benson, Simon Deadman, Philipp Gruissem, and last year's third-place finisher Jake Balsiger.
The money bubble took a while to burst, but eventually it did in the first hand back from the dinner break. It happened in Level 16 (2,500/5,000500) when James Kennedy, who was extremely short, called all in from the small blind after Victor Teng had raised from under the gun. Team PokerStars Pro Bryan Huang and one other player called as well but folded after Teng continued for 22,000 on an 
flop.
Teng: 
Kennedy: 
The hand was over by time the 
came on the turn and applause rang out around the room as the remaining players guaranteed themselves AU$15,000.
From there the in-the-money eliminations began to mount and included Spindler (70th – AU$15,000), Kane Kalas (62nd – AU$15,000), Eoghan O'Dea (60th – AU$15,000), Dylan Honeyman (56th – AU$20,000), Billy "The Croc" Argyros (53rd – AU$20,000), Terrence Chan (49th – AU$20,000), Huang (48th – AU$20,000), and 2014 WSOP Main Even runner-up Felix Stephensen (43rd – AU$20,000).
Stephensen fell in Level 18 (4,000/8,000/1,000) when his
couldn't overcome the 
of Ivey on the final board of 
. Just like that the Norwegian was gone from the 2015 Aussie Millions Main Event.
The remaining players will return for Day 4 action at 12:30 p.m. local time on Friday and play down to the final table of seven. Will Ivey navigate his way to the final table? Will Barer's title defense continue? Join the PokerNews Live Reporting Team then as we bring your all the action and eliminations straight from the tournament floor.
While you wait, check out this video of Sarah Herring chatting with Phil Ivey on Day 3: