Although there is still one more event left on the schedule, the 2015 Aussie Millions crowned two champions over the past two days. In today’s Main Event final table, Manny Stavropoulos overcame the odds to capture the win and, on Saturday, Richard Yong took his first High Roller championship in the $100,000 Challenge.
Aussie Millions Main Event
The seven men who came back on Sunday for the final table of the Aussie Millions Main Event all had their eyes set on the $1.6 million (Australian) first place prize. In the best position to seize that payday was James Rann, who held a slim lead over a trio of pursuers – Joel Douaglin, Lennart Uphoff and Anthony Legg – who were all less than a million chips behind him. Bringing up the tail end of the final table were Stavropoulos, Richard Lyndaker and Brian Rast.
The players jousted for a bit over the run of the yet-to-be completed Level 28 before kicking up the action with a blind change. The first casualty of the final table would be Lyndaker, who never found any help through the Sunday play. His departure would come particularly cruelly as, after an all-in from Uphoff, Lyndaker confidently called and tabled a leading pocket pair of Aces over Uphoff’s pocket sixes. The flop devastated Lyndaker, however, coming down 6-7-8 to give Uphoff a set of sixes and, once the turn and river failed to bring him one of his two outs, Lyndaker was left shaking his head as he headed to the rail in seventh place.
The hand against Lyndaker pushed Uphoff into the chip lead as he stepped back and let the rest of the table battle it out. Douaglin dispatched Legg in sixth place to get a little separation from the pack, but Uphoff pushed his lead further out from them by eliminating Rast in fifth place. Down to four players following Rast’s elimination, Uphoff held nearly 12 million in chips with his nearest competitor, Douaglin, nearly 9 million chips behind.
At this point, Stavropoulos began to make some moves. He approached five million chips after two bouts with Douaglin as Uphoff maintained his stack in knocking out the start of day chip leader, Rann, in fourth place. Uphoff continued on his rampage in eliminating Douaglin, heading to heads up action with Stavropoulos with a 12.535 million to 6.87 million chip lead.
Facing daunting odds, Stavropoulos was patient in his attack against Uphoff. It would take Stavropoulos almost an hour of heads up battle with Uphoff to pull out a slight lead. The players did strike a deal after a break (with Stavropoulos receiving $1,285,500 and Uphoff $1,214,500), but they left $100K on the table – and the Aussie Millions championship bracelet – to give them something to play for.
Following the deal, it might have been thought that the two men would just go through the motions. Neither was letting up on their aggression, however, as Stavropoulos extended his lead after making a brilliant call on a 5-6-9-2-Q board with only a 7-6 that bested Uphoff’s K-3 that missed everything despite his betting patterns. On the final hand, Uphoff limped in and Stavropoulos checked to see an 8-9-A flop. Stavropoulos check-called a bet out of Uphoff and, on a seven turn, Stavropoulos fired off a stack of chips. Now Uphoff called and, when the board paired with another eight, Stavropoulos fired a second bullet at the pot. Uphoff didn’t believe him, however, moving all in and was stunned at the speed of Stavropoulos’ call. Uphoff showed a 10-6 for the rivered ten-high straight, but Stavropoulos showed a J-10 for a turned Jack-high straight to capture the hand and the championship of the Aussie Millions Main Event.
1. Manny Stavropoulos, $1,385,500*
2. Lennart Uphoff, $1,214,500*
3. Joel Douaglin, $630,000
4. James Rann, $430,000
5. Brian Rast, $315,000
6. Anthony Legg, $235,000
7. Richard Lyndaker, $160,000
(* – indicates final table deal)
$100,000 Challenge
After waiting several days to allow players to take part in the Aussie Millions Main Event, the eight men who were still alive in the $100,000 Challenge finally reconvened on Saturday to decide a champion. Ole Schemion was the chip leader at the start of the day, but such challengers as Jason Mo, Erik Seidel, Justin Bonomo, Dani Stern, Yong, Scott Seiver and an extremely short stacked Alex Trevallion were all replete with chips that could take Schemion down.
Yong started a move up the leaderboard in making Trevallion the first player out within moments of the start of play. Yong then followed that up by eliminating Stern after Yong miraculously caught a nine on the river to best Stern’s A-K. Attempting to keep pace, Schemion sent Seidel to the rail in sixth place after Schemion’s pocket fours stood up to Seidel’s A-10 and, soon afterwards, dumped Mo from the tournament in fifth place.
It looked as if it would come down to Schemion and Yong for the title and the two men didn’t disappoint the fans in the Crown Casino in Melbourne. Although Seiver would eliminate Bonomo in fourth place, he would fall victim to a cooler in a hand against Yong. A bet from Schemion on the button brought an all-in from Seiver and an all-in ‘over the top’ from Yong before the action returned to Schemion. After pondering his move, Schemion opted to get out of the way and it might have been a good move; Seiver’s pocket sevens were crushed by Yong’s pocket Jacks and, following a King-high board (did Schemion have a King?), Yong eliminated Seiver to move onto heads up play with Schemion.
Yong immediately seized the advantage over Schemion on the first hand of heads up. On a K-5-9-2-10 board, Schemion sent most of his chips to Yong when he displayed a K-3 for the winning hand. The German would fight back, however, in doubling up twice to take the lead out of Yong’s hands. After a double back by Yong cut Schemion’s lead to less than two million chips, the pivotal hand of the tournament took place.
On a Q-5-5 flop, Yong got all his chips to the center for what, at the time, must have been a delighted Schemion. He showed a 5-2 for flopped trips, but Yong had the case five with a Jack kicker to hold the lead. When the turn and river failed to help Schemion, Yong rocketed out to more than a 6:1 lead that would eventually stand up.
On the final hand of the tournament, Yong limped in and, following a Schemion check, a flop of 7-6-2 hit the baize. Schemion check-raised Yong all in and was met with an immediate call from Yong. Schemion actually had the best of it post-flop with his 9-8 for an open-ended straight draw against Yong’s J-10 (in the lead after the flop with Jack-high), but none of his 14 outs would come after another six and a four completed the board.
1. Richard Yong, $1,870,000
2. Ole Schemion, $1,350,000
3. Scott Seiver, $1,000,000
4. Justin Bonomo, $800,000
5. Jason Mo, $630,000
6. Erik Seidel, $500,000
7. Dani Stern, $400,000
8. Alex Trevallion, $310,000
With the completion of the Aussie Millions Main Event and the $100,000 Challenge, there is still one bit of business to complete before putting the bow on the tournament schedule. The $250,000 Challenge will determine its champion on Monday in what should be a thrilling finale. Phil Ivey is the current leader, looking to defend his championship from 2014, but he’ll have Doug Polk, Mo, Seiver, Igor Kurganov, Mike McDonald, Yong, Schemion and Seidel to contend with if he is to win his third $250,000 Challenge title. With late registration open until the start of action on Monday at 1PM (Australia Time), the 23 entries could get larger and increase the prize pool beyond where it is at this time.
