The 2015 Aussie Millions, part of the Asia Pacific Poker Tour, saw its Main Event get going over the weekend as players from around the world flocked to the Crown Melbourne casino for one of the most prestigious events on the poker calendar outside of Las Vegas. All three Day 1 flights have concluded and, with late registration still open until the start of Day 2, a total of 642 players have signed up. That is slightly below last year’s field of 668, but again, registration remains open, so there is a chance that figure could be beaten (though almost 30 registrations between Day 1C and Day 2 would be impressive).
Ian Wassell emerged from Day 1B to lead the approximately 350 remaining players heading into Day 2 with a stack of 229,500. Only one other player, Alex Antonios, has more than 200,000, just eclipsing that plateau with 206,200. A couple other notable players appear in the overall top ten: Dan “jungleman” Cates and defending Aussie Millions Main Event champ, Ami Barer. It is a pretty steep drop from Wassell and Antonios to the rest of the field; Cates is in third place with just 168,100 chips. The rest of the leaderboard is tightly packed, though, with only 25,000 separating Cates from Naween Fernando in tenth place.
Other “names” who advanced from one of the starting flights to Day 2 include Phil Ivey, 2010 Aussie Millions king Tyron Krost, Justin Bonomo, local favorite Jackie Glazer, Scott Seiver, Sam Trickett, Bryn Kenney, Jeff Lisandro, Aussie legend and 2005 WSOP Main Event champion Joe Hachem, and Australian Poker Hall of Famer Gary Benson.
Day 2 will pick up at 12:30pm local time Wednesday (Tuesday 8:30pm ET). As late registration is still open, the final prize pool and payout structure has yet to be announced, but it will be available later today (or tonight, depending on where you are).
2015 Aussie Millions Main Event – Day 1A Chip Leaders
1. Jan Suchanek – 163,400
2. Joakim Backlund – 148,900
3. Ami Barer – 147,900
4. Rahul Byrraju – 137,600
5. Giuseppe Reina – 121,900
6. Mikel Habb – 114,500
7. Robert Salter – 111,200
8. Raiden Kan – 106,400
9. Jannis Bräuer – 103,800
10. Rahul Rastogi – 102,300
2015 Aussie Millions Main Event – Day 1B Chip Leaders
1. Ian Wassell – 229,500
2. Dan Cates – 168,100
3. Naween Fernando – 142,600
4. Calvin Ho Kwok Sze – 135,200
5. Corey Kempson – 131,900
6. Mustapha Kanit – 130,900
7. Paul Abela – 124,300
8. Bryan Huang – 120,700
9. Konstantin Fetzer – 114,400
10. Isaac Lau – 108,000
2015 Aussie Millions Main Event – Day 1C Chip Leaders
1. Alex Antonios – 206,200
2. Jordi Urlings – 147,700
3. Don Mishra – 143,400
4. Dylan Honeyman – 143,200
5. Manny Stavropoulos – 128,000
6. Phare Bouya – 106,500
7. Ben Savage – 101,000
8. Tonio Roder – 96,900
9. Connor Drinan – 96,600
10. Marko Neumann – 91,000
2015 Aussie Millions Main Event – Combined Day 1 Chip Leaders
1. Ian Wassell – 229,500
2. Alex Antonios – 206,200
3. Dan Cates – 168,100
4. Jan Suchanek – 163,400
5. Joakim Backlund – 148,900
6. Ami Barer – 147,900
7. Jordi Urlings – 147,700
8. Don Mishra – 143,400
9. Dylan Honeyman – 143,200
10. Naween Fernando – 142,600