Max Altergott Wins AU$25,000 Challenge After Five-Way Chop
The 2014 Aussie Millions AU$25,000 Challenge has been completed. On Day 2, 30 players returned to action with the goal to play down to a winner. That goal was reached, although the way it was achieved strayed a bit away from the norm.
At the beginning of the day, Fabian Quoss was the chip leader, but his run came to an end in 11th place. He was done in during Level 12 with the blinds at 2,000/4,000/500 at the hands of Jason Mercier. Mercier raised from the cutoff seat to 8,000, Quoss three-bet to 20,000 from the big blind, Mercier moved all in for effectively 90,000, and Quoss made the call. Quoss had the dominating hand with 
off suit, and Mercier had the 
. The board ran out 
, and Mercier made a Broadway straight to win the pot.
After Quoss' bustout, Ole Schemion fell in 10th place and then the remaining nine players formed one table to play out the bubble as the top eight spots were to be paid out. This was when the end of the road came for Benny Spindler.
Spindler was crippled after Tobias Reinkemeier doubled through him with the 
. The former European Poker Tour London Main Event winner tripled up once and then doubled, but that was all the comeback he could muster. In Level 14 with the blinds at 4,000/8,000/1,000, Spindler shoved all in with the 
, but couldn't overcome the 
for Max Altergott after the board ran out 
.
Spindler's elimination sent the remaining eight players into the money and locked them up a minimum of AU$55,000 each. From there, Reinkemeier fell in eighth (AU$55,000), Marvin Rettenmaier hit the rail in seventh (AU$70,000), and Dan Shak was eliminated in sixth (AU$100,000). This is when things got a bit, well, screwy.
First, the remaining five players all agreed to do a straight ICM chop, and here's how the figures looked after they had all agreed:
| Player | Prize |
|---|---|
| Martin Jacobson | $285,921 |
| Dan Smith | $278,414 |
| Scott Seiver | $265,538 |
| Jason Mercier | $263,342 |
| Max Altergott | $241,785 |
The players then agree to increase the blinds every orbit in order to speed things up, but they didn't simply adhere to what the structure sheet had listed as blinds. First, things jumped to 20,000/40,000/5,000, and then they went up to 40,000/80,000/10,000 after Scott Seiver fell in fifth place (AU$265,538). During this level, Martin Jacobson was eliminated in fourth place (AU$285,921), and then the blinds were increased to 80,000/160,000/20,000. That's when Mercier hit the rail in third (AU$263,342), leaving Dan Smith to do battle with Altergott for the title.
After the blinds jumped up again, this time to 100,000/200,000/40,000, Altergott sent Smith home in second place to claim the official victory of the event.
On the final hand, Altergott held the 
versus Smith's 
. Despite holding the lead going into things, the 
flop changed everything and put the hand in Altergott's favor. The 
on the turn left Smith needing a six on the river, but it wouldn't come when the 
fell. Altergott had Smith covered, and therefore the American was eliminated in second place (AU$278,414).
Altergott, who began five-handed play as the shortest stack and was awarded the least amount of money from the deal, went on to claim the victory and pocket AU$241,785 in prize money.
That wraps up PokerNews' coverage of this event, but there's still plenty more to be had from the 2014 Aussie Millions, including the Main Event that is currently running.