Aussie Millions Highlights
Day 4 Completed
2020 Aussie Millions
Aussie Millions Highlights
Day: 4
The fifth and final flight of the 2020 Aussie Millions A$1 million guaranteed Opening Event was the biggest overall, with 593 players bringing the total number of entries to 1,665.
From the starting field just 80 players advanced, with Jason Giuliano (248,100) as the chip leader. Although not enough to secure him the overall chip lead, Giuliano will be joined by two other players who bagged over 200,000 in chips as Keiron Laifoo (237,400) and Nicholas Suter (217,300) put themselves in strong positions ahead of Day 2.
Notable players advancing included 2010 Aussie Million Main Event winner Tyron Krost (60,400) along with Marc Macdonnell (153,200), Jeremy Pekarek (91,700), Maxi Lehmanski (80,500) and Joey Weissman (12,200).
Chip Counts from Opening Event Flight 5
| Player | Chip Count |
|---|---|
| Jason Giuliano | 248,100 |
| Keiron Laifoo | 237,400 |
| Nicholas Suter | 217,300 |
| Roy Agresta | 173,100 |
| Kwang Nguyen | 167,600 |
| Marc Macdonnell | 153,200 |
| Antonio Fazzolari | 152,600 |
| Rehman Kassam | 143,000 |
| Sohrab Rezvanpour | 140,800 |
| Wei Zhang | 140,300 |
| Timothy Morgan | 130,100 |
| Katsuya Sotsuka | 124,100 |
| Sean Ragozzini | 122,800 |
| Michael Harb | 122,300 |
| Kai Herold | 120,000 |
| Bo Jin | 99,900 |
| Amit Shorey | 98,600 |
| Dean Brown | 98,500 |
| Omer Silajdzija | 97,400 |
| Joshua Duce | 96,300 |
| Jeremy Pekarek | 91,700 |
| Nathan Susnig | 90,100 |
| Paul Abela | 89,800 |
| Hyunyeong Kang | 89,200 |
| William Mitchell | 83,000 |
| Maximilian Lehmanski | 80,500 |
| Rody Kaka | 78,100 |
| Luke Edwards | 78,000 |
| James Hawketts | 78,000 |
| Soren Vohrs | 77,600 |
| Rabindranath Nadarajan | 77,300 |
| Joshua Mansellnilsson | 77,000 |
| George Kyritsis | 75,700 |
| Julian Dight | 71,600 |
| Michael Kosmis | 70,200 |
| Alan Xerri | 66,200 |
| Aurelien Chenais | 64,600 |
| Steve Pappas | 63,100 |
| Andrew White | 62,300 |
| Connie Graham | 60,900 |
| Tyron Krost | 60,400 |
| Peter Robertson | 60,200 |
| Ramin Hurmuzniya | 60,000 |
| Tsz Pun | 59,000 |
| Samuel Salt | 58,800 |
| Danny Ball | 55,700 |
| Nathan Obrien | 55,300 |
| Zeljko Josipovic | 55,200 |
| Billy Madden | 53,200 |
| Nathan Goodall | 51,400 |
| Colton Blomberg | 50,200 |
| Jungwoon An | 49,100 |
| Fadi Sayegh | 48,000 |
| Russell Mildon | 45,300 |
| Milan Stojkovic | 44,600 |
| Sam Paine | 43,000 |
| Jamie Maddox | 42,400 |
| Anthony March | 42,300 |
| Jinsoo Kang | 41,800 |
| Carmino Desciscio | 41,000 |
| Yixin Wen | 40,400 |
| Yang Li | 39,500 |
| Samuel Jefferies | 39,300 |
| Giovanni Massa | 39,000 |
| David Veigli | 38,800 |
| Josh Mitchell | 38,800 |
| Wei-cheng Yin | 36,800 |
| Daneil Hinh | 36,100 |
| Taryn Boden | 32,700 |
| Quanbin Zhong | 27,900 |
| Adrian Salter | 26,200 |
| Petros Aristidou | 24,500 |
| Tatjana Zizic | 24,200 |
| Raemin Alexander | 23,700 |
| Sik Chan | 19,600 |
| Yee Lee | 18,500 |
| Maxwell Young | 17,100 |
| Christopher Smitton | 13,600 |
| Joey Weissman | 12,200 |
| Michel Bouskila | 5,400 |
In just over a week, the first of four No-Limit Hold'em High Roller Challenges will take place at the 2020 Aussie Millions, with the world's best poker players expected to take part in some of the most prestigious High Rollers in the world.
Usually, the only involvement poker fans can have in these five- and six-figure buy-in events is to follow the live updates right here on PokerNews, but this year fans have a new way to get involved in the tournament.
PokerShares, the site set up by Mike 'Timex' McDonald in 2017 have published odds on players to win the A$25,000 Challenge, allowing fans to "have some skin in the game" according to McDonald.
PokerNews spoke to McDonald in the lead-up to this year's tournament to find out a bit more about how it works and how fans might be persuaded to place a bet on their favourite players in this year's A$25,000 Challenge.
PokerShares and the Aussie Millions
"The Aussie Millions is such a huge festival," said McDonald. "It's one of the few events each year where we have bet requests several months before it even begins!
"With each major event, we list known participants and users can bet on their favorite player(s). It's for those who don't have the bankroll or time to commit to playing in these major events, and it lets viewers get closer to the action by allowing them to bet on any player they like."
Different players are listed at different prices, with former Australian international cricket Shane Warne currently priced at 0.82 and four-time WSOP bracelet-winner Dominik Nitsche at 1.80. We asked McDonald what the difference between the two means for those wanting to place bets.
Assorted A$25,000 Challenge Odds
| Player | Odds |
|---|---|
| Dominik Nitsche | 1.80 |
| Michael Addamo | 1.80 |
| Rainer Kempe | 1.79 |
| Bryn Kenney | 1.68 |
| Toby Lewis | 1.64 |
| Kitty Kuo | 1.12 |
| Tsugunari Toma | 0.86 |
| Shane Warne | 0.82 |
Odds correct at time of publication
"This means that if you want 1% of Shane Warne's winnings you need to pay 0.82% of the buyin and to get 1% of Nitsche's winnings you need to pay 1.8% of the buyin. It's up to you which player you think is better!"
How PokerShares Works
According to McDonald, PokerShares have a variety of both quantitative and qualitative metrics used to arrive at our odds. As for who is listed, this depends on several things such as social media posts and general intuition regarding which players at that festival PokerShares think will play.
"Additionally, as players request to be on themselves, we'll add them to the markets, and all bets made on players who don't participate will be refunded."
Aussie Millions Memories
McDonald says he has good memories of the Aussie Millions having first attended the festival back in 2008 where he not only made his first live final table, but won his first live poker tournament after taking down a A$1,000 No-Limit Hold'em tournament for A$33,950 (US$29,843).
"In 2009 I actually broke the longest cashless streak of my career in Melbourne with a deep run in the Main Event," said McDonald, but bigger things were to come five years later.
The following two years were remarkable for the Canadian, finishing third in both the A$100,000 Challenge and the A$250,000 Challenge in 2014, before a finishing as runner-up in the A$250,000 Challenge in 2015.
"One of the best stretches I've ever had"
"I had originally skipped to Aussie Millions, but some last-minute FOMO [fear of missing out], so booked a five-day trip just to play the $100,000 and $250,000 Challenges. Customs were quite confused to see such a short trip!"
"I came into the festival off the back of one of the best stretches I've ever had. My last three tournament results were six- or seven-figure scores in Prague and the PCA. So by the time the Aussie Millions finished I had a streak of five consecutive events with six- or seven-figure scores. I'm still in a state of disbelief about just how streaky poker can be!"
"My Aussie Millions results were very much overshadowed by Phil Ivey's back-to-back-to-back wins but ultimately I was very pleased with my performances."
| Event |
|---|
| So if you are tempted to place a bet on a player in one of this year's Aussie Millions Challenges, you can always check up on the progress of your chosen player right here on PokerNews. |
| $25,000 Pot-Limit Omaha |
| $25,000 Challenge |
| $50,000 Challenge |
| $100,000 Challenge |
Recently named Dutch Player of the Year for the fourth consecutive year, Tobias Peters has been enjoying an Asian poker odyssey motivated not just by money and success, but also by a peculiar goal he stumbled across in the middle of 2019.
"I found out that I just needed seven more flags to break into the top 10 list," said Peters on break in the 2020 Aussie Millions Opening Event.
Flag-hunting is a relatively obscure trend for players to amass cashes from the most countries, represented by a flag on their Hendon Mob profiles. The current leader is Casey Kastle who sits with cashes from 44 different countries. Peters, who cashed in 12 different countries in 2019, sits tied for 17th with 22 different flags.
"I thought [making the top 10] would be a nice goal. I like having goals besides money and wins."
Having notched up a series of cashes in the Philippines whilst travelling earlier in 2019, Peters set out on his quest to crack the top 10, picking up cashes in England, Russia and Denmark in October and November, all countries he had never cashed in before.
"Then I thought, why not Asia? It should be easy to go to Asia to collect some flags, because I didn't have any others besides the Philippines and Macau. So I went travelling for four months with my girlfriend, starting in Taiwan."
The trip got off to the best possible start after Peters took down the Asian Poker Tour Finale Championship Event in Taipei City for just over US$60,000.
"It was a good start and a really good flag!" said Peters. "Then I went to the Asia Poker League in Vietnam and picked up two cashes, so I got my Vietnamese flag."
Next on his list? An Australian flag.
"I came to Australia five years ago with my girlfriend, just to travel for five weeks. I played two tournaments - the bounty and the Main Event, but didn't cash in either."
just setting up my twttr
— jack 🌍🌏🌎 (@jack)
The Dutchman remembers his first Aussie Millions distinctively for his Main Event bustout. Calling a shove with pocket aces on a 
board, his opponent turned over 
for a gutshot, but hit his four outer to send Peters to the rail.
"It was an ugly way." he laughed. "It was a crazy hand."
Peters hopes to banish those memories, and pick up his first Australian flag with a win, just like in the Philippines.
"That would be great, yes. After the Aussie Millions I will be in Asia for another three months so hope I'll get the Korean flag or something else, we'll see what tournaments are there."
Late last night, the fourth flight of the 2020 Aussie Millions bagged up with 35 players making it through to Day 2.
Notables include Roman Valerstein (104,500) who with US$1.3m in lifetime earnings is looking for his first Aussie Millions cash, 2019 Mix Max final tablist Myeong Park (93,300), and Michael Tran (126,900), who final tabled both the Pot Limit Hold'em and Hold'em/Omaha Mixed events back in 2017.
Opening Event Flight 4 Chip Counts
| Player | Chip Count |
|---|---|
| Naim Mouchaileh | 147,200 |
| Daniel Clemmet | 140,900 |
| Roland Rokita | 135,600 |
| Michael Tran | 126,900 |
| Leon Moran | 114,900 |
| Sladjan Pantos | 111,700 |
| Roman Valerstein | 104,500 |
| Jun Jia | 103,000 |
| Cameron Bisset | 99,500 |
| Paul Hill | 97,500 |
| Tim Coumuolidis | 96,800 |
| Jensen Chow | 95,400 |
| Martyn Ward | 94,600 |
| Myeong Park | 93,300 |
| Landen Lucas | 93,000 |
| Ryan Henry | 86,500 |
| James Frazer | 86,100 |
| Robbie Stewart | 83,500 |
| John Lombardo | 80,900 |
| Jackson Warne | 64,700 |
| Joseph Antar | 62,900 |
| Panayotis Flourentzou | 57,100 |
| Daniel Hachem | 56,800 |
| Ryan Bownds | 54,700 |
| Quan Zhou | 51,900 |
| Haven Duco Ten | 50,500 |
| Michael Behnert | 47,600 |
| Eoghan Odea | 44,800 |
| Thomas Donaldson | 43,300 |
| Rahul Rastogi | 41,300 |
| David Wells | 35,900 |
| Qing Ye | 28,400 |
| Michael Rattigan | 25,800 |
| Benjamin Richardson | 23,200 |
| Darren Mundy | 20,000 |
Leading the 35 survivors is Naim Mouchaileh with 147,200, which is some way short of the overall chip leaders from the previous three flights. Here are how the top three counts from each flight stack up:
Opening Event Chip Leaders
| Flight | Player | Chip Count |
|---|---|---|
| 3 | David Tang | 277,300 |
| 1 | Zack Lowrie | 213,800 |
| 1 | Julien Sitbon | 200,000 |
| 3 | Gautam Dhingra | 170,900 |
| 1 | Martin Jacobson | 169,900 |
| 2 | Izuchukwu Oparaocha | 169,400 |
| 3 | Vikrani Gupia | 161,700 |
| 4 | Naim Mouchaileh | 147,200 |
| 4 | Daniel Clemmet | 140,900 |
| 2 | Amir Minagar | 139,600 |
| 4 | Roland Rokita | 135,600 |
| 2 | Egor Bulychev | 122,100 |
Welcome back to the 2020 Aussie Millions on what promises to be an exciting day's poker. Just one event is on the schedule today, with the final flight of the A$1 million guaranteed Opening Event.
So far over 100 players have made it through to Day 2, but today promises to be the biggest flight yet.
Here's the schedule for the day with the Opening Event kicking off at 12:10 pm.
| Day | Event | Time | Buy-in |
|---|---|---|---|
| 7th January | Opening Event Flight 5 | 12:10pm | A$1,150 |
Aussie Millions Opening Event
So far this year, the number of entrants for each flight has been up on 2019, when Muhammad Asad topped a record 1,752 field to win $219,980 (US$158,385). The final flight last year saw more players advance than the previous four combined, so today looks like being another bumper field.
| Flight | 2019 Entrants | Players Advancing | 2020 Entrants | Players Advancing | %change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 166 | 18 | 242 | 28 | +45.78% |
| 2 | 191 | 24 | 255 | 38 | +33.51% |
| 3 | 213 | 26 | 307 | 40 | +44.13% |
| 4 | 446 | 56 | 268 | 35 | -39.91% |
| 5 | 736 | 138 |
Each player will receive 10,000 chips and there will be twelve 40-minute levels today. With the chip leader Danny Tang bagging 277,300 yesterday, any stack over 200,000 will be an achievement for players today.
Stay tuned to PokerNews for continued updates from the 2020 Aussie Millions here at the Crown in Melbourne.
Aussie Millions Highlights
Day 4 Started