It seems that no one wants the fun to end at the Crown Casino in Melbourne, Australia as the Aussie Millions Main Event was suspended this afternoon (early Sunday morning in the “Land Down Under”) after 15 hours of play was unable to find a victor.
The seven person final table started play at 2:30PM in the Crown, with Dan Shak leading a tightly bunched field that included second place Jarrod Glennon, Patrik Antonius and Bodog-sponsored pro Jennifer “Jay” Tan. Shak took the first major pot approximately an hour into the action, battling against Antonius on a 4-2-8 rainbow flop. Antonius would check-raise a Shak bet, which Shak called, as the men saw a six on the turn. Shak fired again after Antonius checked again, but this time Antonius let his hand go. The pot pushed Shak up to 4.5 million as the players settled in for a lengthy battle.
Antonius would get some of those chips back by eliminating the short-stacked Tan. After he opened the action and Shak made a call, Tan would push the cost to play up to 175K. Antonius didn’t back off the gas, pushing out a four bet of 385K and Shak got out of the way. Tan decided to make her stand, pushing all in, and Antonius immediately called. His pocket Kings were racing against Tan’s A-Q and, after the 7-7-5-6-7 board ran out, Tan headed to the rail as the seventh place finisher.
It would be another two hours before anyone else left the table, which occurred after David Yan pushed all in and Mervin Chan made the call. Chan’s pocket Kings dominated Yan’s pocket eights and, when the board came seven high, Yan was gone in sixth place. The players would make their way to the dinner break five-handed, with Shak maintaining his lead and Chan in second place.
Antonius started on the trek back after the sustenance period finished. He slowly ground his way back into the mix, pushing his way up to 5.6 million in chips, as another break came and went without another player leaving. Four hours after the cards hit the air following dinner, Shak’s tournament began to unravel as he doubled up Joseph Cabret to drop to under 2.5 million in chips.
Cabret would use those chips from Shak to knock off Glennon in fifth place as the clock passed midnight in the Land of Oz. Cabret had seized the lead at this point, with Antonius lurking in second and Shak shell-shocked to be in third (Chan was hanging by a thread at this point). Surprisingly, it would be Shak who would be the next to go.
After opening up the play for 250K, Shak saw Cabret make it 760K to go. Shak put the pressure on by moving all in, but Cabret snapped it off and made the call. He had Shak vastly outpaced, his Big Slick way out in front of Shak’s A-6 off suit. While the flop would pair both of them with an Ace, there was no six in the mix for Shak, who departed in fourth place as Cabret moved over eight million in chips.
This would be the last elimination that would be seen, at least for now. For three hours, Antonius, Cabret and Chan shuffled chips around with no one seemingly able to gain any traction. As the clock approached 6AM in Australia, officials decided to suspend the play to allow the participants (as well as the floor staff, media and remaining audience) a chance to gather their thoughts and get some rest. When the players come back at 4PM Sunday afternoon in Melbourne (midnight Eastern Time), the remaining triumvirate will line up as such:
1. Joseph Cabret, 7.72 million
2. Mervin Chan, 5.67 million
3. Patrik Antonius, 5.565 million
When you look at the remaining payouts, you can see why the players are being so deliberate. The next player out will receive $600,000 (Australian) for their efforts, while the top two places both will take down seven figure paydays – a cool $1 million for second and an even-sweeter $1.6 million and a sports car for the eventual champion.
So we get some bonus poker from the Aussie Millions! By tomorrow morning in the United States, we should (may?) have a winner of the tournament that many consider to be one of the “major” poker tournaments worldwide.
