Live tournament updates sees three huge Aussie Millions scores as Phil Ivey wins the $250,000 Challenge, Yevgeniy Timoshenko wins the $100,000 Challenge and Ami Barer wins the $10,600 Main Event.
The world of poker is a strange place these days. At one end of the scale you have an industry that is placing paddles on the chest of the grass roots of poker, and at the other we have millions of dollars flying around like rice around the feet of a women dressed in white.
The Aussie Millions has followed on from the phenomenal success of the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA) by writing the final paragraphs of three of the biggest competitions in the world.
Ami Barer Wins the 2014 Aussie Millions Main Event
The phenomenon of the ‘heater’ has once again proved itself to be a vitally important cog in the poker machine as the Canadian Ami Barer has taken the top spot in the 2014 Aussie Millions Main Event.
In December, Barer, took a trip to Europe to participate in the Prague Poker Festival and finished second to Dimitri Holdeew in the €1,100 No-Limit Hold’em (NLHE) EUREKA Main Event for a career best score of €131,400.
A perfect opportunity to travel the globe, and invest a little more money in some bigger events beckoned, and Barer headed to Melbourne to keep the heat flowing, and flow it did.
The Canadian has defeated the reigning PartyPoker Premier League champion Sorel Mizzi, in heads-up action, to take home a life-changing $1,399,739 on a tough final table that also saw Jacob Balsiger (3rd), Darren Rabinowitz (4th) and Scott Seiver (7th) also make the grade.
668-players created a total prize pool of A$6,680,000 and after nearly 12-hours of solid final table action Barer found the pocket aces in the final hand of the contest to over power the [Qd] [8d] of Mizzi and take the title.
For Mizzi, it was yet another sign that the Canadian’s game is right back on song after he took his total live career earnings to the $9.6m mark.
“I knew it would be a long day. We started with a lot of chips on the table and a lot of talented young players. I happened to be the luckiest one.
“Heads-up match was short and sweet. I managed to get hands when I needed them and didn’t have to face the wrath of Sorel.” Barer told PokerNews reporter Kristy Arnett after his victory.
Final Table Standings
1st. Ami Barer – A$1,600,000
2nd. Sorel Mizzi – A$1,000,000
3rd. Jake Balsiger – A$650,000
4th. Darren Rabinowitz – A$450,000
5th. Vincent Rubianes – A$335,000
6th. Andrew Phaedonos – $250,000
7th. Scott Seiver – $170,000
Yevgeniy Timoshenko wins the $100,000 Challenge
If you ever wondered what would happen if you turned a high buy-in event into a re-entry event, then we now know the answer.
It transcends into money madness.
Yes, ladies and gentlemen, our elite poker players just keep thinking their bricks of cash are nothing but big blinds as the $100,000 Challenge attracted 39 unique entries and an incredible 37 re-entries.
In amongst those going rebuy crazy were Daniel Negreanu (5 times) and Isaac Haxton (6 times). The Canadian cashed in sixth place to earn a $50,000 profit, but Haxton was left nursing a $600,000 headache. A headache that he would find the pill for in the $250,000 Challenge a few days later.
The heads-up action fell between Mike McDonald and the Ukrainian. Timex is on a roll after finishing second in the PCA Main Event, and he would once again have to settle for second best in this one as Timoshenko took the title and A$2,000,000 first prize.
Final Table Standings
1st. Yevgeniy Timoshenko – A$2,000,000
2nd. Mike McDonald – A$1,500,000
3rd. Erik Seidel – A$1,076,000
4th. Doug Polk – A$860,000
5th. Patrik Antonius – A$700,000
6th. Daniel Negreanu – A$550,000
7th. David Steicke – $450,000
8th. Martin Jacobson – A$350,000
Phil Ivey wins the $250,000 Challenge
You have to love Phil Ivey’s style.
You don’t see him playing in any game of note, and then he just shows up one day and binks the single biggest payout of the year.
Phil Ivey has just overcome the madness of the $250,000 Challenge to walk away with the first prize of A$4,000,000 and he did it without ever having to pull that trigger for the second time.
It’s the second time that Ivey has won this event, after first doing so in 2012, only this time he takes close to double the money as some of the smartest minds in poker lost the plot for a little while.
Daniel Negreanu and Igor Kurganov both fired three bullets in this event, and Isaac Haxton had also fired two. When you add the A$600,000 that Haxton spent in the $100,000 Challenge, the Internet wizard had a lot of work to do to eat into his $1.1m deficit.
For two of the three things worked out pretty sweet, and for once it wasn’t a German success.
The 2013 Aussie Millions was an amazing success for Kurganov, but he would leave this one with nothing but dust in his wallet. Negreanu managed to turn his A$750,000 investment into one worth A$1,250,000 when he finished in fourth place, and Haxton didn’t leave his investors wanting when he finished second to Ivey for a A$2,820,000 haul leaving him A$1,720,000 in profit for the trip.
Mike McDonald followed up his second place finish in the $100,000 Challenge with fourth in this event making it his third seven figure cash in less than two months of poker.
Final Table Standings
1st. Phil Ivey – A$4,000,000
2nd. Isaac Haxton – A$2,820,000
3rd. Mike McDonald – A$1,900,000
4th. Daniel Negreanu – A$1,250,000
5th. Fabian Quoss – A$800,000
6th. Tom Dwan – A$500,000
