2011 January 24, Elaine Chaivarlis, Elissa Harwood

There was no rock band, no confetti, and the “shuffle up and deal” was given by the tournament director on Monday for the Day 1b flight of the Main Event of the 2011 Aussie Millions. Nonetheless, plenty of players came out, putting down AUD$10,600 to buy in all with the hopes of becoming the 2011 Aussie Millions Champion.

After seven levels of play, the 209-player field was whittled down to just 80. Jeff Rossiter is the man at the top, bagging 154,900 at the end of the day. Martin Drewe, 2011 Aussie Millions Event #1 winner, clocked in with 136,100, and that puts him third on the leaderboard. Australian online phenom, Jay “SEABEAST” Kinkade is just below him with 128,700, and European Poker Tour regular Jeff Sarwer sits fifth in chips with 120,500. Also in the top ten, is PokerNews Strategy instructor Randy “nanonoko” Lew (110,000) and Gavin Griffin (101,700) in ninth and tenth respectively.

Sorel Mizzi, Jeffrey Lisandro, Eric Assadourian, Team Full Tilt’s Chris Ferguson, Full Tilt Poker Red Pros Scott Montgomery and Roland de Wolfe, Neil Channing, and Lee Nelson have also all made it to Wednesday’s Day 2.

With those who made it through however, come the list of those who weren’t so fortunate. Full Tilt Poker $25,000 Shootout Invitational winner David Oppenheim, Annette Obrestad, Carlos Mortensen, Andy Bloch, David Benyamine, Andrew Feldman, Gus Hansen, Joe Hachem, and David Steicke all had their day cut short and can now take the rest of their time here in Melbourne to enjoy some of the Australian Open, or go sightseeing. The hope of a back-to-back Aussie Millions Champion is also non-existant anymore, as Tyron Krost was eliminated in a hand against Gavin Griffin where his ace-queen couldn’t improve against Griffin’s aces.

The third and final Day 1 flight kicks off on Tuesday in Melbourne, Australia at 12:30 p.m. local time and the PokerNews Live Reporting Team will be there to bring you all the action from the Crown Poker Room.

Million Dollar Cash Game

While there was plenty of Main Event action going on downstairs, there was even more upstairs in Studio 3 where the Million Dollar Cash Game was being filmed. It all got under way around 4:00 p.m. local time and while the usual suspects were involved, three new faces graced the felt as well. Phil Ivey, Patrik Antonius, Tom Dwan, Eli Elezra, and John Juanda were joined by three wealthy Chinese businessmen who are regulars in the high-stakes cash games in Macau.

The game was $500/$1,000 no-limit hold’em with a $100 ante. Juanda was paid in full for a flopped wheel and then won a few other pots to finish up nearly $250k and Dwan found himself scooping a $250k pot with a missed flush draw and jack high. Antonius lost a $300k flip and had to reload, but he was back in the black after flopping a boat 20 minutes later. He won a $435k pot with and a few more after that to make him one of the night’s biggest winners. Then, with the production crew on break, Paul Phua stacked Ivey and decided to call it quits. His friends joined him, and the game broke about five hours after it started.

Soon after, those seats were filled, as Andrew Feldman, Sam Trickett, David Benyamine, and Daniel Cates joined the game for the second session. Trickett and Benyamine were that sessions biggest winners.

Once the game was under way, Lynn Gilmartin went up to Studio 3 to check it out and brought us a look at the action.

Another line up of pros will take their seats for the televised Million Dollar Cash Game and you can bet that PokerNews will be there to bring you all the big pots and missed flops. So keep it locked to the Live Reporting Page from 4:00 p.m. to midnight local time.

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