Patrik Antonius Second in Chips as Aussie Millions Main Event Reaches Final 36.
The 2013 Aussie Millions is now in its final stages after the penultimate day was reached earlier today. Just 36 players remain and the man in second place is the one who will be receiving most of the attention come Friday's restart - Patrik Antonius.
Despite being better known as a high stakes cash game specialist, Antonius also has some impressive results in the tournament world. To date the Finn has amassed live tournament winnings of over $5,300,000.
Despite being better known as a high stakes cash game specialist, Antonius also has some impressive results in the tournament world. To date the Finn has amassed live tournament winnings of over $5,300,000 with a large percentage of that total coming from his second place finish in the $250,000 Challenge at last year's Aussie Millions. Now Antonius is on course to add another seven-figure score to his already impressive poker CV.
Antonius ended Day 3 with a stack of 957,000 chips, although he did peak at around 1,200,000 thanks to Wei Low donating his stack to him in a blind-versus-blind confrontation. With blinds at 4,000/8,000/1,000a there were already 30,000 chips in the middle when Antonius checked the 4h-7s-6c flop from the small blind seat. Low made it 18,000 to play and Antonius responded by check-raising to 60,000. Low considered all of his options, before deciding an all-in bet of 325,000 was the best play for his 8d-6h. This particular move may have worked had Antonius not been sat there with a pair of red aces. Antonius called, the turn and river were both kings and as Low exited the tournament area Antonius got to work stacking up his massive pile of chips.
Pocket aces were also kind to another of poker's superstars, namely Phil Ivey. Michael Kane was unfortunate to run his ace-king into the Ah-Ac of Ivey early into Day 3 and when the board ran out void of drama Kane was eliminated. Shortly after busting Kane, Ivey got to work bursting the money bubble. A short stacked Gary Benson committed his last 50,000 chips with what turned out to be a pair of red tens and Ivey called with a dominating pair of jacks. Benson flopped a set of tens on the 10c-Qs-Kd flop, but the hand was far from over. The 4h turn was as blank as Benson could have hoped for, but the straight-completing 9d on the river was certainly not a blank as it busted Benson out. The Australian Poker Hall of Famer was gracious in defeat as he left the tournament area.
Benson's demise meant the remaining 64 players had all reached the money and would be leaving the Crown Casino, Melbourne with at least $15,000 for their efforts. Now that only 36 players remain, the guaranteed payday has been increased to $30,000 though nobody will want to claim that amount, as it will mean they are out of the Main Event.
Day 4 begins at 12:30 local time (01:30GMT) on Friday and will continue until the 36 survivors have been whittled down to the final table of six. A new dynamic has been created in that from this moment in, all play will be on six handed tables and that can only suit the likes of Ivey and Antonius.
Join us tomorrow to discover which players have made it through to the 2013 Aussie Millions final table and who fell by the wayside.
2013 Aussie Millions Main Event Top 10 Chip Counts
1st: Ray Ellis - 1,044,000
2nd: Patrik Antonius - 957,000
3rd: Mervin Chan - 943,000
4th: An Pangleng - 928,000
5th: Jan Collado - 908,000
6th: Brandon Adams - 739,000
7th: David Yan - 696,000
8th: James Obst - 660,000
9th: Damian Baldi - 624,000
10th: Shoshiro Karita - 608,000
Prices quoted in copy are correct at time of publication but liable to change.