James Chen Leads $25,000 Challenge at 2017 Aussie Millions
The 2017 Aussie Millions saw its first High Roller start today with the $25,000 Challenge commencing at 2:10. Again, like in recent years, high rollers came from all over the world to play the elite event in Crown Casino Melbourne and once again records were broken. With 122 entries last year, the bar had been set pretty high, but this year's edition easily surpassed that with 133 paying entries.
After 12 levels of play, James Chen leads the final 25 players having catapulted his 50,000 starting bank to a chip castle worth 621,000. He's closely followed by former November Niner Antoine Saout (601,000) and local poker hero Jeff Rossiter (582,500). The multi cultural Top 5 is rounded out by Mustapha Kanit (485,000) and Brandon Adams (455,500).
| # | Player | Country | Chip Count |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | James Chen | Taiwan | 621,000 |
| 2 | Antoine Saout | France | 601,000 |
| 3 | Jeff Rossiter | Australia | 582,500 |
| 4 | Mustapha Kanit | Italy | 485,000 |
| 5 | Brandon Adams | United States | 455,500 |
Play got underway at exactly 2:10 p.m. and the tables filled up rather quickly. No hesitating whether to enter or not, most players sat down immediately to get action underway. Grayson Ramage was the early chipleader, doubling his stack busting Jason Mo in a set over set situation. Mo would bust his second bullet not much later, making him one of the first players to bust indefinitely as the event was organized as a single reentry. Despite being off to a good start, Ramage wouldn't bag as he too got eliminated in the end.
Mo, having busted two bullets, and Ramage, on a single bullet, wouldn't be the only ones to bust. Every table was filled with recognizable players and they hit the rail one by one. Erik Seidel, who may consider Melbourne one of his favorite cities to play poker after cashing here big year after year, would not have to write down his chip count at the end of the day and neither would WSOP Main Event champion Joe Hachem to name just two.
While it was Antoine Saout with the lead for most of the day, the title of chipleader was snagged right from under his nose as James Chen won some huge pots in the last level to finish up top. The biggest pot Chen played was a hand against high stakes cash game player Ben Tollerene. After some hefty action before the flop, Chen bet-called a shove with nothing but queen-nine for a gutshot and an over card. That was good, it turned out, as Tollerene tabled the bottom end of an open-ended straight draw with nine-seven. The jack on the turn gave Chen the straight he was looking for and Tollerene hit the rail well before the money after a blank on the river.
Play resumes at 2:30 local time as the tournament will play down to a winner. With 25 players remaining and 14 players in the money, 11 players will leave empty-handed. Min cashing is worth A$63,840, making the six-handed final tables guarantees the players A$143,640 and winning nets one player A$861,840.
PokerNews.com will be on the floor for live updates once again on Day 2, so check back at 2:30 p.m. local time to see how this record-breaking tournament concludes.
| Year | Entries | Prize Pool | Winner | Country | Prize in A$ | Prize in $ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | 20 | A$500,000 | Dominykas Karmazinas | Lithuania | A$200,000 | $205,895 |
| 2013 | 30 | A$723,000 | Igor Kurganov | Russia | A$275,000 | $290,317 |
| 2014 | 65 | A$1,560,000 | Max Altergott | Germany | A$241,785* | $211,522* |
| 2015 | 104 | A$2,496,000 | Alexander Trevallion | Australia | A$645,150** | $521,835** |
| 2016 | 122 | A$2,928,000 | Chance Kornuth | United States | A$790,560 | $547,874 |
| 2017 | 133 | A$3,192,000 | A$861,840 | $650,481 |
** denotes a deal with Tobias Reinkemeier (2nd, A$614,850)
| Position | Prize in A$ | Prize in $ |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | A$861,840 | $648,098 |
| 2 | A$590,520 | $444,067 |
| 3 | A$383,040 | $288,032 |
| 4 | A$287,280 | $216,024 |
| 5 | A$207,480 | $156,017 |
| 6 | A$143,640 | $108,012 |
| 7 - 8 | A$119,700 | $90,010 |
| 9 - 10 | A$95,760 | $72,018 |
| 11 - 12 | A$79,800 | $60,015 |
| 13 - 14 | A$63,840 | $48,012 |
and Lakemeier fired 13,000. Kanit was the only caller as Salter folded.
hit the turn and this time Kanit check-called a bet of 28,000. With the 
completing the board, Kanit checked for the third time. Lakemeier shoved for 75,200 and Kanit tanked for a bit before he called.
for not much of anything, Kanit took it down with 
.
, he was facing a shove from Anton Astapau who had him covered. He thought about it for a bit before calling it off with 
for the winning straight and Ramage was heading for the exit.
. James Chen, who won the 2016 Macau Poker Cup High Roller for HK$ 2,273,000 ($293,044) last September, then bet 28,000. Ben Tollerene shoved for 72,000 more and Chen called.
for an open-ended. 
on the turn filled up Chen and Tollerene left the tournament area after the 
and Lynskey added 100,000 or so to his stack.
. Affleck showed 
and saw his countryman bet 12,500. Kanit called.
completed the board and Kanit checked again. Sammartino went deep into the tank and eventually shoved for a hefty 75,200. Kanit tanked just as long and eventually let it go.
. He got it in against Pratyush Buddiga who turned out to have 
on the turn was good for Astapau and so was the 
on the river and he scored the full double.
into Jack Salter's 
