After an early open to 2,000 and a call, Joe Hachem put his last 7,000 in. Marc MacDonnell four-bet to isolate in the big blind and everyone else folded.
Hachem: 
MacDonnell: 
Hachem saw an ugly 
flop and turned his cards over after the 
turn.
"Good luck, boys," he said. "Cheers."
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
130,200
31,200
|
31,200 |
|
Busted | |
|
||
Shortly before the resumption of the Main Event, Aussie Millions tournament director Joel Williams was joined by 2005 WSOP Main Event winner, and Australian Poker Hall of Fame President Joe Hachem on the stage who was there to present some awards, the first of which was the Australian Poker Young Achiever Award.
"This award is given to one player every year," said Hachem. "It's given to a player who we see as an up and coming player who has had some really decent runs. Consistency is key, and I personally believe that this young man will be in the Australian Poker Hall of Fame one day when his time is due."
"Ladies and Gentlemen; please welcome Mr Kahle Burns."
Kahle Burns' 2017 in Poker
- 42nd 2017 Aussie Millions $10,600 Main Event (A$25,000 / US$18,881)
- 4th PokerStars Championship Macau HK$400,000 Super High Roller (HK$3,228,000 / US$415,395
- 1st Melbourne Poker Championships A$5,000 High Roller (A$76,950 / US$60,650)
- 3rd Triton Super High Roller Series Macau HK$1,000,000 Main Event (HK$10,151,000 / $1,300,035)
"Thanks heaps everybody," said Burns on receiving his award. "There are a lot of Australians in this region who have had a good 12 months against some of the best players int he world, and to win this award feels really good. I'm blessed both on and off the poker tables for the family and friends that I have, so thanks a lot."
In addition to handing out the Australian Poker Young Achievement award, President of the Australian Poker Hall of Fame Joe Hachem was joined by fellow inductees including David Gorr, Leo Boxell and Mel Judah among others to welcome a new inductee to the Hall of Fame.
"This man has been on our radar for last five years," said Hachem, "We've been waiting for him to reach the qualifying time of ten years playing. His career is now long and substantial and he's won titles both in Australia and overseas. He's had a very strong online presence and is a great supporter of the poker community around Australia and the world.
"Please welcome the 2018 inductee to the Australian Poker Hall of Fame Grant Levy."
Grant Levy Poker Achievements
- 11th on the Australian all-time money list ($2.3m+ in lifetime earnings)
- 1st 2007 APPT Sydney Main Event (A$1,000,000 / US$875,542)
- 3rd 2013 EPT Grand Final (€103,000/ / US$135,059)
- 8th 2015 Aussie Millions Poker Championship (A$120,000 / US$94,816)
"Thank you very much to Joe and the other Hall of Famers to my right," said Levy. "I appreciate the recognition; as Joe says I've been around for a little while now. I started playing 12 years ago and I worked out that this is my 12th consecutive Aussie Millions.
"I'm very proud of my longevity in the game. The game is getting harder and harder, and having been around for this amount of time is something I'm proud of. I want to congratulate the Crown for such a wonderful tournament they run year in year out. 800 players is a fantastic achievement and I hope that the Aussie Millions continues to grow and grow.
"I'd like to thank my wife Sharon. When I started playing my kids were young; three years old and six months old. They're now 13, 10 and 7 years old! I had to travel a lot doing this, and being away a lot is hard work for Sharon and the kids. So I want to thank them for allowing me to do what I do. Thank you very much."
Bart Lybaert told us that it was his first time here at the Aussie Millions, and he spoke with us briefly during a break in the Main Event.
"I love it here," said Lybaert. "It's my first time and I would already say it's one of my favorite cities! I don't even know about the rest of Australia!"
Lybaert explained that he was already playing in Asia and that now he was here he can definitely see himself coming back next year.
"I think the overall quality of players is comparable to the WSOP Main Event in Las Vegas. You have some of these old guys who are taking it a bit more seriously. Then there are people who are taking a shot, these recreational players. Then you have the regs. For them, it's obviously profitable, especially for anyone who is winning in Europe."
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
40,000
2,000
|
2,000 |
Last but not least, Daniel Neilson suffered a massive setback after he faced an open raise by Dave Heskin, three-bet to 7,000 by Lee Armstrong in the hijack and four-bet from Yosuke Sekiya for 17,000 from the cutoff. Neilson moved all in from the button and that forced out the initial raiser and Armstrong. Sekiya however snap-called to put himself at risk for the last 68,600.
Yosuke Sekiya:
Daniel Neilson: 
The board of 
brought no upset and Sekiya doubled to leave Neilson short. "Unlucky Daniel," Tamara Volkoff in the one seat said.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
253,000
-7,000
|
-7,000 |
|
||
|
|
160,000
50,000
|
50,000 |
|
145,000
94,400
|
94,400 |
|
55,000
-25,000
|
-25,000 |
|
32,000
-67,500
|
-67,500 |
In a three-bet pot, the flop came down 
. Benny Glaser was first to act and checked, then check-raised a bet from Glenn Cymboluk to 16,000, which the Canadian called in position. The turn paired the board with the and Glaser bet 27,000. Cymboluk once again stuck around with a call.
On the 
river, Glaser open-shoved and Cymbaluk instantly called it off for his remaining 94,000.
Benny Glaser: 
Glenn Cymbaluk: 
Cymbaluk had rivered the four-outer he needed to win the gigantic pot. The shocking showdown left Glaser behind with a mere 33,200, while the "Cowboy" catapulted to over 300k.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
300,000
264,600
|
264,600 |
|
33,200
-196,800
|
-196,800 |
|
||
On a 
river, Daniel Neilson was facing a bet of 28,000 from his opponent and Day 1a chip leader Lee Armstrong. Neilson then raised all in for 105,700 and his opponent went into the tank.
Eventually, Armstrong called. Neilson showed 
for a missed flush draw but rivered trips, while Armstrong's headed into the muck.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
255,000
223,000
|
223,000 |
|
|
175,000
-124,000
|
-124,000 |
|
|
||
Late on Day 1b, Tamara Volkoff tripled up in fortunate fashion by cracking the pocket aces of Ken Demlakian and both somehow ended up on the same table again after Demlakian was moved to one seat over. Both would clash again now and all chips ended up in the middle of the table.
Lee Armstrong raised and Volkoff called on the button, Demlakian filled up from the small blind. The flop fell 
and was checked to Volkoff, who bet 5,500. Both Demlakian and Armstrong called to see the on the turn and again it checked to Volkoff, who moved all in. Demlakian asked for a count and, once it was deemed to be for 65,800, he announced the call to force out Armstrong.
Tamara Volkoff: 
Ken Demlakian: 
No card in the deck could avoid the elimination of Volkoff and she said "alright, good luck guys" even before the meaningless 
hit on the river.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
170,000
147,000
|
147,000 |
|
|
135,000
-40,000
|
-40,000 |
|
|
||
|
|
Busted | |
Duy Ho opened for 5,000 and got one caller before a player in the cutoff made it 26,000. Ho came back with 100,000, and the cutoff shoved all in. Ho double-checked his cards and snap-called.
Ho: 
Cutoff: 
The flop and turn came 
but the river was the . As soon as it fell, the player in the cutoff slammed his down on the felt and shot out of his chair in disbelief. Tournament supervisors began verifying stacks since the hand was so massive.
"Shit," the player in the cutoff muttered breathlessly with his hands on his head. "Oh, shit."
Ho had about 230,000 and that covered the 200,000 of his foe. He swept up the monstrous pot.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
445,000
155,500
|
155,500 |
At last year's Aussie Millions at Crown Melbourne, Fedor Holz put together a legendary run, pairing a third-place finish in the $100K Challenge with a fifth-place finish in the Main Event for a total of nearly A$700,000 in cashes.
This year, things looked quiet on the Holz watch as there was nary a sight of him in the tournament area through the first three starting days of the Main Event. Perhaps he took Sam Greenwood's Twitter barbs as a challenge, or perhaps he always planned on fashionably late arrival.
Either way, Holz beat the buzzer with a Day 2 registration and got to work right away, He doubled up just a few minutes in after backing into a flush against an opponent who made the nut straight and couldn't find a river fold to Holz's check-raise.
The German legend had nearly triple the starting stack in under an hour, and it looked like the start of another tour de force. However, it would prove a swingy day, and though Holz hit heights around 150,000, he would only put 71,100 in the bag. He has work to do on Day 3, but that doesn't mean anyone will feel comfortable seeing his name on their table draw.
Holz's late registration was part of the final push during the opening level play that pushed the tournament to a record number of 800 runners, creating a prize pool of exactly A$8 million. Even at the ripe old age of 21, the Aussie Millions is doing the opposite of slowing down.
A couple of former champions have built big stacks and put themselves in prime contention among the 160 players remaining at the close of Day 2. Ari Engel (2016) and Ami Barer (2014) both had strong showings. The former bagged 334,000 and the latter 202,400,
Engel got a turn jam through in a huge pot late, inducing a player to fold trip kings on a three-flush board.
While that was happening, loquacious British star Sam Grafton was putting the finishing touches on his monster Day 2 at the neighboring table. He busted a player with aces against ace-king and then got a five-bet shove through on Max Young to finish with 419,000.
"You're gonna tell people about this some day," he boasted to his tablemates. "You're gonna tell them I played with Sam Grafton that year he won the Main Event here."
The chip lead, though belongs to Aussie Najeem Ajez (522,100). He sent Kitty Kuo packing when she couldn't find a fold with nines, five-bet shipping into Ajez's queens.
Marc Macdonnell, Ludovic Geilich, Kahle Burns, Matt Salsberg, Mike Del Vecchio, Martin Jacobson and Mel Judah were some other recognizable names to advance.
The remaining players return at 12:30 p.m. local time for Day 3, set to play 1,200/2,400/400 and hit the money with 88 players left. Come back to PokerNews to follow all of the live updates.
Main Event Day 3 Seat Draw
| Table | Seat | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7 | 1 | Aaron Lim | Australia | 188,200 | 78 |
| 7 | 2 | Mel Judah | Australia | 47,800 | 20 |
| 7 | 3 | Gareth Pepper | Australia | 121,500 | 51 |
| 7 | 4 | Daniel Neilson | Australia | 208,100 | 87 |
| 7 | 5 | Dean Blatt | Australia | 206,100 | 86 |
| 7 | 6 | Ken Demlakian | Australia | 99,900 | 42 |
| 7 | 7 | Yin Liu | China | 92,300 | 38 |
| 7 | 8 | Daniel Laidlaw | Australia | 57,800 | 24 |
| 8 | 1 | Martin Finger | Germany | 80,000 | 33 |
| 8 | 2 | Nino Marotta | Australia | 92,000 | 38 |
| 8 | 3 | Sean Ragozzini | Australia | 102,900 | 43 |
| 8 | 4 | David Leas | Australia | 201,700 | 84 |
| 8 | 5 | Najeem Ajez | Australia | 522,100 | 218 |
| 8 | 6 | Kishore Kumar | Australia | 124,600 | 52 |
| 8 | 7 | Sam Grafton | United Kingdom | 419,900 | 175 |
| 8 | 8 | Nicholas Howard | United States | 97,700 | 41 |
| 9 | 1 | Brendan Hurtig | Australia | 132,800 | 55 |
| 9 | 2 | Ari Engel | Canada | 334,000 | 139 |
| 9 | 3 | Qiu Wenjian | China | 137,400 | 57 |
| 9 | 4 | Tristan Bain | Australia | 123,200 | 51 |
| 9 | 5 | Louis Salter | United Kingdom | 69,200 | 29 |
| 9 | 6 | Anthony Luong | Australia | 66,900 | 28 |
| 9 | 7 | Beau Palmer | Australia | 226,000 | 94 |
| 9 | 8 | Raphael Tenenbaum | Australia | 73,000 | 30 |
| 10 | 1 | Sherif Derias | Australia | 68,100 | 28 |
| 10 | 2 | Julian Powell | Australia | 41,300 | 17 |
| 10 | 3 | Duncan Packington | Australia | 210,100 | 88 |
| 10 | 4 | Eli Loewenthal | United States | 81,900 | 34 |
| 10 | 5 | Marton Czuczor | Hungary | 37,600 | 16 |
| 10 | 6 | David Stonehouse | United Kingdom | 112,100 | 47 |
| 10 | 7 | Harry Demetriou | United Kingdom | 141,400 | 59 |
| 10 | 8 | Jarred Graham | Australia | 146,100 | 61 |
| 25 | 1 | Zdravko Duvnjak | Croatia | 84,600 | 35 |
| 25 | 2 | Kah Boon Teh | Malaysia | 131,500 | 55 |
| 25 | 3 | Stefan Huber | Switzerland | 155,100 | 65 |
| 25 | 4 | David Hanlon | Australia | 37,500 | 16 |
| 25 | 5 | Haoran Zhang | Australia | 143,200 | 60 |
| 25 | 6 | Nicholas Wright | Australia | 187,300 | 78 |
| 25 | 7 | Duff Charette | Canada | 238,400 | 99 |
| 25 | 8 | Craig Mason | United States | 19,700 | 8 |
| 26 | 1 | Gary Tomes | Australia | 92,500 | 39 |
| 26 | 2 | Jesse Sylvia | United States | 31,700 | 13 |
| 26 | 3 | Duy Ho | United States | 471,700 | 197 |
| 26 | 5 | Corentin Hillion | France | 123,700 | 52 |
| 26 | 6 | Jamie Sadlier | Australia | 87,500 | 36 |
| 26 | 7 | Rinaldo Piastrino | Australia | 143,100 | 60 |
| 26 | 8 | Ross Grammer | Australia | 222,000 | 93 |
| 27 | 1 | Farhad Mohajerani | Iran | 157,600 | 66 |
| 27 | 2 | Michael Smith | Canada | 98,000 | 41 |
| 27 | 3 | [Removed:321] Sharifkazemi | United Kingdom | 70,400 | 29 |
| 27 | 4 | Tung Nguyen | Australia | 141,100 | 59 |
| 27 | 5 | Brandon Ageloff | United States | 126,300 | 53 |
| 27 | 6 | Anthony Hachem | Australia | 290,900 | 121 |
| 27 | 7 | Edel Maher | Australia | 56,100 | 23 |
| 27 | 8 | Rory Young | Australia | 160,000 | 67 |
| 28 | 1 | Rob Raymond | Australia | 70,300 | 29 |
| 28 | 2 | Michael Hahn | United States | 136,200 | 57 |
| 28 | 3 | Ludovic Riehl | France | 191,400 | 80 |
| 28 | 4 | Kim Au | Australia | 106,400 | 44 |
| 28 | 5 | Artur Koren | Australia | 147,600 | 62 |
| 28 | 6 | Ashley Whitfield | United Kingdom | 69,100 | 29 |
| 28 | 7 | Jonas Lauck | Germany | 189,000 | 79 |
| 28 | 8 | Kahle Burns | Australia | 201,500 | 84 |
| 29 | 1 | Taylor Black | United States | 107,900 | 45 |
| 29 | 2 | David Loonstra | Australia | 41,100 | 17 |
| 29 | 3 | Ashley Sleeth | United States | 34,900 | 15 |
| 29 | 4 | Matt Rolfe | Australia | 279,900 | 117 |
| 29 | 5 | Saijes Mundadan | Australia | 41,000 | 17 |
| 29 | 6 | Tim Wei | Australia | 112,900 | 47 |
| 29 | 7 | Jack O'Neill | United Kingdom | 159,800 | 67 |
| 29 | 8 | Liam O'Rourke | Ireland | 243,900 | 102 |
| 30 | 1 | Matthew Moss | United Kingdom | 188,600 | 79 |
| 30 | 2 | Tony Tartaglia | Australia | 123,600 | 52 |
| 30 | 3 | Peter Mordaunt | Australia | 65,000 | 27 |
| 30 | 4 | Paul Michaelis | Germany | 37,300 | 16 |
| 30 | 5 | Panayotis Flourentzou | Australia | 110,500 | 46 |
| 30 | 6 | Matt Salsberg | United States | 133,400 | 56 |
| 30 | 7 | Xiangxiang Ni | China | 276,500 | 115 |
| 30 | 8 | Gurpreet Lubana | Canada | 198,500 | 83 |
| 31 | 1 | Espen Solaas | Norway | 207,900 | 87 |
| 31 | 2 | Ize Bourne | Australia | 32,100 | 13 |
| 31 | 3 | Arne Ruge | Germany | 204,900 | 85 |
| 31 | 4 | Sarah Bilney | Australia | 55,700 | 23 |
| 31 | 5 | Xiaojun Zhang | Australia | 187,000 | 78 |
| 31 | 6 | Lee Armstrong | Australia | 284,400 | 119 |
| 31 | 7 | Yosuke Sekiya | Japan | 88,400 | 37 |
| 31 | 8 | Michael Tchong | Australia | 190,400 | 79 |
| 32 | 1 | Con Krousoratis | Australia | 197,000 | 82 |
| 32 | 2 | Justin Victor | Australia | 148,500 | 62 |
| 32 | 3 | Mike Del Vecchio | United States | 104,500 | 44 |
| 32 | 4 | [Removed:415] | Australia | 219,100 | 91 |
| 32 | 5 | Fedor Holz | Austria | 71,100 | 30 |
| 32 | 6 | Joseph Foleti | Australia | 74,800 | 31 |
| 32 | 7 | Andreas Klatt | Germany | 59,300 | 25 |
| 32 | 8 | Tobias Hausen | Germany | 159,000 | 66 |
| 33 | 2 | Barry Long | Australia | 47,500 | 20 |
| 33 | 3 | Bobby Zhang | Australia | 150,100 | 63 |
| 33 | 4 | Casey Kastle | Slovenia | 94,000 | 39 |
| 33 | 5 | Antonino Cascio | Australia | 249,000 | 104 |
| 33 | 6 | Aki Pyysing | Finland | 271,600 | 113 |
| 33 | 7 | Daniel Hachem | Australia | 198,900 | 83 |
| 33 | 8 | Timothy Mitchell | United Kingdom | 52,600 | 22 |
| 41 | 1 | Hung-Sheng Lin | Taiwan | 124,000 | 52 |
| 41 | 2 | Vincent Chua | Australia | 128,300 | 53 |
| 41 | 3 | Martin Jacobson | Sweden | 92,200 | 38 |
| 41 | 4 | Arif Mustafa | Australia | 284,900 | 119 |
| 41 | 5 | Jan Pettersson | Australia | 455,500 | 190 |
| 41 | 6 | Joseph Abdulnour | Australia | 121,800 | 51 |
| 41 | 7 | Martin Rowe | Australia | 129,400 | 54 |
| 41 | 8 | Jack Brown | Australia | 114,100 | 48 |
| 44 | 1 | Robert Lieu | Australia | 108,800 | 45 |
| 44 | 2 | Takao Shimizu | Japan | 154,600 | 64 |
| 44 | 3 | Scott Davies | United States | 87,400 | 36 |
| 44 | 4 | Ludovic Geilich | United Kingdom | 218,200 | 91 |
| 44 | 5 | Ami Barer | Canada | 202,400 | 84 |
| 44 | 6 | Milton Trickey | Australia | 171,700 | 72 |
| 44 | 7 | Benjamin Richardson | Australia | 178,500 | 74 |
| 44 | 8 | Darwin Lai | Hong Kong | 147,400 | 61 |
| 45 | 1 | Michael Egan | Australia | 164,400 | 69 |
| 45 | 2 | Chen An Lin | Taiwan | 205,400 | 86 |
| 45 | 3 | Eddie Puia | Australia | 160,900 | 67 |
| 45 | 4 | Dennis Huntly | Australia | 94,400 | 39 |
| 45 | 5 | Jonathan Karamalikis | Australia | 147,600 | 62 |
| 45 | 6 | Rody Kaka | Australia | 30,600 | 13 |
| 45 | 7 | Lukas Soucek | Czech Republic | 56,600 | 24 |
| 45 | 8 | Julian Stuer | Germany | 120,000 | 50 |
| 46 | 1 | Giuseppe Reina | Australia | 64,700 | 27 |
| 46 | 2 | Nick Solomos | Australia | 233,700 | 97 |
| 46 | 3 | Chi Thinh Nguyen | Vietnam | 73,000 | 30 |
| 46 | 4 | Hon Cheong Lee | Hong Kong | 58,900 | 25 |
| 46 | 5 | Chris Kostoulas | United States | 228,700 | 95 |
| 46 | 6 | Glen Cymbaluk | Canada | 265,300 | 111 |
| 46 | 7 | Brian Payne | Australia | 190,900 | 80 |
| 46 | 8 | Jason Pritchard | Australia | 80,000 | 33 |
| 47 | 1 | Cale Treacy | Australia | 176,200 | 73 |
| 47 | 2 | Tu Lan | China | 132,000 | 55 |
| 47 | 3 | James Broom | Australia | 319,500 | 133 |
| 47 | 4 | Federico Butteroni | Italy | 103,700 | 43 |
| 47 | 5 | Johan Schumacher | Belgium | 265,600 | 111 |
| 47 | 6 | Marc Macdonnell | Ireland | 296,700 | 124 |
| 47 | 7 | Joshua Abady | United States | 83,100 | 35 |
| 47 | 8 | Adrian Indovino | Australia | 93,600 | 39 |
| 48 | 1 | Paawan Bansal | India | 98,100 | 41 |
| 48 | 2 | Darryl Lapthorne | Australia | 61,000 | 25 |
| 48 | 3 | Matthew Wakeman | Australia | 198,000 | 83 |
| 48 | 4 | James Hopkins | Australia | 429,500 | 179 |
| 48 | 5 | Max Young | United States | 120,100 | 50 |
| 48 | 6 | Szymon Wysocki | Poland | 397,300 | 166 |
| 48 | 7 | James Romero | United States | 25,000 | 10 |
| 48 | 8 | Alessandro Furneri | Italy | 223,400 | 93 |
| 49 | 1 | John Parker | Australia | 195,100 | 81 |
| 49 | 2 | Kabeelan Rajamurthy | Australia | 82,700 | 34 |
| 49 | 3 | Craig Zwies | Australia | 112,300 | 47 |
| 49 | 4 | Frank Pezzaniti | Australia | 480,000 | 200 |
| 49 | 5 | Peter Aristidou | Australia | 48,400 | 20 |
| 49 | 6 | Chul-Hyon Park | Australia | 371,300 | 155 |
| 49 | 7 | James Clarke | United Kingdom | 155,300 | 65 |
| 49 | 8 | Toby Lewis | United Kingdom | 144,400 | 60 |
