Aussie Millions Opening Event Keeps Getting Bigger
The Opening Event at the 2019 Aussie Millions was always going to be big, but as the flights have progressed the numbers have continued to climb and today was no exception.
A total of 446 players entered the penultimate starting flight of the AUD$1,000,000 guaranteed Opening Event, over double the amount that started yesterday's flight. This brings the total number of entrants so far to 1,016 with one flight still to go.
Such was the size of the field today, the tournament was split between the Crown poker room and Exhibition Hall. Eventually, after 12 levels of play, just 56 players joined the 68 already advancing to Day 2 on Sunday.
They include 2014 Aussie Millions runner-up Sorel Mizzi, 2018 WSOP Main Event final tablist Michael Dyer and Frenchman Julien Sitbon.
Mizzi finished in second place to fellow Canadian Ami Barer in 2014, his fourth cash in the Main Event which includes a third and ninth place finish.
In a curious turn of events, there are joint chip leaders after the fourth flight of the Opening Event. Mostafa Haidary and 2018 Aussie Millions Main Event seventh-place finisher Johan Schumacher both finished with 179,900 in chips.
"Very happy to be back," said Schumacher. "I almost forgot how great the people are here. Good atmosphere on every table. A really great day, my first day, and I'm very happy.
"I arrived on Sunday and I decided to just relax and remove all the jet lag. Now I'm full of energy and I've prepared really well. I feel more than comfortable here."
Here is a full list of the players advancing:
| Name | Chip Count |
|---|---|
| Mostafa Haidary | 179,900 |
| Johan Schumacher | 179,900 |
| Thomas Schalze | 152,100 |
| Matt Edwards | 142,500 |
| Michael Dyer | 118,800 |
| Luke Stoke | 114,300 |
| Christos Andreadis | 109,600 |
| Shoshiro Karita | 105,400 |
| Timothy Kuok | 100,800 |
| Scott White | 99,000 |
| Ben Lai | 98,000 |
| Ryucairo Yamhkawa | 93,700 |
| Christoph Strehl | 91,800 |
| Julien Sitbon | 88,700 |
| Sorel Mizzi | 80,300 |
| Yang Lei | 79,000 |
| Scott Davies | 73,100 |
| Scott Wilson | 72,600 |
| Stevan Krmpotic | 68,400 |
| Percy Chao | 65,600 |
| Chico | 61,200 |
| Vera Milinkovic | 60,000 |
| George Giannolidis | 59,600 |
| Rob Raymond | 57,200 |
| Nurbin Boobekov | 57,100 |
| Htet Kwayzin | 56,200 |
| Kim Kyunghoon | 51,900 |
| Suzy Khouris | 47,600 |
| Matthew Wantman | 45,300 |
| Camil Debsia | 44,500 |
| Wu Wei Dai | 43,500 |
| Michael Egan | 42,100 |
| Rodinigo Meneses | 40,500 |
| Andrian Chin | 39,200 |
| Carl Booth | 37,300 |
| Yang Li | 37,100 |
| David Ryan | 34,400 |
| Joel Dodds | 34,300 |
| Adriano Scagnetti | 33,600 |
| Matt Roche | 33,500 |
| Daniel Woscik | 30,900 |
| Matthew Richards | 30,300 |
| Dale Fox | 29,600 |
| Rolf Swannack | 28,100 |
| Kerry Chambers | 26,500 |
| Mosca Enrico | 25,400 |
| I. Ismal | 22,200 |
| Wilson Burridge | 22,100 |
| Bade Connelly | 22,000 |
| Wu Ite Ru | 21,800 |
| Nima Moghini | 21,500 |
| Andrew Michael | 20,400 |
| Rodney Bhan | 19,700 |
| Amanda Onions | 18,600 |
| Toby Meredith | 15,900 |
| Alan Schubert | 11,200 |
With one more flight to go in the Opening Event, stay tuned to PokerNews as we bring you continued highlights from the first week of the 2019 Aussie Millions.