In 2009, Charlie Elias lived his poker dream and played in the WSOP Main Event, along with 6,483 other players right here at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino. Nobody expected the then-26-year-old floor tiler from Sydney to go deep, but he defied the odds and finished up in 53rd place, taking home USD $138,568.
In the same year, Jonathan Werthheim (248th place - $32,963) Craig Ivey (267th place - $32,963) and Emma Grace (404th place - $27,469) all made the money, before Nick Filippopoulos (487th place - $27,519) and Phil Faux (577th place - $24,079) made their run to fortune and fame in 2010.
This year, 14 players from all around Australia have flown into Las Vegas to take their shot at poker stardom, thanks once again to the Australian Poker League, the world's largest freeroll pub poker provider.
Amongst the pack in today's Day 1d flight are Adam Hills, Kevin Gardner, Thor Sutherland, Cameron Shepherd, Zoran Stanojevic, Shane Shalders, Chris Alleaume and Khai Nguyen, while Shivan Abdine, Alex Sandys, Sarah Loft, Troy Brindle, John Azzi and Eli Bakirtzidis have already played on Day 1b.
The PokerNews Live Reporting team will do their best to keep an eye out for them during the Main Event, but you can also click here for exclusive coverage.
Over on table 298, we found Aussie online phenom Kristian "Bada Bing" Lunardi and an opponent on the button go heads-up into a flop of . Lunardi checked to the button who bet 800 and Lunardi called, before both players checked their option on the turn of the .
Lunardi then led out for 1,825 on the river of the , but that was enough for the button player to lay his hand down.
Carter King and one opponent from under the gun went to a flop of . The UTG player checked and King bet 750. His opponent called and the turn came . King's opponent check-called 900 and the river fell . The UTG player checked a third time and King bet 2,300. His opponent called fairly quickly and mucked when King tabled . King is around 47,000.
This past spring, Patrick Houchins finished 3rd in the WSOP-C Main Event at Caesars Atlantic City. He took home $62,893 for is efforts, and is looking to parlay that into millions here at the Main Event.
Just recently, on a board of , he slid out a pot-sized bet against two opponents. They both called, and showed flushes; , and . Houchins tabled the almighty for a full house however, and raked in a nice pot to put him at 45,000 chips.
And just like that, Tom Dwan's 2011 Main Event is over.
He raised to 525 in early position and was called by Frank Rusnak in the big blind. The flop fell and Rusnak check-called 900 from Dwan. The turn card was checked by both, leading to the river. Rusnak bet 1,250, but was raised to 4,600 by Dwan.
After about 30 seconds Rusnak re-raised all in with the bigger stack. Dwan had a decision for his remaining 7,000-ish and called after about another 30 seconds, but saw the bad news when Rusnak tabled . Dwan quickly exited the area before the cameras arrived to see his hand, , turned over.
From under the gun, Patrick de Koster raised to 450. Ryan Julius flatted from middle position before action folded around to the player on the button. The button made a reraise to 2,100. The two blinds folded and then action was back on de Koster, the original preflop raiser. He tanked for a minute, but eventually folded his hand. Julius also folded.
With approximately 2,700 chips in the middle, the board read between one player and Ryan Julius. After his opponent checked, Julius fired a bet of 1,650. His opponent only took a brief moment to folded and allow Julius to win the pot.
We most notably covered Julius in the $10,000 World Series of Poker Circuit Regional Championship in Hammond in October of last year. Julius went on to finish in 17th place in that event for $26,882. Earlier that year, Julius won the $3,000 Chicago Poker Classic Main Event for $182,247.