The 2008 Aussie Millions Main Event field was narrowed to 22 of its original 780 players today as day three concluded. At the start of today’s play the remaining 96 players took to the felt but it took only one hand for the field to be narrowed to 95. Mike Matusow was the latest high profiled player to make his exit at the hands of a tough beat. Matusow moved in with pocket nines and was called by AK, the board was Ten-Six-Six and the turn was a harmless Deuce.
“Get that bad beat out of the way,” said Matusow, hoping he could dodge a bullet.
It didn’t work because an ace on the river sent Mike the Mouth to the rail in 95th place.
Max “The Italian Pirate” Pescatori was one of the players who ran well today which started with an early double up when his pocket kings beat out Raymond Rahme’s pocket eights. Although the river was meaningless, it brought the pirate a fourth king, making him one of two noteworthy players to double with quads on day three.
With 84 players remaining the most impressive laydown of the day, if not for the entire tournament, took place. After a large pot was built pre-flop, Robert Holster pushed his remaining 131,000 chips in on a flop of 10c-6c-4d. Jirair Ebeyan went into the tank for what seemed like an eternity and then folded pocket kings face up. The entire table was amazed at the laydown but most astounded was Holster who flashed pocket aces and appeared shocked that he did not capture 131,000 more of Jirair Ebeyan’s chips on the hand.
Australia’s own Jeff Lisandro was eliminated in 83rd place, two from being the bubble boy, when he pushed his short stack in with King-Nine and was called by Robert Akery who held Ace-Seven.
When the bubble was finally reached, two players, Charles Cuschieri and Lucio Baroni, were eliminated at same time and both split the payout for 80th place, $7,500 to each player.
After the bubble burst, players began being eliminated at a rather quick pace. The next notable elimination occurred when Perry Friedman got his money all in with A-7 on a flop of A-7-8 and was called by Matt Kirk who held four diamonds. Kirk completed his flush on the river to send Friedman to the rail in 77th place.
Two other noteworthy players were both eliminated when pushing all in with a weak ace only to be called by an opponent who held a better ace. The first was Erik Lindgren who got his money in with Ace-Four versus Michael Russel’s Ace-Queen. The second was Tom Durr who finished in 62nd place after running his Ace-Three against Remi Westrebo’s Ace-Ten.
Kenna James eventually finished the event in 53rd place but would not go down without a fight. He was on the short stack through out the bubble period but survived numerous rounds. With 68 players left he managed to double up after he out raced Con Angelakis’ pocket fives with his AJ. He then doubled up again with 60 players left when his pocket King-Ten made quad tens. James’ luck finally ran out when he got his money in with pocket nines but found himself up against Matt Kirk’s pocket aces.
Raymond Rahme’s hopes at making the final table of another major tournament were crushed when he got his money all in holding Ace-Queen on a flop of Q-10-2. His opponent Antonio Casale held pocket tens for a flopped set. The turn and river brought no help to Rahme and when the hand was completed he was out in 46th place, which paid $25,000 and Antonio Casale became the new chip leader with almost 1 million chips.
At the dinner break there were 39 players reaming and 3 players all sharing the first name Matthew found themselves in the top 5 of the chips count standings, with the top 5 chip counts being:
Alexey Rozenberg - 1,400,000
Antonio Casale - 935,000
Matthew Kirk - 790,000
Matthew Stout - 690,000
Matthew Lagarde - 690,000
After the break a few lesser known players were eliminated in between professional tournament celebrities Andy Black and Erik Seidel battling with one another. 
These two played several pots together at the featured table with the first big one coming when Black moved all in for 87,000 with J-9 Suited and was called by Seidel who held pocket deuces. Black was able to river the nut straight to stay alive and double to 180,000. These were chips he would soon send back to Seidel as the two continued to go at. The fatal hand for Black was when he came over the top of Seidel’s 24,000 chip preflop raise for his remaining 190,000 chips. When the cards were turned up Black held A-3 and Siedel held 10-10. Unable to find an ace on the flop, turn or river Black was eliminated in 34th place and received $30,000 for his 3 day effort.
Jason Potter, better known online as JP OSU, posted another strong performance in a live poker event but his day came to an end when Pescatori picked off Potter’s all in river bluff with only 2nd pair. Potter finished in 31st place which paid him $30,000.
Mathew Lagarde, who started the day in first place, was unfortunate to have his pocket kings run into Peter Ling’s pocket aces. He was one of the late day three eliminations and received $40,000 for his 26th place finish.
The final two players eliminated on day three both held King-Queen. Matthew Stout’s King-Queen was out raced by Robery Akery’s pocket Jacks and Gareth Teatum King-Queen was defeated by Erik Seidel’s Ace-Four. These two players finished in 24th and 23rd place respectively and each received $65,000 in prize money.
And here’s the end of day chip counts, courtesy of PokerNews.com
Antonio Casale - 1,513,000
Nico Behling - 1,306,000
Dane Lomas - 1,158,000
Max Pescatori - 1,082,000
Robert Akery - 940,000
Peter Mobbs - 908,000
Maximilian Bracht - 837,000
Michael Chrisanthopoulos - 803,000
Robert Holster - 770,000
Erik Seidel - 752,000
Nino Marotta - 710,000
Peter Ling - 679,000
Steven Miller - 560,000
Remi Westrebo - 518,000
Duncan Godfrey - 500,000
Patrick Kellogg - 5000,00
Jean Gianotti - 460,000
Alexey Rozenberg - 376,000
Alexander Kostritsyn - 366,000
Mark Kassis - 364,000
Hiroshi Shimamura - 297,000
Matthew Kirk - 215,000
Stay tuned tomorrow for the 2008 Aussie Millions Main Event, Day 4 recap.
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