On Saturday night, the 2010 Aussie Millions debuted on GSN. Announcers Paul Khoury and Grub Smith had the call of Day 1 of the AUD $100,000 buy-in High-Roller event and each player had only 30 seconds to act. Full Tilt Poker sponsors GSN’s latest foray into unique poker programming, which can be seen at 9:00pm ET every Saturday.
A profile of the feature table members aired and all eyes were focused on 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event November Niner Phil Ivey, Tom “durrrr” Dwan, and Dan Shak. Perhaps not coincidentally, all three are Full Tilt sponsored pros. Bet and raise amounts only appeared briefly on screen, making the action difficult to follow, and no console detailing the pot size was shown at any point. In addition, the graphics and music were rather sub-par from a network whose franchise “High Stakes Poker” is top-tier in that department.
Mieke Buchan conducted interviews from the rail and asked Ivey if he felt any pressure being considered the top player in the world. Ivey responded, “I don’t really think I’m the best in the world. I just try to perform as good as I can day in and day out.” Ivey then showed his prowess by betting out 5,000 with pocket kings on a board reading 7-8-A-Q with two spades. Shak, who had J-10 of clubs, raised to 14,000 with a double belly-buster straight draw, and Full Tilt pro Andrew Feldman sent his A-2 of spades into the muck despite holding top pair and a flush draw. Ivey re-raised Shak to 34,000 and Shak called to see a river three. Ivey bet 25,000 and Shak gave up.
Several commercials for the Crown Casino, the site of the annual Aussie Millions, and the city of Melbourne aired. One featured an incorrect spelling of Erik Seidel’s name, which was displayed with a “C” instead of a “K.”
Then, Shak raised to 3,000 pre-flop with a wired pair of jacks and Dwan called with pocket rockets. The flop came 3-8-10 and Shak bet out 6,000. Dwan check-raised to 16,000, Shak moved all-in, and Dwan called with the best hand. The board filled out 4-9 and Dwan doubled up. Both players were initially labeled “All In” on screen, potentially leading to some confusion by viewers as to whose stack was at risk.
In another hand, Ivey raised to 3,000 pre-flop with A-10. Shak came along with pocket eights and Dwan called with 10-7 to see a flop of 10-8-4. Shak checked middle set, Dwan bet 7,000 with top pair, and Ivey raised to 24,000 with top pair, top kicker. Shak moved all-in for 58,000, Dwan got out of the way, and Ivey tanked before folding his premium hand.
In the final hand shown in the kickoff Aussie Millions episode on GSN, Shak raised to 6,000 before the flop with 8-7 and Dwan made the call with 6-4. The flop came 4-7-2, giving a little something to everyone, and Shak bet 28,000 with top pair. Dwan raised to 40,000 with middle pair and Shak insta-called all-in for his tournament life. The turn was an eight, giving Shak two pair, and a jack on the river sealed a double up for the 2007 WSOP Ante Up for Africa winner.
Bill Jordanou and Masa Kagawa flanked the four Full Tilt Poker pros at the table, but no hands of note featuring either aired. Instead, the telecast focused almost exclusively on the Full Tilt sponsored players in attendance. The AUD $100,000 buy-in event began with 24 entrants. The episode did not outline what the payouts were, but 10 episodes in total will chronicle the High-Roller, Heads-Up, and Main Events at the yearly poker tournament Down Under.
The Aussie Millions airs as part of a nine-hour poker block that begins at 6:00pm ET on GSN every Saturday. Read the full GSN poker schedule.