Aussie Millions -- Main Event Day 2

A table draw is a random thing at a poker tournament, but sometimes it provides a compelling story line. When day 2 began at the 2011 Aussie Millions $10,000 no-limit hold’em main event at the Crown Casino in Melbourne three of the most successful players in the history of poker just happened to be seated together. Team Full Tilt pros Phil Ivey, Patrik Antonius, and Howard Lederer all found their seat at table 28 at the start of the day and the rail birds were quick to swarm to that corner of the room.

They watched and waited through most of the day, hoping for a big hand to transpire between these poker professionals. Ironically, the three pros seemed more interested in the Australian Open tennis matches on the television screens posted around the tournament room than they were in the action on the felt. But the rail birds were rewarded for their patience by the end of the night. Fireworks flew on the felt shortly after they had been launched into the night sky in Melbourne to celebrate Australia Day.

During the last level of the night Antonius raised to 8,000 from early position and Ivey made the call from the big blind. The flop fell Q 9 7 and Ivey checked. Antonius bet 15,000 and Ivey raised to 50,000. Antonius went into the tank for a few minutes, and then shoved his entire stack into the pot.

The all-in bet was for 197,500, and Ivey made the call. Their cards:

Ivey: A Q
Antonius: 10 8

Turn and River: J and 7

The turn gave Antonius the straight and he won the hand to drive his stack north of 400,000. Ivey was left in the danger zone with 13,000, and he busted a short time later when his opponent sucked out and made a flush after Ivey shoved all in preflop.

Despite the focus of many eyes in the room on this loaded table there were a lot of big names in the field that both rose and fell from the tournament. Eliminations were another predominant theme on the day with a returning field of 265 players chopping itself down all the way to just 76 by the end of the night. The money bubble will burst early tomorrow, and the top 72 players will all walk away with at least $15,000 AUD in prize money.

Tune back in tomorrow at 12:30 p.m. local time for level summaries from day 3 of the Aussie Millions main event, including videos from Card Player TV. You can also follow our full live coverage from the $250,000 buy-in super high roller event, which begins at noon local time. This event features the largest tournament buy-in of all time. Here is a look at the tournament statistics from day 2:

Top Day 2 Chip Counts:

Notable Day 2 Eliminations:

Billy Argryos, Scott Montgomery, Grant Levy, Shane Warne, Jeffrey Lisandro, Michelle Weisner, Mas Kagawa, Neil Channig, Joe Serock, Lee Nelson, Gavin Griffin, Erik Cajelais, Chris Ferguson, Joe Cassidy, David Bach, Mike Watson, Jason Gray, Roland de Wolfe, Fabian Quoss, Nikolay Evdakov, and Phil Ivey.

Full Day 2 Chip Counts and Day 3 Seating Draw:

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