Last year's Day 1a chip leader was Jan Suchanek. He's just entered the event and will be looking to top his 19th-place finish (AU$40,000) from 2015. This year, Suchanek took second to James Obst in the $2,500 H.O.R.S.E. event for AU$21,060. Obst is also in the Day 1a field today,
For reference, last year's Day 1a attracted 183 entries, which was an increase from the 175 in 2014. Let's see if 2016 can top that. Right now, all signs look very promising.
German Konstantin Buecherl got off to a nice start in the 2016 Aussie Millions Main Event thanks to a flopped straight in a four-bet pot during the first level of play.
After Nick Yunis opened with a raise to 200 from first position, Buecherl three-bet to 650 from the cutoff seat. The player who was in the big blind reraised to 2,300, Yunis folded, and Buecherl made the call.
The flop came down , and the first player bet 2,500. Buecherl called, and the turn was the . After his opponent checked, Buecherl bet 5,500. His opponent called.
The river was the , and action was checked by the first player again. Buecherl tossed out 12,000, and he was quickly called.
Buecherl tabled the for a flopped jack-high straight. His opponent mucked, and Buecherl shot up over 52,000 in chips.
Leo Boxell, another one of Australia's favorite local players, is here today as well on Day 1a. Boxell won APPT Melbourne back in 2011 for A$330,000, and finished third in the 2009 APPT Sydney event for $213,840, making him one of the more successful Aussie players.
In the year Chris Moneymaker won the WSOP Main Event, sparking the worldwide poker boom, Boxell finished second in the Aussie Millions Main Event for $225,640 when Peter Costa won the tournament. Other players that made that final table included Harry Demetriou, Sam Khoueis, Ram Vaswani and Erich Kollmann.
Last year local player Manny Stavropoulos took down the Aussie Millions Main Event, and today he's starting his title defense on Day 1a. Stavropoulos spoke to the players in today's flight before play started and concluded his speech with the 'shuffle up and deal'.
Stavropoulos took home just shy of $1.4 million for his victory, which is the biggest score of his career to date. The local Melbourne player has been playing at Crown for over ten years, and he's been shaking hands with lots of people congratulating him with last year's result.
Happy_Freaked
Manny Stavropoulos after winning the Main Event in 2015
The 2016 Aussie Millions started on January 13th with its preliminary events, but it has all been in anticipation of today. One of poker's majors, the Aussie Millions Main Event, always draws a big crowd and today the first of three starting days will be played out.
Last year the Main Event drew a total of 648 players, and local Manny Stavropoulos came out on top, collecting A$1,385,000 (US$1,094,737) for his efforts. The entire final three came from Australia, with James Rann from the UK finishing in fourth place. Top pros Brian Rast (5th - A$315,000) and Richard Lyndaker (7th - A$160,000) made the final table as well.
The Aussie Millions has a long history of amazing final tables, as top pros Ami Barer, Alexander Kostritsyn and Gus Hansen are among the previous winners. Seven out of the last nine Main Event champions have been from Australia, and never has there been a winner from the United States.
Each level of the 2016 Aussie Millions Main Event is 90 minutes in length, and seven of those will be played on Day 1a. A 15-minute break is scheduled at the completion of every level, and the 75-minute dinner break is set to commence after the fourth level.
PokerNews.com will bring you all the Main Event live updates throughout this event, as it will without a doubt garner a star-studded field with lots of local players as well.
, and the first player bet 2,500. Buecherl called, and the turn was the 
. After his opponent checked, Buecherl bet 5,500. His opponent called.
, and action was checked by the first player again. Buecherl tossed out 12,000, and he was quickly called.
for a flopped jack-high straight. His opponent mucked, and Buecherl shot up over 52,000 in chips.
