2007 Aussie Millions Wrap up
The 2007 Aussie Millions is history. A record setting field of 747 poker players took to the felt for the main event, 16 of which represented team Poker.com. Professionals, such as the likes of Gus Hansen, Daniel Negreanu, Andrew Black, Paul Wasicka, Patrik Antonius, Joe Hachem, Greg Raymer, and many others made the trip to take place in the richest poker tournament in the Southern Hemisphere.Day 1 was split into two flights. The A flight found three of our players starting at the same table! LikMeSpeer, Jester3, and Goliath2180 were seated right in front of our makeshift headquarters, located right along the rail (and in the bar area). This allowed for Lenora (Jester3’s wife), Cornelius and Jon (father and brother respectively of Goliath2180) to watch the action up close. Goliath and Jester would live to see Day 2.
PaunchBoy, DruceDog, Lennie10, and Exebiche were also involved in the A-Flight action of Day 1, though these players did not survive to go through to Day 2. Blogger Poker Tour Member Viezeman, however, did survive Day 1A and was the chip leader for a short period during Day 1 play.
Speaking of Blogger Poker Tour members and Day 1 action, Day 1B saw BPT season two winner purechaos move through to Day 2, along with Tralala and Bertiewouster.
Day 2 had our players spread out a bit better. Scott (jester3) spent a great portion of the day on the featured table, while Jerry (purechaos) was seated with John Dagostino and Jean-Robert Bellande. Ben (goliath2180) was seated two to the left of Gus Hansen and was on the “other” feature table (there were two; we had presence on both). Gus would go on to bust out Ben when his deep stacked call on the button with two-three of diamonds would take on trip threes, busting Ben’s pocket Kings and ending his tournament day.
While our team started the day with numbers, come bubble time, only two remained - Bertiewouster (Korte), and Jester3 (Scott). For the most part, the entire tournament tightened up significantly, just as our players did. They were slightly short stacked, and looking to avoid confrontation. This was especially no easy task for Scott, as he was seated with the ever-so-aggressive Jimmy Fricke. While players were out folding one another from across the room, Scott made two tough lay downs, putting both pocket queens and pocket kings to the muck pile face up. His discipline was rewarded as he made it beyond the burst of the bubble.
In fact, for Bertiewouster and Jester3, they became the first players to make it beyond the bubble as a poker.com online qualifier. Korte would be the first of the two remaining players to bust out on Day 3, when he busted out with pocket kings vs. Ace King. The unforgiving flop delivered two aces and a nine. The turn brought a king giving Korte Kings over Aces, but his opposition held Aces over Kings. Korte was sent to the rail in 66th place, which was good for 15K AUD.
Scott would hold on for a while longer, as he increased his stack early on in day 3. However, his pocket queens would run right into pocket kings. I am typically good for “successfully requesting and receiving” one card a day; I called for his queen. Unfortunately, his queen came along side his opposition’s king, giving them set over set and ending the tournament for the Poker.com team. Scott would finish 52nd place, which was good for 20,000 AUD.
While our main event was collectively over, this did not end our adventure. Our host, BPT Commissioner Shane, and the “Queen of Hearts” Tina - our beautiful hostess kept the party going. The group would go on to go bowling and clubbing, as several of us continued to bring the “A-game.”
In our final days, many players took to the juicy cash games, entered the $500 freeze out, which Mark - Lennie10 did in fact cash, and took in the beauty that Melbourne has to offer.
On the final day of the tournament, it would be Gus Hansen overcoming a 3:1 deficit to defeat Jimmy Fricke heads up and take down the 2007 Aussie Millions. The trophy was presented at a player’s party, where the players were able to mingle, celebrate and/or drink away their sorrows.
Overall, the trip was most enjoyable. As media, there were several “challenges” thrown our way, many of which could not be overcome. Despite these challenges and issues, I am proud to have been a member of the poker.com team. On a personal note, this trip to Australia confirmed that both the players and the staff of poker.com are something special. It was an honor and a privilege to get to know each and every person associated with poker.com.
On behalf of all of the players and myself, special thanks goes out to Shane, Tina, Kris and the entire staff of Poker.com for being wonderful hosts and arranging for the amazing accommodations. And to the players… Each and every one of you have something to be proud of. It took something… a lot just to get to where you were. Congratulations to you all and thanks for allowing me the opportunity to get to know you.
Mike - imjusthere4thebeer
Mike was the guest blogger, courtesy of Grand Prize number two of the Blogger Poker Tour and writes regularly at the Poker Pub Poker Blog
