Well, friends were back again live from Melbourne Australia and the 2009 edition of the Aussie Millions. Today we begin Event 4 and for the second day in a row we are going to be playing some limit Texas Hold’em. The buy-in for this tournament is $1,000 AUD + $100 AUD reg. Fee.
Yesterday’s event ran until past 6am local time and with everyone back for today’s 12:30pm start it could make for a long day for some of the people here. To our surprise yesterday’s winner Mel Judah is here for the start of today’s event and must be running on empty as he could have only had a few hours of sleep.
Annette “Annette_15” Obrestad is here again today; she was registered in yesterday’s event and had a seat yet did not show once during the whole day and was blinded off till her elimination from the event. The tournament staff has just announced the official numbers for the event. We have 140 entrants (or “runners” as they call it here down under) and of those the top 18 will get paid leaving the winner the Championship Ring and $35,000 AUD.
As we reach the first break there has been the usual table banter among tables but surprisingly no real big confrontations or big pots. We have just seen Jozef Berec and Josh Field take their walk to the door, as we come to the end of level 4 and with the blinds increasing and getting larger the action should begin to settle in.
We have just seen last nights champ Mel Judah get a great touch of luck as he was involved in a multi-way pot, that had a single raise preflop and happened to flop trips on J-5-J two spades board. He took down the pot and now sits at just over 6k in chips with the blinds 100-200. Annette Obrestad has found herself on a table with the ever flamboyant David Saab, and we have just watched what could turn out to be the first of many clashes between the two Pro’s. Annette opened to 500 from UTG getting Saab to call from the button.
The flop came down 5d 7d 10h, bringing a check from Annette who quickly check raised Saab’s bet, he then responded by saying “I’ll try to suck out” and called. The turn brought the 6s causing Annette to bet and Saab to call but not before laughing and saying “I’ll try to suck out”. When the Ace of clubs fell on the river Annette checked to Saab who fired a bet, following some deliberation she called and Saab tabled A-4 off for top pair and the board. Annette mucked and it appears that Saab did as he said he’d try and do Suck Out! Annette sits at the mid 8k mark and Saab is closing in on 14k.
Maya Gellar-Antonius is playing here today and thus far she is holding her own, she just got tangled up in a hand with local pro David Bach. Antonius made a heart flush on the turn and got action all the way through taking down the pot and increasing her stack to just over 18k. Annette Obrestad just proved yet again why she is among the world’s elite in the game of poker, on a flop of 2s-5c-7d Phil Willcocks check called Annette, and then after the Qd fell, he check raised her bet, upon which she made the call.
Once the river fell 4h Willcocks bet out yet again, and following a call from Annette, he instantly mucked his cards. To show her superior play, she then tabled her Kc-3d giving her nothing but King High! This was followed by a truly well spoken statement from David Saab who screamed out “Ownage!” followed with “Spank, spank! Denied!” However not long after that Phil Willcocks got his revenge when Annette went all-in on a flop of J-6-2 rainbow, her J-10 was in bad shape against K-K of Willcocks.
With no help on the turn and river Annette is done early once again here at the Aussie Millions. Maya Gellar-Antonius is holding her own here today and that is much more impressive considering she is at a table of Australia’s finest, at her table is Jason Gray, James Obst and Daniel Kochan.
Those of you who follow online poker will know James “Andy McLEOD” Obst who gained notoriety after tearing up online poker as a minor (under the age of 18 online poker’s minimum age), now that he is over 18 he is once again making a name online and is now hoping to make a name live
With just over 40 players remaining here today it will be interesting to see how things will play out as we make the run to the money. Our champ of last night Mel Judah who is running on probably next to no sleep has finally succumbed to the poker rail, hopefully Mel can get some rest tonight before tomorrow’s H.O.R.S.E. event. As we head towards the money Maya Gellar-Antonius is still going strong just having eliminated a player when his A-K could not improve against her lowly pocket 4’s. Here are our chip leaders as we head toward the money:
David Bach – 70,000
Zac Gruneberg – 65,000
Craig Bergeron – 43,000
James “Andy McLEOD” Obst – 38,000
David Gorr – 36,000
Young Aussie sensation Jason Gray has just been shown the way to the exit following a 3-way hand that went heads up on the flop leaving Gray’s Ace rag up against Jacks. There was no help for Gray and he is done, this was met by a cheer from well known Aussie player Billy “The Croc” Argyros who either is getting some revenge or going to be collecting on some last longer action. With 12 levels in the books 116 players have been shown the exit and now 3 tables remain with only 18 players getting paid.
We have reached the proverbial bubble and of all people to be at risk, Maya Gellar-Antonius found herself short stacked and all-in. She held 7c-6s and was up against Kd-8c of Ken Eastwood. The flop came down 5d-10d-Qs, followed by a 5s on the turn. This left Maya down to just a 6 or 7 to stay alive, and to her admiration a 7 of Spades fell, and she doubles to just over 12k.
However, her luck was short lived as James Obst knocked her out on the next hand when he made a gut shot straight on the turn against her suited A-K and she is gone on the bubble. As we start making our way to the final table the usually loud and flamboyant Billy “The Croc” is staying quiet as he has been fighting off the rail all day, however he got so chips after doubling up with A-K off against David Bach’s K-4 of spades and is trying to make a move now towards the ring. To Billy’s delight just a short while later he got all his chips in yet again with A-K off, this time fending off an Ac-10c from Timothy Guerin. Level 15 has just finished and the remaining 12 players are heading for a break with the final table within sight.
Shortly after returning from the break Timothy Guerin who just doubled Billy “The Croc” Argyros not long ago has called it a day after his middle pair failed to go perfect against the top two pair of Grant Levy. David Blatt who has faired well here today, and over the events as a whole so far found himself all-in with Kings and needing to avoid an Ace! However right on the flop the Ace “Came from Space” and David Blatt is done. With that we have our final table and it includes some well known names here in the land down under. The chip counts and seat assignments are as such:
Seat 1 Zach Gruneberg – 90,000
Seat 2 Ken Eastwood – 55,000
Seat 3 Grant Levy – 94,500
Seat 4 Jesse Maguire – 112,000
Seat 5 Craig Bergeron – 118,000
Seat 6 Billy “The Croc” Argyros – 18,000
Seat 7 David Bach – 37,000
Seat 8 Bruno Portaro – 117,000
Seat 9 James “Andy McLEOD” Obst – 57,500
Unfortunately local favorite Billy “The Croc” Argyros is the first gone here tonight at our final table after is A-Q was unable to beat 9d-7d of Grant Levy. Before calling the all-in bet from Argyros, Levy said “I apologize in advance” and with those words the 9 hit the flop and the turn and Argyros is done. It didn’t take long to lose yet another well known player here as David Bach left in 8th. Bach fell victim to the well known and often executed check down between Levy and Obst, With a King hitting the river Levy put in a bet forcing Obst out and winning the whole pot as Bach’s flush draw never came to fruition. With 7 players remaining, here is how it looks:
Zach Gruneberg – 190,000
Ken Eastwood – 155,000
Craig Bergeron – 90,000
Jesse Maguire – 86,000
Grant Levy – 70,000
Bruno Portaro – 48,000
James “Andy McLEOD” Obst – 45,000
As level 18 came to a close Bruno Portaro was unable to over come the short stack status and is leaving today in 7th place and $5,600AUD for his 14+ hours work. As this tournament appears to be drawing to a close we are losing more and more of the big names in this event. James Obst was unable to make his first ever live cash all the more memorable by winning, however a 6th place finish is impressive none the less. Not more than a few hands after Obst left our last well known poker pro Grant Levy took a bow to the remaining 4 players as he vacated the tournament area following his pocket 4’s demise to Grunebergs’ “Pocket Rockets”.
With level 19 in the books 136 players done for the night, here we are 4 men, one ring and nice little chunk of change hanging in the balance. The stacks sit as follows:
Zach Gruneberg – 350,000
Jesse Maguire – 170,000
Craig Bergeron – 120,000
Ken Eastwood – 60,000
It didn’t take long to go from 5 players to 4 and less time to get from 4 players to 3, as the clock draws on into the morning and the yawns increase it seems that we are on the brink of the finish here tonight. Ken Eastwood has just done as many other short stacks before him and made is exit. Not long after that Jesse Maguire did exactly the same and made his way out in 3rd leaving just Zach Gruneberg and Craig Bergeron to battle for the Ring! As heads up play begins Level 22 also starts a new and Gruneberg is commanding close to a 2-1 advantage in chips:
Zach Gruneberg – 427,000
Craig Bergeron – 273,000
With the blinds 6k and 12k that’s just over 20 big bets for Bergeron; Furthermore, just over 50 big bets in play total this should be quick. It didn’t take long for a big hand to develop heads up has been the case here for some strange reason. After a raise preflop from Bergeron on the button Gruneberg called bring a flop.
Flop: 6c-2h-8h
This sparked a betting war in which Gruneberg check-raised, only to be 3 bet by Bergeron which Gruneberg called.
Turn: 7s
Causing Gruneberg to check call Bergeron’s bet of 24k, and with that the final card.
River: Jc
Board: 6c-2h-8h-7s-Jc
Once again, Gruneberg checked and after sighing and commenting “I don’t think I can value bet” Bergeron checked and mucked against the Qs-8s of Gruneberg. That hand has given what most here would consider to be a strangle hold on the title for Gruneberg has he now sits nearly 4-1 in chips.
It didn’t take long for this event to come to a finish, on the final hand Bergeron made a raise from the button preflop, which was flat called by Gruneberg. The flop brought Qs-5s-8s and both players checked drawing a 2c on the turn, upon which all the money made it’s way into the middle.
Zach Gruneberg: Qd-9h
Craig Bergeron: Ks-2d
With the cards on their backs Gruneberg was ahead 70% to 30% but needed a bit of help to stay there. Bergeron was looking for any spade, any King or any 2 to double up and stay alive. Although to his dismay the 10c hit the river and he had to settle for 2nd. Leaving Gruneberg the Ring and an impressive $35,000 AUD. It only took 16.5 hours to get it down but when all was done Gruneberg has an amazing story that involves besting some of the best Australia and the World have to offer. The payouts are as follows, and once again I would like to congratulate all those who played on a day well done.
1st Zach Gruneberg $35,000
2nd Craig Bergeron $25,200
3rd Jesse Maguire $17,500
4th Ken Eastwood $12,600
5th Grant Levy $9,800
6th James Obst $7,700
7th Bruno Portaro $5,600
8th David Bach $4,200
9th Billy Argyros $3,500
10th Dean Blatt $2,100
11th Emad Tahtouh $2,100
12th Timothy Guerin $2,100
13th Joe Meissner $2,100
14th Joshua Wilson $2,100
15th Dan Shak $2,100
16th David Gorr $2,100
17th Russel Stevenson $2,100
18th Tak Lee $2,100
For all of us at PokerProp hank you for taking the time to catch up today on the happenings at the Aussie Millions live from the Crown Hotel & Casino in Melbourne Australia.
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