One of the most popular poker festivals outside of North America, the Aussie Millions, is hopping as usual. Already in full swing at the Crown Melbourne Casino, the A$10,000 Main Event of the 2013 Aussie Millions has completed its three opening day starting flights and is now ready for the divided fields to merge into one for Day 2. The Day 1A chip leader, Brian Payne, remained the overall leader as he waited for his competitors to finish Days 1B and 1C, carrying 299,900 chips into Wednesday’s action.
The top of the leader board is dominated by players from Days 1A. Only one runner from Day 1B, that flight’s chip leader Frank Rusnak, made the top ten overall heading into Day 2, while only two – Patrik Antonius and Slade Fisher – are from Day 1B. The top two players – Payne and Phillip Willcocks – are from Day 1A, as are all but one of the players in the fifth through tenth spots (Rusnak is seventh).
For his part, Payne’s 299,900 chips are over 90,000 more than Willcocks, a substantial chip lead for this point in the tournament. Of course, there is a long, long way to go. Now, if Payne can take advantage of his great start and make it deep into the tournament, there is a good chance it would be the best cash of his live tournament career. He has just five cashes on his resume, the largest coming in 2010 in a preliminary event at this same Aussie Millions when he placed sixth for A$21,340 ($19,696).
The final player tally after the three starting days was 629, broken down as follows: Day 1A – 157, Day 1B – 196, and Day 1C – 276. That created a prize pool of A$6,290,000 with the winner taking home A$1,600,000. Second place will also hit seven-figures, cashing for a cool million, exactly. Payouts will begin at 64th place, which will pay A$15,000. As mentioned above, Payne can have the best result of his life should he keep up the run he’s on. To eclipse his personal best cash, he will need to make it to 40th place, when the payouts jump to A$25,000.
Despite its popularity, this is the smallest Aussie Millions Main Event since 2006 when 418 players fought it out for a A$4,180,000 prize pool. The largest Aussie Millions took place in 2008 when 780 registrants hit the tables; Alexander Kostritsyn won the A$1,650,000 first prize.
About 320 players made it to Day 2 and will need to survive seven more 90-minute levels for the right to play in Thursday’s Day 3.
2013 Aussie Millions – End of Day 1 Chip Counts
- Brian Payne – 299,900
- Phillip Willcocks – 208,400
- Patrik Antonius – 204,800
- Slade Fisher – 199,400
- Kevin Rabichow – 183,900
- Mark McQuinn – 176,600
- Frank Rusnak – 165,100
- James Obst – 156,700
- Ayaz Mahmood – 154,700
- Billy Jordanou – 147,000
