Day 2 of the 2016 Aussie Millions Main Event has come and gone with just 154 players remaining to advance to Day 3. After late registrations were counted, the total field for the three starting flights plus those few last minute entries on Day 2 amounted to 732 players. Australian James Obst led the 376 Day 1 survivors into Day 2 action and while he continued to amass chips, he was down to fifth place by the end of the night (not too bad) with the largest stack of anyone who had below 400,000 chips. Jean-Pascal Savard ended as the new chip leader with a stack of 455,200.
It looks like a good race is shaping up at the top of the leader board with three other players above the 400,000 chip mark. Bobby Zhang is in second place with 425,900, followed by Daniel Engels with 421,300 and Jason Brown with 401,600. After Obst with 378,500, three more players are above 300,000.
With the final player count of 732 and the buy-in at AUD $10,000, the total prize pool added up to AUD $7.32 million (about USD $5,141,751). The tournament will pay down to 80 places with first place receiving AUD $1.6 million (USD $1,123,880).
As mentioned yesterday, this is the fourth largest Aussie Millions Main Event in the poker festival’s history, just edging out the 2011 Main Event, which had 721 players. The largest Aussie Millions Main Event was in 2008 when 780 players registered, followed by 2007 with 747 and 2010 with 746.
The chip leader, Savard, has earned just over three-quarters of a million dollars in live tournaments in his career, according to TheHendonMob.com. Most of that came about a year ago when he finished fourth in the $25,000 No-Limit Hold’em High Roller Eight Handed Event at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, an effort that awarded half a million dollars.
The big hand that launched Savard up the leader board came during Level 11 when, according to PokerNews, he raised pre-flop only to see Shai Liu re-raise him all-in for 101,600. Benjamin Pollak then went over the top all-in himself for 105,900. Savard followed by calling both bets instantly.
He had good reason for that, too, as he held pocket Aces. The other two players were not out of line, either, as Liu had Kings and Pollak had Jacks. Nobody made a set, so Savard took the entire pot and knocked out Liu while crippling Pollak.
Day 3of the Aussie Millions Main Event will get going soon at the Crown Casino in Melbourne; it is expected that the money bubble will burst today.
2016 Aussie Millions Main Event – Day 2 Chip Leaders
1. Jean-Pascal Savard – 455,200
2. Bobby Zhang – 425,900
3. Daniel Engels – 421,300
4. Jason Brown – 401,600
5. James Obst – 378,500
6. Artur Koren – 361,000
7. Martin Rowe – 311,200
8. Andrew Bassat – 308,000
9. Michael Egan – 291,800
10. Michael Levy – 291,600