Ari Engel was seen walking to the rail and was kind enough to give us some details on his recent bust out. Engel was down to 18 big blinds when he got a jack-high flop with . He got it in against Pratyush Buddiga who turned out to have . Engel, who won the Main Event here last year for A$1.6 million ($1,120,110), does not plan to buy back in.
With already 130 entries into the event, this is the biggest ever $25,000 Challenge tournament at the Aussie Millions. Registration remains open for 83 more minutes.
Bryn Kenney had just about the best start of the year he could hope for, cashing six out of seven events played at the Bahamas.
Buy In
Event
Place
Prize
$10,200
Turbo Super Knockout
2nd
$36,440
$25,750
High Roller
9th
$90,380
$25,500
High Roller Shot Clock
1st
$392,876
$2,150
Hyper Turbo Win the Button
4th
$6,020
$50,000
High Roller
1st
$969,075
$100,000
Super High Roller
7th
$275,060
Now he's here in Australia to add some more trophies, but he ran out of luck on his first try today in the $25,000 Challenge.
The cutoff raised to 3,200 and Kenney three-bet to 10,100 from the big blind. His opponent called and raised all in for 34,300 effectively after Kenney had bet 8,000 on a flop of . Kenney called with and turned out to be up against . The on the turn and on the river were blanks and Kenney said his goodbyes.
This was Kenney's second bullet, so he doesn't have the option to buy back in anymore.
As we walked past Table 32, we saw Anton Astapau all in from the big blind for 54,200 on a flop of . His opponent, seated under the gun, called after some time in the tank.
Astapau showed for a pair and flush draw, his opponent tabled . The on the turn was good for Astapau and so was the on the river and he scored the full double.
Chance Kornuth, defending champ and up until recently chipleader, has lost some chips. We just saw him bet 23,500 from the big blind on a board of . Dario Sammartino, seated on the button, tanked for some time before he tossed in a single 1,000 chip to call. Kornuth showed , the pot went to Sammartino after he tabled .
On a flop of , big blind Jens Lakemeier check-called a bet of 2,200 by Louis Salter on the button. Both players checked the on the turn before Lakemeier bet 3,000 on the river. Salter called and saw Lakemeier show . Salter turned over for the better full house and took down the small pot.
Cate Hall has been eliminated from the tournament. Her seat was taken by Mustapha Kanit and her former neighbor Dominik Nitsche gave some details on what had happened. According to Nitsche, Hall ran into Jack Salter's for her last 12 big blinds.
Joe Hachem has entered the arena, the 2005 World Series of Poker Main Event champion was playing cash games all day but has now bought into the $25,000 Challenge. He's already up a fair bit for the day, we counted his stack as 79,000.
. He got it in against Pratyush Buddiga who turned out to have 
. Kenney called with 
and turned out to be up against 
. The 
on the turn and 
on the river were blanks and Kenney said his goodbyes.
. His opponent, seated under the gun, called after some time in the tank. 
for a pair and flush draw, his opponent tabled 
. The 
on the turn was good for Astapau and so was the 
, the pot went to Sammartino after he tabled 
.
, big blind Jens Lakemeier check-called a bet of 2,200 by Louis Salter on the button. Both players checked the 
on the turn before Lakemeier bet 3,000 on the 
river. Salter called and saw Lakemeier show 
. Salter turned over 
for the better full house and took down the small pot.
into Jack Salter's 
