Betfair pros reach final table of Aussie Millions Main Event

Poker News / Matthew Pitt / 29 January 2010 / Leave a Comment

The Main Event of the 2010 Aussie Millions has been paused until Saturday after the 18 remaining players were whittled down to the final table of eight. Sorel Mizzi is the overnight chip leader and his Betfair teammate, Annette Obrestad also has a healthy stack of chips at her disposal.

It took almost an hour for the first player to be eliminated and that dubious honour went to Pierre Aoukar. He limped preflop, saw Stephen Shelley raise to 25,000 and Annette Obrestad call. Aoukar also made the call and the three players saw a Jc4s3s flop. Annette checked, Aoukar bet 90,000, which was met by a raise to 200,000 by Shelley causing Annette to fold. Aoukar then moved all-in holding QhJh and was called by Shelley who was way in front with AsJs. The turn and river bricked and the tournament was down to 17 players.

Just ten minutes later Jessica Dawley moved her short stack in holding a pair of threes and was looked up by Jens Kerper with pocket eights, which ultimately held up. Dawley's exit meant Annette was the last woman standing in the tournament, a situation she often finds herself in.

Meanwhile Sorel was running well but also playing great, with the latter being proven when he made a great call on the river against Kosmas Dratsas. The latter completed the small blind and Mizzi made it 42,000 to go, which Dratsas called. The flop came down JhTh4d and Mizzi called a 45,000 bet from his opponent. The four of clubs on the turn saw Dratsas bet 90,000 and again Mizzi simply flat-called. The six of hearts on the river completed a possible flush and Dratsas again bet, this time 150,000 prompting Mizzi to go into the tank for an entire five minutes. Eventually the young Canadian made the call and scooped the pot with his KsTc. A world class call.

In between Mizzi busting Joel Dodds and $100,000 Challenge winner Dan Shak, Annette Obrestad was busy staking Steve "The Big Show" Topakas with tens against King-eight suited, muhc to the disappointment of the crowd who were routing for Topakas after his dogged short-stacked play over the past two days.

As was the case on Day 3, Mizzi played the final hand of the day as he eliminated Kosmas Dratsas. Mizzi opened the betting up front to 50,000 and his opponent flat called . The flop of Jc6d2h saw Kosmas check-raise Mizzi's 65,000 continuation bet all-in, a bet that "Imper1um" called. Mizzi was way in front with KsJs against 7d6s and when the 9c arrived on the turn and Qc on the river, the final table of eight was confirmed.

Play resumes at 1400 Australia time on Saturday with Sorel Mizzi leading the way with a monster stack of 6,033,000, more than three times as many chips as anyone else at the table. Betfair team mate Annette Obrestad is still in the hunt with 1,349,000 chips and if anyone can stop Sorel it is the aggressive Norwegian.

The seating for the 2010 Aussie Millions Main Event is as follows:

Seat 1 - Sorel Mizzi - 6,033,000
Seat 2 - Stephen Shelley - 991,000
Seat 3 - Annette Obrestad - 1,349,000
Seat 4 - Tyron Krost - 1,869,000
Seat 5 - Frederik Jensen - 1,754,000
Seat 6 - Kosta Varoxis - 635,000
Seat 7 - Peter Jetten - 1,700,000
Seat 8 - Steven Friedlander - 694,000