Live tournament round up sees the Aussie Millions $25k Challenge turn into a farce, Dean Schneider lead Day 1B of the Main Event and Jonathan Gaviao taking down the World Series of Poker Circuit (WSOPC) Main Event at Harrah’s Tunica.
The Aussie Millions A$25,000 Challenge descended into (dis)organized chaos as the players decided to scrap the script and create one of their own with only five players remaining.
The record books will show that Max Altergott won the event, but in reality there was no winner as the final five players agreed an ICM chop, making the final action redundant.
Long before the tournament turned into a farce 30-players had managed to sneak into the second day of action and it was the recent PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA) $100k Super High Roller winner, Fabian Quoss, who started with the chip lead.
Quoss had a decent run, but fell short of the money, finishing in 11th place after a bad beat inflicted by Jason Mercier. The pair got it in with Quoss ahead with AQ v AJ but Mercier would find Broadway to stop Quoss’s run a few spots shy of the money.
Eight players were going to get paid and Benny Spindler was not going to be one of them after finishing as the bubble boy. The former European Poker Tour (EPT) champion getting it in 99<TT of Tobias Reinkemeier to effectively end his tournament; Max Altergott finished him off a few hands later.
After the money bubble was breached things loosened up a tad. Tobias Reinkemeier finished in 8th spot, Marvin Rettenmaier picked up 7th and Dan Shak found a profit in 6th.
That left five players with Martin Jacobson holding the chip lead. Rather than fight it out man v man, the quintet decided they would rather save their energy for the upcoming $100k Challenge and split the money five ways.
So how would they decide the title?
Instead of just handing it to Jacobson (as he had more chips and therefore the biggest slice of the prize pool) they decided to increase the blind levels much faster and just go for it. Max Altergott getting luckier than the rest of them to beat Dan Smith in heads-up action…by which time absolutely nobody cared.
Final Standings (Cash)
Martin Jacobson $285,921
Dan Smith $278,414
Scott Seiver $265,538
Jason Mercier $263,342
Max Altergott $241,785
Dean Schneider Leads Day 1B Aussie Millions Main Event
The second starting flight of three saw 153 players take a seat in the most prestigious tournament in the Southern Hemisphere, and it was Dean Schneider who finished with the chip lead bagging up 188,800 chips.
A further 80 players joined Schneider in the Day 2 seat draw and they included Gareth Dwyer (161,100), Daniel Neilson (119,900), Erik Seidel (116,800), Michael Hussey (106,400), Michael Laming (105,000), Tim English (104,200) & Antonio Esfandiari (77,700).
Former champions David Gorr and Mervin Chan were amongst the notables to take an early bath.
Jonathan Gaviao Wins Harrah’s Tunica Main Event
Jonathan Gaviao has secured his best-ever tournament success after taking down the $1,675 No-Limit Hold’em (NLHE) Main Event at Harrah’s Tunica for $181,757.
The 23-year old College Station resident, overcame 577 entries to take the first place prize and also secure a seat in the season-ending National Championships.
“It’s wonderful,” he said. “It’s always nice to win a ring and make a little bit of money. I couldn’t ask for anything more.”
The result comes a fortnight after Gaviao had the run of his life finishing in 14th place in the record busting 1,428 WSOPC Main Event at Choctaw Casino, once again proving the importance of running hot.
The former November Niner Dennis Phillips cashed in 12th place in the event
Final Standings
1st. Jonathan Gaviao – $181,757
2nd. Carter Myers – $112,420
3rd. Charles Hopkins – $82,205
4th. Bradley Lipsey – $61,000
5th. Jackson White – $45,897
6th. David Lee – $35,009
7th. Lance Garcia – $27,073
8th. Bryan McMullin – $21,222
9th. Timothy Tracy – $16,860
