Jeff Madsen opened to 600 from middle position and Yu Kurita three-bet the button to 2,400. Once the blinds folded, Madsen deliberated for a few moments before dropping in the majority of his chips to amount to a four-bet of 11,600. Kurita pushed all in and Madsen made the call for his 12,500 total.
Kurita:
Madsen:
With Madsen trailing, the flop didn't connect with his holdings, but when the landed on the turn he took the lead.
The river landed the and the American doubled to over 25,000 as Kurita slipped to roughly 47,000 in chips.
Jamie Pickering opened for 800 from early position and Nick Wong called from the button. Zane Ly then three-bet to 2,200 from the small blind, Pickering four-bet to 6,800, and Wong got out of the way. Ly tanked for a bit before making the call and then checked the flop. Pickering tossed out 8,500, and Ly tank-folded.
Not much of a hand, but it gave us a good excuse to update you on their counts.
Before the start of today's day 1b, we caught up with Lauri Pesonen and the Finn said that he was in Sydney for vacation with his girlfriend and then noticed the event here in Melbourne. They flew over yesterday but it wasn't a good day at the office for Pesonen. In his last hand he three-bet shoved for his last 5,000 with pocket queens and Brendon Rubie called with to find an ace on the flop.
Dan Heimiller opened for 700 from early position only to have Brazil's Bruno Politano three-bet to 1,700 from the cutoff. Casey Kastle flatted from the small blind, and then Heimiller came back with a four-bet to 4,200. Politano quickly folded, Kastle called, and the flop came down .
Kastle checked, Heimiller bet 5,500, and Kastle thought for about 40 seconds before conceding the hand.
The reigning Aussie Millions champion Ami Barer just doubled up after raising preflop from under the gun. His opponent in the big blind defended to see the flop of , where he check-called another bet of Barer. The turn went check / bet / raise and call before the player in the big blind bet the on the river and called the all in of Barer.
It was for the opponent and for Barer, who is back to just over half the average.
A few late-level entrants include New Zealander Phil Willcocks, Australian Poker Hall of Fame member Gary Benson and reigning WSOP Asia-Pacific Champion Daniel Negreanu have all recently taken their seat in today's tournament.