2017 Aussie Millions

Day 1 of the 2017 Aussie Millions $100,000 Challenge attracted a small but high caliber field of 18 entries, including reentries by Mikita Badziakouski and David Peters. That created an A$1,764,000 (~$1.33 million USD) prize pool that will be distributed among the top three players with the eventual winner taking home AU$882,000 (~$667,744 USD).

The player best positioned to take down the top prize is Germany's Steffen Sontheimer, who leads the final seven with a stack of 451,000. Sontheimer has already cashed twice at the 2017 Aussie Millions with a 39th place in the AU$1,150 Opening Event and a 17th place finish in the AU$1,150 Six Max Event.

The six others still in contention for the title include high-stakes specialist Fedor Holz – widely regarded as one of the best online and live tournament players in the modern game – Nick Petrangelo, Sam Trickett, Mike Watson, David Peters and David Steicke.

The start of the day saw eight entrants begin play on a single table, though the arrival of Mike Watson and Alexandros Kolonias saw play pause for a redraw as the field was split over two five-handed tables. This increased to 13 players as Germans Fedor Holz, Rainer Kempe, and Steffen Sontheimer arrived shortly before Level 2, all of whom saved themselves AU$1,000 in rake for joining early.

Despite Rainer Kempe taking an early hit at the hands of Holz after a set over set cooler shortly after the first break, it would be Dan Shak who would become the first casualty. Shak got all his chips in with king-queen suited against Greece’s Alexandros Kolonias. Unfortunately for Shak, Kolonius had spiked a set of nines on a king-high board to send the US player crashing out.

Kempe followed Shak to the rail shortly afterward when his short-stacked shove with queen-jack suited ran into Fedor Holz's ace-jack on a jack-high board.

The field climbed back up to 12-strong with the late arrival of Sam Trickett. However, this was whittled down to a single eight-handed table with the eliminations of Mikita Badziakouski, Charlie Carrel, David Peters and Stephen Chidwick in quick succession shortly before the dinner break.

Both Peters and Badziakouski chose to re-enter following the break, with US player Bryn Kenney and Hong Kong-based Australian David Steicke also joining to bring the field back up to 12.

This quickly became 11 with the elimination of 2016 $100,000 Challenge runner-up Ben Tollerene after the latter's pocket jacks were out-flopped by the ace-jack of Kolonias. Nick Petrangelo thinned the field further when his pocket queens held against Sam Greenwood’s pocket nines to send the Canadian to the rail.

Mikita Badziakouski busted for a second time after moving all in with a queen-high back door flush draw on the turn over the top of a Sam Trickett double barrel on a ten-high board. Trickett time banked twice before calling with ace-ten, which held to bring play down to a single nine-handed table once more.

Trickett busted Bryn Kenney shortly afterward when his king-jack out-flopped Kenney’s ace-queen after the latter moved all in from the cutoff for his last 33,000. Alexandros Kolonias followed Kenney to the exit not long afterward when his pocket deuces lost a race to David Peters’ ace-nine off-suit to take play seven-handed. When action resumes all remaining players receive three brand new time breaker chips, though any left over from the previous day's play do not carry over.

To allow for the players to participate in the Aussie Millions Main Event, the final table will be on hiatus until Saturday, Jan. 28. On that day, the final seven will return at 2:10 p.m. local time to play down to a winner. Of course, the PokerNews Live Reporting Team will be on hand to capture all the action, which will also be live-streamed on Jason Somerville's runitup.tv.

And the day is done. Still seven players remain.

Mike Watson opened the cutoff for 9,000 and Fedor Holz called from the big blind. Holz check-raised Watson's 10,000 continuation bet to 28,000 and Watson called on . Holz bet 67,000 on the turn and Watson called.

The river saw Holz take his time, use a time breaker chip, and then shove all in. Watson thought about it for just a bit before he folded.

Nothing rwally big has happened since Kolonias' bust out. It's mostly small pots that the railbirds here at Crown Casino are seeing.

A scant few hands after the departure of Bryn Kenney and there is another casualty. This time it is Alexandros Kolonias on the chopping block.

After David Peters opened to 9,000 from the cutoff a short-stacked Kolonias thought about his options for 15 seconds and then moved all-in for 38,000 with Peters making the call fairly swiftly.

Alexandros Kolonias:
David Peters:

Kolonius’ pocket deuces were in front of Peters’ ace-high when the flop came down . The turn gave Peters’ more outs and he duly hit one of them when the landed on the river to send Kolonias to the rail and there are now seven players left. Play will either finish at the end of the level or when the next bust out occurs depending on which comes first.

Bryn Kenney was one of the last players to enter this event in a batch of four players that signed up in the dinner break, but now he's out.

He got his last 33,000 in with in from the cutoff versus Sam Trickett in early position.

Bryn Kenney:
Sam Trickett:

Kenney was ahead but, as these things go sometimes, that didn't last long. The flop helped Trickett in front and he remained there with the on the turn and on the river. Eight players left.