Home / Poker News February 2013 / 2013 Aussie Millions - $250k Challenge Kicks Off
2013 Aussie Millions - $250k Challenge Kicks Off
Posted by: Randy Williams - Fri, 2013-02-01 05:29
As high rollers go, the Aussie Millions’ $250k Challenge didn’t turn out to be a particularly popular event this year. Although the AU$250k buy-in isn’t indeed something many players can just toss into the middle at a moment’s notice, still, the organizers had hoped more people would pony up the cash. Even as no fewer than 4 players decided to take advantage of the re-buy opportunity and put up additional buy-ins, only 18 buy-ins were collected, creating a prize-pool of AU$4.5 million.
Needless to say, the participants were without exception high profile professionals.
The 4 players who fired two bullets each were Gus Hansen, Paul Phua, Tony Bloom and Andrew Robl, for whom re-buying has developed into a sort of fetish during the 2013 Aussie Millions. Unfortunately, this time around, none of the four managed to advance to day 2 of the
poker tournament.
The first player to bite the dust on the first day of action was
PokerStars pro Jason Mercier. Mercier got off to a bad start, dropping a big pot to Phua after the latter managed to look him up on a bluff. He then dropped another major pot to Gus Hansen. Thus crippled, he put his last chips onto the line against Phua on a 7,4o vs Q,2o match-up. Needless to say, Phua’s hand held and Mercier was eliminated.
He was followed to the rail by Antonio Esfandiari and Philipp Gruissem. Both players decided not to get AU$250k more into the middle.
Paul Phua was the official final table bubble-boy and the last player eliminated on Day 1. Tobias Reinkemeier was the one responsible for his demise. He hit a straight against Phua’s two pair, sealing the deal. The hand gave Reinkemeier the chip lead heading into Day 2.
