Aussie Millions Main Event Down to 38; 2018 Final Tablist Mike Del Vecchio Leads
After seven more levels in the 2019 Aussie Millions Main Event, the record-breaking field of 822 has been whittled down to just 38 with a familiar name leading the way.
Mike Del Vecchio finished fifth in last year's Main Event for A$370,000 and told PokerNews that a "pretty incredible" Day 3 resulted in him bagging
"I never really lost a pot the entire day," said Del Vecchio. "I had a really frustrating Day 1, with a good last level. Then a really frustrating Day 2, but again a good last level. But today I just won every pot all day.
"Honestly it was about as perfect as it could possibly have gone. I can't understand how it could have gone any better."
However, Del Vecchio has his sights set on another deep run and potentially another final table.
"In my mind, I'd love some redemption. In my mind last year I played a poor final table, and I'd really like to make the final table and make up for it."
Other big stacks include Dingxiang Ong (1,402,000) who jumped up the leaderboard after his aces eliminated Hayato Kitajima who held kings, Matthew Wakeman (1,292,000) who cracked Michael Soyza's queens, and David Wang (1,247,000) who rivered an ace with ace-king to crack Jesse Sylvia's jacks late in the day.
Big names still in the Main Event are former bracelet-winner Andrew Hinrichsen (1,230,000), Bryn Kenney (782,000), Pim De Goede (780,000), Michael Addamo (623,000), Michael Egan (609,000), Quan Zhou (528,000), Farid Jattin (493,000), Vojtech Ruzicka (443,000), Jack Salter (239,000), Day 1c chip leader Cole Swannack (204,000) and Dominik Panka (185,000).
Day 3 Recap
If yesterday was moving day, then today was money day in the record-breaking 2019 Aussie Millions Main Event. Just 88 players from the 168 who started the day were guaranteed a min-cash of AU$15,600 and it took until just before the dinner break for the money bubble to appear on the horizon.
Among the players to have busted before the money was reached were Jackie Glazier, who lost out to Michael Soyza early; Day 1b chip leader Julian Stuer, who ran ace-king into the kings of Robert Glasspool; and 2019 Aussie Millions 8 Game champion Michael Gathy, whose two pair fell foul of the straight of Gyeong Byeong Lee.
The last former Aussie Millions champion Tyron Krost was also eliminated, after losing ace-queen against the ace-king of Jim Chahoud for most of his chips and was eliminated shortly thereafter.
The players headed off on dinner break just one elimination away from the money, with Farid Jattin the clear chip leader with over 1,500,000 in chips. When they returned there were doubles for Bruno Portaro, Hayato Kitajima, Michael Addamo and Anthony Kingston before the bubble eventually burst.
Del Vecchio explained how he chipped up on the bubble despite being seated at a tough table.
"I had a really tough table with Jake Salter and [eventual bubble boy] Maxi Lehmanski, and we all had a tonne of chips so I was prepared for a tough battle. But eventually they lost some chips - some to me, some to others - and all of a sudden I had a dominating stack and I had the leverage to eventually burst the bubble."
Bubble boy Maxi Lehmanski was was eliminated after running his pocket jacks ran into the pocket kings of Del Vecchio, and after a queen-high board was dealt, he was eliminated, guaranteeing the remaining players AU$15,600.
Early eliminations in the money included Ajay Chabra (86th - AU$15,600), Andrew Chen (74th - AU$15,600), Oliver Gill (73rd - AU$15,600), Billy 'The Croc' Argyros (67th - AU$20,500), Michael Soyza (57th - AU$20,500), Rory Young (54th - AU$25,400) and Nauvneel Kashyap (51st - AU$25,400).
The Main Event resumes at 12:30 p.m. (AEDT) on Friday, 1 February with the aim to play down to a final table of seven. The tournament will redraw at 36 players to create six tables of six players and will continue six-handed for the remainder of the tournament.
Stay tuned to PokerNews for continued coverage from the Aussie Millions, including the AU$100,000 Challenge which gets underway as well.
2019 Aussie Millions Main Event Day 4 Seat Draw
| Table | Seat | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 | 1 | Jack Salter | United Kingdom | 239,000 | 20 |
| 9 | 2 | Clinton Taylor | Australia | 373,000 | 31 |
| 9 | 3 | Ravi Maravar | Australia | 262,000 | 22 |
| 9 | 4 | Bryn Kenney | United States | 782,000 | 65 |
| 9 | 5 | Huijie Zhou | China | 434,000 | 36 |
| 9 | 6 | Michael Addamo | Australia | 623,000 | 52 |
| 9 | 7 | Andrew Michael | Australia | 122,000 | 10 |
| 9 | 8 | Bjorn Ostby | Australia | 835,000 | 70 |
| 28 | 1 | Cole Swannack | New Zealand | 204,000 | 17 |
| 28 | 2 | Hamish Crawshaw | New Zealand | 827,000 | 69 |
| 28 | 3 | Thibaut Klinghammer | France | 212,000 | 18 |
| 28 | 4 | David Wang | Australia | 1,247,000 | 104 |
| 28 | 5 | Angel Guillen | Mexico | 381,000 | 32 |
| 28 | 6 | Andrew Hinrichsen | Australia | 1,230,000 | 103 |
| 28 | 7 | Matthew Wakeman | Australia | 1,292,000 | 108 |
| 28 | 8 | Dominik Panka | Poland | 185,000 | 15 |
| 29 | 1 | Greg Heaver | Australia | 962,000 | 80 |
| 29 | 2 | Andrew Theakstone | Australia | 712,000 | 59 |
| 29 | 3 | Robert Glasspool | Hong Kong | 267,000 | 22 |
| 29 | 4 | Gyeong Byeong Lee | Korea | 539,000 | 45 |
| 29 | 5 | John Duggan | United Kingdom | 116,000 | 10 |
| 29 | 6 | Antonio Tavella | Australia | 111,000 | 9 |
| 29 | 7 | Gavin Flynn | Ireland | 1,050,000 | 88 |
| 31 | 1 | Chun Kwok | Hong Kong | 923,000 | 77 |
| 31 | 2 | Dingxiang Ong | Singapore | 1,402,000 | 117 |
| 31 | 3 | Ajay Gnanasambanthan | United States | 187,000 | 16 |
| 31 | 4 | Mike Del Vecchio | United States | 2,403,000 | 200 |
| 31 | 5 | Andrian Chin | Australia | 838,000 | 70 |
| 31 | 6 | Quan Zhou | China | 528,000 | 44 |
| 31 | 7 | Vojtech Ruzicka | Czech Republic | 443,000 | 37 |
| 31 | 8 | Simon Chahine | Australia | 827,000 | 69 |
| 32 | 1 | Norihiro Otani | Japan | 526,000 | 44 |
| 32 | 2 | Ryan Otto | New Zealand | 927,000 | 77 |
| 32 | 4 | Anthony Kingston | Australia | 449,000 | 37 |
| 32 | 5 | Yang Lei | Australia | 318,000 | 27 |
| 32 | 6 | Pim De Goede | Netherlands | 780,000 | 65 |
| 32 | 7 | Michael Egan | Australia | 609,000 | 51 |
| 32 | 8 | Farid Jattin | Colombia | 493,000 | 41 |