2007 Aussie Millions Main Event - Day 2Hachem, Hansen, Antonius Among Pros To Reach Money; Aussie Millions Defending Champ Lee Nelson Also Advances To Day 3 |
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The richest, biggest, you-name-it-and-they've-probably-broken-the-record tournament in the Southern Hemisphere continued with day 2 of the 2007 Aussie Millions. For the first time in the main event, the Las Vegas Room housed the entire remaining field, as the 299 survivors of 1A and 1B returned to battle for another seven levels of no-limit action.
Play began at 12:30 p.m. with $500-$1,000 blinds and $100 antes. Along with the combined field under one roof, another first on day 2 involved the unveiling of the FSN Aussie Millions televised feature/final table set. The closed stage (FSN production crew only), located in the Palladium Ballroom on the second floor of the Crown Tower Hotel, became the de facto site for tables featuring the tournament's highest-profile players.
Few participants match the popularity of Joe Hachem, but the 2005 WSOP champ started day 2 in the same place he ended 1B, at the Las Vegas Room's feature table. At one time as low as $4,000, Hachem continued the recovery process on day 2. He reached the $40,000 mark in early play, and, after a move from the feature table to the televised set, dragged enough pots to accumulate over $200,000 in chips.
Two players who never even smelled felt in the previous action experienced two polar opposite performances on day 2. For Gus Hansen, the main event's second stage brought a steady climb up the leader board. A good portion of Hansen's success occurred at the FSN televised set, including eliminating Jeff Madsen, when, holding A-Q, Hansen spiked a queen on the river to crack Madsen's A-J paired jack.
For all the consistency Hansen enjoyed (he finished the day with over $400,000 in chips), Patrik Antonius endured a far greater dose of inconsistency. The overall day 1 chip leader, Antonius brought $315,400 into play, but a clash with defending champ Lee Nelson started the Finnish pro's "up, down, then up again" day.
Antonius called an all-in reraise by Nelson on an 8
5 4
flop and his J J
gave him the lead over Nelson's 10 9. The 4, however, completed the defending champ's flush draw, and Antonius, losing the $270,000 pot, dropped below $200,000.
The slide continued, with Antonius eventually crashing to tournament life-support status with only $2,000 in chips. Then came the "up again" part. Antonius quadrupled and doubled up on consecutive hands, rivered a 6 to double up with J 6 against Nelson's A 7, doubled up again by calling Barney Boatman's 6 5 preflop bluff with A 5
, and finally crossed back over the $100,000 line when his pocket eights eliminated Boatman and his A 3.
Antonius completed play in possession of $250,000-plus chips.
Unlike Hachem and Antonius, pros Erick Lindgren and Chris Ferguson were unable to recover from short stacks. Ferguson exited play when his pocket nines failed to improve against an opponent's pocket aces, while Lindgren, who battled for much of the day near the felt, suffered a bad beat finish after Andrew Black, holding 10 10, cracked Lindgren's pocket queens with a flush on a 7 4 3 2 4 board.
Midway through the day, everyone played "lights out" as portions of the Crown Casino, including the Las Vegas Room, lost power. The blackout passed, and play resumed without incident (a credit to the professionalism of both the field and the floor staff).
The day's second-biggest shock came in the form of an earlier-than-expected money bubble. In less than five hours nearly half the field had disappeared, and by the end of the day's 13th level, only 88 players remained. Seven eliminations later, play switched to hand-for-hand and, at roughly 2 a.m., Gus Hansen made Craig Burgess the 81st, and final, bustout of the day.
With the money bubble popped, play concluded, and the remaining field exited the Las Vegas room guaranteed at least $15,000 apiece for their 2007 Aussie Millions participation.
Some notables moving on to day 3 include Joe Hachem, Gus Hansen, Patrik Antonius, Paul Wasicka, Haralabos Voulgaris, Shane Schleger, Ross Boatman, Kirill Gerasimov, Kristy Gazes, James Fricke, Keith Sexton, Andrew Black, David "The Dragon" Pham, and defending champion Lee "Final Table" Nelson.
Pros who finished outside the money were Ed Moncada, Ben Roberts, David Chiu, Tony Hachem, Robert Mizrachi, Joe Cassidy, Peter Feldman, Marsha Waggoner, Mandy Baker, Alex Jacob, David "The Dragonfly" Singer, and J.J. Liu.
The 80 remaining players return at 12:30 p.m. for day 3 of the 2007 Aussie Millions.
Stay tuned to CardPlayer.com for more news and information on the Southern Hemisphere's richest poker tournament.
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