The second official starting day of the massive Aussie Millions main event, which includes a player roster so large than three separate starting flights were required, is now over. Plenty of huge pros were eliminated early, while rising stars such as Gavin Griffin, Jeff Sarwer, Lee Nelson and Jeffrey Lisandro built their stacks and secured their spots for Day 2.
A total of 209 contestants entered the fray at the Aussie Millions yesterday, which is taking place in Melbourne, Australia at the Crown Casino. Notable names who paid the AUD$10,000 required for entry included Chris Ferguson, Joe Hachem, Tony Bloom, Gus Hansen and Annette Obrestad. Both Hansen and Bloom have won the event in the past, and Obrestad made it to the final table just last year.
Andras Kovacs of Hungary currently possesses the chip lead, and he’s closely followed by poker pro upstarts including Sorel Mizzi, Eric Assadourian, Jay Kinkade and Randy Lew.
Jeff Sarwer, who some may recognize as a former chess prodigy, is taking advantage of the sight-seeing opportunities in Melbourne, mingling with local Australian pros, and enjoying the eight-handed play in general.
The Aussie Millions organizers planned several enthralling events in addition to the Main Event, such as a $1 Million cash game that took place in an upper-level room at the Crown Casino. The game included a combination of major pros such as Phil Ivey, Tom Dwan, Patrick Antonius, John Juanda and Eli Elezra and a few wealthy businessmen flown in from Malaysia, including Richard Yong, Paul Phua and Wang Qiang. Many pots easily exceeded $350k, and when the game broke for the first time, Ivey and the Malaysians had busted while Antonius led the chip count. Following the break, noted pros including Justin Smith, Sam Tricket and Dan “Jungleman12″ Cates joined the $100k buy-in action.
A total of 82 players on Day 1A and 90 players on Day 1B will join the survivors of Day 1C, taking place today. Day 2 will officially begin on Wednesday, with the final table set to take place on January 29.
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