Bubbles were burst, money was made, and a tear was even shed.
Day 3 of the 2015 Aussie Millions was a perfect example of the roller coaster ride that is a big buy-in poker tournament.
No one rode that roller coaster to higher peaks than Hong Kong’s Raiden Kan as he finished with the chip lead as just 30 players remain in contention for the title and the $1.6 million top prize.
Kan ultimately bagged up 1,775,000 in chips. He first skyrocketed over a million in chips when he made a full house holding 8♥ 8♦ on a 6♥ 2♥ 2♣ 8â™ 2♦ board against Dylan ‘WhiteRabbito’ Honeyman.
From there, Kan never looked back.
For those not familar with Kan, he has been a regular of the Macau poker scene for several years. His largest result came when he won the Macau Poker Cup Championship in 2011, while his most recent result was just a few days ago when he made the money of the $25,000 Challenge here at the Aussie Millions.
Others who made it through the day include superstar Brian Rast, Australian Aussie Millions gold ring winner Michael Pedley, Richard Lyndaker, Jesse ‘On The Mac’ McKenzie, Mike ‘Timex’ McDonald, Tony Hachem and 2007 APPT Sydney champ Grant Levy.
And 10-time bracelet winner Phil Ivey.
Also alive is None other than the reigning champion Ami Barer.
No player has ever won back-to-back Aussie Millions Main Events.
Even making the final table in consecutive years would be a huge achievement.
If anyone knows what it takes on this stage, it’s Barer.
For these players to have made it through to the penultimate day of the Aussie Millions, dozens of others had to have their dreams crushed.
None more so than bubble boy James Kennedy.
He was on life support when all in from the small blind holding Q♥ J♥ and ultimately fell to Victor Teng who held A♥ K♥ and flopped top pair on a A♠3♣ 2♦ flop.
Not surprisingly, once the bubble burst, the action was fast and furious as players started hitting the rail from every direction of the room.
Some of the prominent in-the-money eliminations include Germany’s Benny Spindler (70th – $15,000), Ireland’s Eoghan O’Dea (60th – $15,000), Billy ‘The Croc’ Argyros (53rd – $20,00), Terrence Chan (49th – $20,000) and Australian WSOP bracelet winner Andrew Hinrichsen (39th – $20,000)
Team PokerStars Pro Bryan Huang also finished in the money.
He was eliminated at the hands of the reigning champ in Barer when all in preflop for just over ten big blinds holding Jâ™ 9♥ against Barer’s A♦ 5♦ . Unfortunately for Huang, Barer made a flush and so it was over in 48th place, collecting $20,000.
While Huang and all the others who were eliminated will now have some time off to enjoy the Melbourne sun, the 30 who are still alive now have one thing on their mind – making the final table.
The final stages of the journey to the final seven begins at 12:30pm local time on Friday and once again all the coverage and updates you need can be found on the APPT9 Aussie Millions page here at the PokerStarsBlog – that’s where you will also find a full Day 4 seating draw and all the end-of-day chip counts.
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