Once again we come to you live from Melbourne Australia and the 2009 Aussie Millions, today we have No Limit Hold’em w/Re-buys event an event type that always creates action. Today’s event will be spread over 2 days of action, and with 126 players we should see an impressive prize pool. Some of the well known players here today include Ivan Demidov, Alexander Kostritsyn, Annette Obrestad, Kelly Kim (Member of Nov. 9 alond w/ Demidov), Jeffrey Lisandro. The re-buy period will be during the first two levels upon the completion of the 2nd level players will be provided the option of a single or double add-on regardless of chip count.
The re-buy period has come to an end and we have seen a few players bow out prior to the end but only a handful. With re-buys all in the books we have a complete field of 126 players combining for 457 re-buys, creating a prize pool of $583,000AUD and leaving 18 players to cash here today for a minimum of $5,247AUD. Today’s play will conclude with the formation of the Final Table for Event 6 meaning that the field will have to be trimmed by 117 players.
Amongst the final table here today the only notable to be apart of it was Richard Ashby who’s chip count stands in 6th with 83,400 chips. The chip leader coming out of day one action is Jonathan “xMONSTERxDONGx” Karamalikis (153,000 chips) who is a well known internet player, sitting third in chips is a well known local player Tony Dunst (120,900 chips). The seat assignments and chip counts for the final table are:
Seat 1 – Sorel Mizzi 131,200
Seat 2 – Clark Hamagami 95,700
Seat 3 – Tony Dunst 120,900
Seat 4 – Mark Kassis 124,200
Seat 5 – Rayan Nathan 38,700
Seat 6 – Larry Karambis 79,900
Seat 7 – Jonathan Karamalikis 153,000
Seat 8 – Richard Ashby 83,400
Seat 9 – Peter Rho 49,400
Day 2 action was started off today missing Tony Dunst as he was over 30 minutes late due to some Melbourne traffic, and as a result was fortunate to miss only a big blind and one orbit worth of ante’s as he started the action today UTG. With action off and running Rayan Nathan managed early back to back double ups to build his stack back to 42k after suffering some early beats here today.
However, after his late arrival here today local pro Tony Dunst has turned his nice 121k chip stack into a 9th place finish following two tough hands. First was against Larry Karambis who raised Dunst’s early position raise of 5k up to 15k which drew a call from Dunst. The board fell Qd-9s-6s upon which Karambis opened for 30k, and Dunst shoved his stack in putting Karambis at risk of going home. Karambis insta called and tabled a beautiful pair of “Rockets” which left Dunst shaking his head as he put the always dangerous “Kings” on the table.
With only 2 cards in the deck to save him or perfect perfect straight cards Tony was in trouble. The turn and river blanked (7s & 4c) and Tony found himself in trouble. Following the hand Tony quipped to the crowd “I should have been an hour late!” On the next hand Tony got all his chips in against Sorel Mizzi on a 7c-8c-6h board holding 9’s against Mizzi’s 5’s. The turn landed a 7h on the turn and to Tony’s disgust a 4h on the river giving Mizzi the straight and Tony $11,077AUD.
Shortly after Mizzi took out Dunst, he ran into troubles of his own. After calling a raise of 6k by Karamalikis in the Cutoff both men saw a flop of 4h-4d-3c. Mizzi checked from the BB and Karamalikis bet out for 6,500 which Mizzi called. With a 7s on the turn Mizzi checked and tanked following a 14k bet by Karamalikis, which he eventually called. Mizzi then checked the 3d on the river to Karamalikis who again fired this time for 27,500, and again Mizzi tanked hard and following several intense moments Mizzi announced “Call!”
After which one has to wonder if Mizzi didn’t vomit in his mouth upon seeing Karamalikis “Two Pair of Fours” Karamalikis flopped QUADS! With that hand the rich get richer as Karamalikis is now just under 200k in chips.
Our next player to find his way out of the event was Peter Rho who started the day short stacked but is leaving here today in 8th with $16,907AUD for his efforts, after losing a 60/40 race to Mizzi. As the level came to an end Mizzi found his stack rebuilt and healthy at 150k following some well played hands.
With the break over it didn’t take long to lose yet another player this time our most well known Full Tilt Poker Pro Richard Ashby. Ashby got his money in with Ax-8x but walked right into As-Ks of Hamagami, and is leaving today with $22,737AUD in 7th place. Shortly after Ashby our short stack at the start of the day Rayan Nathan managed to improve his pay day by 4 places finishing h in 6th for $30,607AUD, after walking a Jd-8h and a very short stack straight into Q’s held by Larry Karambis.
Sorel Mizzi was our next player to find his way to the door after him and Karamalikis went for round 2! And to Mizzi’s misfortune he shoved in all his chips preflop with Jacks, and was up against Queens with both suits covered. With the board running out 7h-Ad-4d-6d-10s Mizzi is done in 5th for $37,895AUD and Karamalikis has over 425,000 chips and looks to take this event home. Larry Karambis was next to leave after he walked a pair of “Hockey Sticks” (7x-7x) right into Hamagami’s “Fish Hooks” (Jx-Jx).
If things weren’t bad enough Karambis was all but done after the flop fell 9x-Jx-9x and with that he leaves in 4th for $53,927AUD. Following our second Quads of the final table here today this time for Kassis who held the lone 8 on a 8x-8x-Xx-8x-Xx board, we say goodbye to Hamagami in 3rd for $82,203. Leaving us heads up here with just over $40,000AUD and the Gold Ring on the line, our chip counts are:
Jonathan Karamalikis – 598,000
Mark Kassis – 279,000
With the start of heads up play Jonathan “xMONSTERxDONGx” Karamalikis looks to be in great shape with a 2-1 chip lead of Mark Kassis. However after having all the luck go his way through out the vast majority of this event, Karamalikis had his luck change at the worst possible time. After crippling Kassis with a river trip 4’s it looked all but done for Kassis. However Kassis managed to double on the very next hand giving him some life back and a chance.
With things rolling Kassis way he took the chip lead just a few hands later and never looked back. After a few hands that left Karamalikis with just under 100k in chips he shoved allin from the button, leaving Mark Kassis to sweat his cards and upon pealing them he screamed out “CALL” and slammed down a Pair of Queens! Which were a massive favorite against Karamalikis and his 2d-3s.
However, with a flop of As-2h-7c things weren’t done yet. But as has been the case all through this heads up battle the turn brought misfortune for Karamalikis as the an “Ace from Space” fell on the turn, leaving Kassis just a Duece. The river was the 9d making Mark Kassis our champion here today and leaving Karamalikis in 2nd. For there efforts both men score over 100k AUD Kassis $160,320AUD and Karamalikis $120,098AUD.
We would like to thank all the players and staff here at The Crown Hotel & Casino and till next time goodnight and good luck!
Leave a comment on this article
Leave A Reply