Mitchell Carle Wins Aussie Millions Event 2

This tournament is unique to the Aussie Millions. In this event instead of playing on a traditional table using a dealer, chips and cards; the players will be using a computerized table called PokerPro. This table features 10 individual touch screen monitors for the players which displays their hole cards, amount of chips and a betting bar. Furthermore, the table has one large central monitor that displays the board along with the pot, essentially producing the environment of online poker while in a live setting.

The field for this event has been capped at 90 players spread over all ten of the PokerPro tables that the Crown Hotel & Casino possess. It has been entertaining watching the various players here who have never played on this system or type of event asking questions, one of which drew a chorus of laughter from those in attendance. The question was asked by Jim Sachinidis who asked “If I say I’m all-in, is it binding?”

With one level in the books thus far we have only seen one player head for the door, and ironically we have seen Pocket Kings vs. Pocket Kings twice and luckily for the players in both cases the pots were split. In last little while we have seen a few eliminations but nothing overly spectacular, they tournament staff here have confirmed our thoughts in announcing that they would be paying only the final table here today. In standard practice you would only pay out 8 for a field of this size but it wouldn’t be right to not pay the whole final table. Our winner here will take $25,000 AUD for his efforts and the 9th place finisher will get just under double his money taking $2,075 AUD.

With level 4 coming to a close the very outspoken and loud David Saab (who busted Annette Obrestad in event 1 amongst some questionable chatting) has been quite quiet here today and after battling for the whole of this day found himself mixed up in a hand where the board read 5d Jc Js 9h. After firing the turn David moved all-in on the river once 3s landed and was called quite quickly by Rubie who showed Ad Ac to best the Q’s held by David and he is done for the day.

Well known Norwegian “Poker Princess” Annette Obrestad was busted after a fairly quiet day today, in her last hand she found herself in a 60/40 race holding A-10 off vs. K-Q off. However her day came to an end when her opponent spiked the “Lady” on the turn and with no Ace on the river Annette_15 called it a day.

In one of the sickest hands of the event thus far, the action played out like a nightmare for one and a story for life for the other. Jozef Berec opened to 3,000 from UTG and watched Jim Sachinidis move his remaining 9,000 into the middle from the button, which was quickly called by Berec. At this Sachinidis saw the grime news as his Pocket Queen’s (Hearts & Spades) was absolutely dominated by Jozef Berec and his Aces of the same suits leaving Sachinidis a 5-1 dog.

However, Sachinidis emotions went crazy as the first card generated by the machine was a Qd, and in the next instant the Ac followed by the 3d left him nearly dead in the water with a 4% chance to win. If it could get worse it certainly did as the turn was the last remaining Ace in the Deck, the Ad giving Berec Quads, the pot and sending Sachinidis home.

With 8 levels in the books we have just 18 remaining from our field of 90, and those 18 have there sights set on the final table and the 25k first place prize. Wesley Whybrew has spent the last little while fending off elimination and as we see ourselves down to just 10 players left that battle has even more meaning now. Daniel Neilson made a raise from UTG and found himself up against an all-in from Whybrew and after some short deliberation made the call showing Whybrew A-K off leaving a virtual race against Whybrew’s Pocket 2’s. The flop brought the fatal blow as a King hit the board and set Whybrew home on the bubble in tenth, leaving the final nine to battle for all the money.

Before the players could be sent on a break after comprising the final table the ever speedy PokerPro table dealt out one more hand. In that hand Joris Jaspers saw his tournament come to an end. After opening the action to 5k Mitchell Carle made it 12k to go from the button and was met with an all-in re-raise from Jaspers and called. Carle showed Q’s to Jaspers 8’s and with a raggedy board reading ten high Jaspers left with $2,075 AUD in 9th place. So with 8 players remaining in our final table here is seat assignments and chip counts:

Seat 1: James Potter – 28,000
Seat 2: Mitchell Carle – 300,000
Seat 3: Michael Russell – 62,000
Seat 4: Nasr Elnasr – 97,000
Seat 5: Haibo Chu – 80,000
Seat 6: Daniel Neilson – 173,000
Seat 7: Daniel Noja – 31,500
Seat 8: Jozef Berec – 58,000

After a few rounds of the button the action has been slow and most pots ending before even a flop is produced by the PokerPro Machine; that was until James Potter and Nasr Elnasr got mixed up in this hand. After an UTG raise to 7k by Elnasr action was folded to James Potter on the button, he then made it 16k all-in and was called by Elnasr. Potter tabled the “Black Ladies” and was in great shape against the red A-J of Elnasr. However to Potter’s angst an Ace fell right on the flop and with only a Queen to save him he was left without and done in 8th place.

Following the elimination of Potter, players found themselves being knocked off pretty quickly. First Jozef Berec was eliminated in 7th, then Nasr Elnasr in 6th, and Haibo Chu in 5th. Play continued at a quick pace as Mitchell Carle has continued to pour on the pressure and start to drive this tournament home. Daniel Noja and Michael Russell found themselves out in 4th and 3rd respectively, leaving Daniel Neilson to try and stop the run away train. As both men head to heads up play the chip counts are:

Mitchell Carle – 622,000
Daniel Neilson – 207,000

Early on in the heads up action Daniel Neilson limped for 8k on the button and was faced with an all-in from Carle. Neilson could not have called faster had these two had real chips Neilson would have made it to the middle of the table first! Neilson was holding Ah 10d and was up against Qc 4h in the hands of Carle. Jh 2s Jc 5d 5s played out as the board and made Neilson’s Ace high good for a double up and level out the event. Carle proved that even in heads up with almost 10k on the line he wasn’t afraid to make a play for the tournament, with a flop reading 7s 5s Kh Carle check raised Daniel’s bet of 10k to 25k and was called. Following a turn card in the form of the 3s Carle fired again this time for 30k and was met by yet another call from Neilson. After a 5c fell on the river Carle moved all-in and that brought a fold from Neilson.

Following Neilson’s fold Carle clicked the show cards button and revealed 10d 9s which made a hand of 10 high and nothing but a triple barrel bluff. Following that hand it didn’t take long for this tournament to come to an end and that happened when Carle opened a pot to 20k and was re-raised to 140k by Neilson. With the cards on their backs Neilson’s Q-10 off was up against A-5 off of Carle. In the end Carle made an Ace on the flop that turned into a bicycle straight by the end and 25k.

Well thus far we have two events in the books and things are looking great here at the 2009 Aussie Millions. There is plenty more action to come here in the days leading up to the “Main Event” and we’ll be here all the way keeping you informed. Live from Melbourne Australia and The Crown Hotel & Casino have a good night and stay tuned to PokerProp for more coverage.