They’re coming down to the final days of the 2019 Aussie Millions at the Crown Casino in Melbourne and it is delivering on the promised excitement. Day 3 is in the books, with 38 players remaining and one of last year’s final table players, Mike Del Vecchio, holding the lead and making another run for the title.
Popping the Money Bubble
168 players were left from the record-breaking 822 entry field at the start of Day 3 and nearly half those players weren’t going to be pleased. As only 88 players would take home a payday from the Crown Casino (the min-cash was $15,600 Australian), that meant that 80 players would get zippo from having worked for at least three days (don’t forget, there were multiple start days) to get where they were. As the afternoon’s action ramped up, some of those who departed sans money were some notable names.
Australia’s favorite poker lady Jackie Glazer was one of the first to go after going to battle against Michael Soyza. On a J-6-5 rainbow board, Soyza check-raised a Glazer bet to 40K and Glazer called to see the turn. An Ace slowed the action down a bit, but Soyza wouldn’t play the 4♠ coyly. Soyza pushed all in and Glazer, covered by Soyza’s stack, pondered her options rather quickly and made the call. Soyza turned up a 6-5 for a flopped two pair as Glazer could only muster an A-K for a turned pair of Aces. With that one hand, Glazer was out and Soyza scooped up a 460K pot for his efforts.
Glazer would have quite a bit of company on the rail prior to the money bubble popping. Former Aussie Millions champ Tyron Krost, Manig Loeser, David Yan and Richard Ashby were all out short of the money. By the time the dinner break came, however, there was still one more person to be dismissed before the remaining players could start divvying up the Aussie Millions Main Event money.
Del Vecchio Starts His Charge
Del Vecchio wasn’t among the leaders at the start of Day 3. With his 280K in chips, he was looking way up the standings at chip leader Pim de Goede, who sat on a 413K chip mountain. But Del Vecchio seemed to be in a groove throughout the day, with his chip stack constantly on the climb and doing damage to his opponents.
Del Vecchio was the player responsible for bringing the players to the money at the Aussie Millions Main Event. After raising the stakes in late position, Del Vecchio saw Maxi Lehmanski three-bet him with only a lone 5K chip in the rear. Del Vecchio made sure he was getting that last chip by moving all in and, after Lehmanski made the call, the cards were turned up. Lehmanski ran into a massive cooler, his pocket Jacks getting trounced by Del Vecchio’s pocket Kings, and the Queen-high board brought no miracles for Lehmanski. As the board finished off with a 4♣, Lehmanski packed his bags and was out of the Aussie Millions ($0) as the remaining 88 players celebrated making the money.
The hand pushed Del Vecchio into the lead and he didn’t look back. Although Farid Jattin would challenge him at several points in the evening, Del Vecchio always seemed to have an answer and would surge back to the lead. After Del Vecchio knocked out Zach Lowrie to crack the two million mark, he would glide to the final bell for the night with a massive chip lead for Day 4 action on Friday.
1. Mike Del Vecchio, 2.403 million
2. Dingxiang Ong, 1.402 million
3. Matthew Wakeman, 1.292 million
4. David Wang, 1.247 million
5. Andrew Hinrichsen, 1.23 million
6. Gavin Flynn, 1.05 million
7. Greg Heaver, 962,000
8. Ryan Otto, 927,000
9. Chun Kwok, 923,000
10. Andrian Chin, 838,000
Play will resume “Down Under” at the Crown Casino in Melbourne tomorrow at 12:30PM (8:30PM U. S. East Coast Time). Everyone who is left in the event is assured of a $31,200 payday, but the prize everyone wants is the $1.85 million the eventual champion of the Aussie Millions Main Event will receive.
