The more things change, the more they stay the same. On Day 2 of the 2012 Aussie Millions, Robert Lam may have been knocked from the top spot, but right there, still stalking the chip leader is the one guy who can make any chip leader very uncomfortable, Phil Ivey. Lam is still in contention with 74 players remaining, having increased his stack to 225,000 chips, but that wasn’t nearly enough to keep up with Tim O’Shea, who ended the day head and shoulders above the field with 921,000 chips. Ivey is second with 778,500, while Aage Ravn is the only other player above the 700,000 chip mark, as he holds 708,500.
After a couple late entrants and an adjustment to the prize structure, the money distribution has been set. All told, there were 659 runners contributing to a AUD $6.59 million prize pool. The top 72 players will get paid, with the eventual winner banking AUD $1.6 million and those that just make the money rewarded with AUD $15,000. Here is a look at the official payouts for the final table, in Australian dollars:
1. $1,600,000
2. $1,000,000
3. $610,000
4. $405,000
5. $300,000
6. $230,000
7. $170,000
8. $125,000
9. $125,000
O’Shea reached the top of the leader board primarily because of one hand from late in the day. Already with a chip stack of almost half a million (which would have still put him in the top ten going into Day 3), he raised under the gun pre-flop and Josh Barrett called him from the big blind. The prime number flop of 3-5-7 produced some raising and re-raising prior to a 4 being dealt on the turn. At that, Barrett checked, O’Shea bet 125,000, and Barrett called. Similarly, upon seeing an Ace on the river, Barrett checked-called again, this time for 150,000 chips. That turn card is what did it for O’Shea, as he held A-6 for a straight. Barrett had flopped two pair with his 5-7 and was none too happy to see that he had been beaten. That pot launched O’Shea to the top of the field, as it grew his stack to 940,000 chips. Barrett fell to 245,000. He has since dipped below 200,000, but he is still alive and could be in much worse shape.
The beginning of Day 3 should be interesting, as only two players need to be eliminated for the money bubble to burst. Coincidentally, two players – James Sin and Patrick Lui – are in utter desperation mode, as their stacks of 10,500 and 7,000, respectively, are miniscule compared to the blinds and antes of 2,000/4,000/500. Three other players are only in the 30,000’s, giving them around 8-9 big blinds with which to play. Nobody else is below 12 big blinds.
Day 3 will start up at 12:30pm local time at the Crown Casino in Melbourne.
2012 Aussie Millions Main Event – End of Day 2 Chip Leaders
1. Tim O’Shea – 921,000
2. Phil Ivey – 778,500
3. Aage Ravn – 708,500
4. Jason Koon – 667,500
5. Oliver Speidel – 540,000
6. Patrick Healy – 521,000
7. Yann Dion – 495,000
8. Mohamad Kowssarie – 477,000
9. Rob Angood – 470,500
10. Janis Lesiwski – 463,500
