Paul-Francois Tedeschi Bags 2019 Aussie Millions Main Event Day 1a Chip Lead
A total of 165 players entered the 2019 Aussie Millions Main Event on Day 1a, and after seven levels it is Frenchman Paul-Francois Tedeschi who leads the 79 advancing to Day 2.
Tedeschi rose up the chip counts shortly after the dinner break, including one hand involving a lengthy river tank against Eui Kim. Kim had bet pot on a paired board and Tedeschi had the clock called on him, before eventually calling with a slightly bigger full house than his opponent.
Tedeschi will take 195,400 through to Day 2, with Dingxiang Ong (186,000), Pierce McKellar (170,100) and Quan Zhou (168,600) close behind.
Both Ong and McKellar have final tables to their name at the 2019 Aussie Millions, with Ong finishing third in the Six Max and McKellar finishing fifth in the Opening Event.
Other notables advancing include former Main Event champion David Gorr (51,200), Australian bracelet-winner Jackie Glazier (84,800) and 2019 8 Game champion Michael Gathy (101,200), Vojtech Ruzicka (125,500), Mel Judah (48,200), Benny Glaser (56,200), Anthony Hachem (62,100), Ajay Chabra (92,400), 2018 WSOP Main Event final tablist Michael Dyer (86,200), Alex Lee (79,800) and Dzmitry Urbanovich (76,300).
Day Recap
Toby Lewis was on hand to administer the traditional 'Shuffle Up and Deal' to kick off the first of three Main Event starting flights, and it wasn't long until the first eliminations began, with Antonio Casale, Michael Moore, Jessica Ngu, Kenny Hallaert, Graeme Putt and last year's final tablist Johan Schumacher all gone before the first break of the day.
By then it was Jeremy Pekarek who had surged into a chip lead with over 140,000 after a string of eliminations. Former Main Event champion Ari Engel was also eliminated midway through the day, running jack-ten suited into the pocket kings of Heidi May.
Sorel Mizzi, Marc Macdonnell and Najeem Ajez were among the big names to go next, before another Main Event champion Manny Stavropoulos also hit the rail after getting it in straight over straight.
After the dinner break Quan Zhou joined Pekarek as a tournament big stack, with Fabian Gumz. Jerry Wong and Aymon Hata heading to the exit.
As the tournament entered its last level, Heidi May became the latest big name to be eliminated. She flopped top pair with ace-king against the pocket jacks of Luc Meritan, but her French opponent rivered a jack to stay alive, with May left short and busting a short while later.
Dzmitry Urbanovich moved up the chip counts late on, and Dingxiang Ong missed out on the overnight chip lead by a whisker as Tedeschi led the 82 players advancing to Day 2.
Stay tuned to PokerNews for continued coverage of the Aussie Millions Main Event and the AU$50,000 Challenge, with the AU$100,000 Challenge and AU$25,000 Pot Limit Omaha still to come!