2011 January 27, Elaine Chaivarlis, Matthew Parvis

Thursday at the 2011 Aussie Millions in Melbourne, Australia, was action packed, as the Main Event drew closer to a final table, the world’s biggest buy-in tournament soared past expectations, and more.

The Main Event saw 76 players come back for play on Thursday, and all but four made the money. The bubble burst with the simultaneous elimination of Carter Phillips and Julius Colman, meaning they would spilt a min-cash of AUD$15,000. After the bubble burst, the action flowed freely at the tables and by the dinner break, there were 36 players left, and Randy Dorfman, chip leader at the start of the day, had been overtaken by Team Full Tilt’s Patrik Antonius. Antonius didn’t hold on to the chip lead the whole night, and will go into play on Friday in seventh place on the chip leaderboard with 958,000.

At the top spot is Chris Moorman, with 1,643,000. Just behind him is Mark Vos with 1,200,000. Dorfman still looms, and sits in the fourth spot. One player who is no stranger to this event is Sorel Mizzi, he final tabled this very event last year, finishing third. Mizzi is taking 965,000 into Friday’s play.

Play begins at 12:30 local time inside the Crown Poker Room, so if you’re in the Melbourne area, stop by and rail the action, and if you’re not, you can rail the action on the PokerNews Live Reporting Blog.

$250,000 Super High Roller

Will it or won’t it? There were rumblings at the beginning of the 2011 Aussie Millions that a $250,000 Super High Roller tournament would happen, but nothing was for sure. The format changed a number of times and just a day before the event, just four players were confirmed. On Thursday, those four were multiplied – five times. Yes, 20 players ponied up $250,000 to buy into this historic tournament. Among those were Phil Ivey, Tom Dwan, Chris Ferguson, John Juanda, Daniel Cates, the three Chinese businessmen who took part in the Million Dollar Cash Game, Paul Phua, Richard Yong and Wang Qiang, and $100,000 Challenge winner, Sam Trickett.

One by one the field thinned, thanks in part to a super fast structure meant to ensure the trio of Phua, Yong and Qiang would be able to catch a flight Thursday night, but also thanks to the amazing run-good and skill Trickett.

After what felt like a final table massacre, thanks to the handy work of Trickett, only poker’s newest hall of fame inductee, Erik Seidel and the young Trickett were remaining. Trickett held a sizable chip lead, and it looked like he would go back-to-back in two of the biggest tournaments in poker history. Seidel, however would not relent finding one timely double up after another. Soon, the players were even, yet Seidel had all the momentum, chipping away one pot at a time at Trickett who was clearly getting frustrated.

After about 45 minutes of heads-up play, the stacks were firmly swapped, with Seidel holding the chip lead. Trickett picked his spot, attempting to double, but unfortunately for him, Seidel was firmly in front with top-pair, and was able to hold, eliminating Trickett in second place, and earning Seidel the $2.5 million first prize.

If you want to check out all the action from the $250,000 Super High Roller, head on over to the PokerNews Live Reporting Blog. Lynn Gilmartin caught up with Seidel shortly after his win, and you can watch that interview below.

Event #15: $10,500 8-Game Mixed Event

This year is the first time that the $10,500 8-Game Mixed event was added to the schedule at the Aussie Millions. In all, 28 players entered the event, including Jeffrey Lisandro, David Oppenheim, Eli Elezra, Daniel Alaei, David Steicke, Maria Ho, Andy Bloch, and Justin Smith.

After 12 hours of play, a final table was reached, but just five of them made the money, and while a winner was supposed to be crowned on Thursday night, after Mike Watson was eliminated in fifth place, the final four players decided to call it a night at 4:00 a.m. and resume play in Friday afternoon. Headlining the final four is Maria Ho, bagging 187,100 at the end of the night. Just behind her is Andy Bloch with 163,700. Robert Campbell sits in third with 122,000 and Justin Smith rounds out the final four with 87,200.

Play gets under way on at 2:15 local time and you can bet PokerNews will be there covering all the action.

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2011 January 28, Elaine Chaivarlis

You’ve made it to another weekend. You can look forward to Sunday, though, because you’ll be able to rail the third installment of the PokerStars SuperStar Showdown. We’ll give you the details on that, the World Poker Tour Southern Poker Championship, and more. Read this and go enjoy your weekend!

In Case You Missed It

Wondering how you can win your seat to the NBC National Heads Up Championship? Kristy Arnett fills you in in the latest edition of the Sin City Series.

The 2011 World Series of Poker schedule was released this week and we’ve decided to take a look at some of the events. Here’s a closer look at the hold’em events, which comprise more than half of the events on the docket.

While there was plenty of high-stakes tournament action at the 2011 Aussie Millions this week, that doesn’t mean that the high-stakes action online diminished. Check out the Online Railbird Report for more on Gus Hansen and Daniel Cates’ big week.

Soon after he busted the $250,000 Super High Roller at the 2011 Aussie Millions, Tom Dwan tweeted that poker needed to have a series of super-high-roller events. In our latest PokerNews Op-Ed, Rich Ryan takes a look at why this is a good idea.

PokerStars SuperStar Showdown III

The third installment of the PokerStars SuperStar Showdown has recently been announced. Viktor “Isildur1″ Blom will take on Daniel “w00ki3z” Cates on Sunday, Jan. 30 at 5:30 p.m. EST. If you aren’t familiar with the format, the two must play 2,500 hands across four tables at $50/$100 or higher. On Sunday, Blom and Cates will play four $50/$100 no-limit hold’em tables. Blom is one and one in the SuperStar Showdown, losing to Issac Haxton in the first match, but winning against Tony G in the second.

We don’t know who is going to take this match, but we do know that it’ll finish before the “durrrr” Challenge will.

If you want to rail the match, you’ll need a PokerStars account, so why don’t you sign up for one.

World Poker Tour Southern Poker Championship: Alexander Kuzmin Wins

At the start of the fifth day of the World Poker Tour Southern Poker Championship, six players took their seats with one thing in mind: taking home the title and $600,000+ first-place prize. Alexander Kuzmin led the way at the start of play, but Allen Carter was close behind him. Carter had the chance to make history because no player has ever won the same WPT event. Carter won the WPT Southern Poker Championship in 2009.

Carter just barely missed out on history this time when he was eliminated in third place, taking home $218,471. Though Kuzmin didn’t hold on to the chip lead the whole day, he held on to it when it counted, and after a heads-up match with Leif Force that lasted 60 hands, Kuzmin was crowned champion of the WPT Southern Poker Championship. He took home $601,469, a WPT bracelet, and a Beau Rivage bracelet — not to mention the $25,000 buy-in to the WPT World Championship that was included in the first-place prize.

WPT Southern Poker Championship Results

1. Alex Kuzmin – $601,469
2. Leif Force – $315,790
3. Allen Carter – $218,471
4. Shannon Shorr – $144,985
5. Pat Mahoney – $113,208
6. Ryan Hughes – $89,375

If you want to check out the play-by-play, head on over to WorldPokerTour.com.

Bwin Shareholders Approve Merger

On Friday, Bwin’s shareholders unanimously approved the proposed merger with PartyGaming. If PartyGaming also approves the merger, the company will be renamed bwin.party Digital Entertainment Plc.

The decision to merge was announced on July 29, 2010. In a prospectus released to PartyGaming shareholders in December, it was suggested that both companies would retain their core existing brands but would operate under bwin.party Digital Entertainment Plc, which would be headquartered in Gibralter and listed on the London Stock Exchange. Bwin shareholders are expected to hold 51.6 percent of shares and the current PartyGaming shareholders would have 48.4 percent.

If you’d like to read more on the merger, you can do so on EGRMagazine.com.

First Inside Deal of the Year

ESPN’s Inside Deal crew is back, but there’s been a change in the lineup. Laura Lane is no longer hosting the show. Instead, ESPN MMA Live’s Jon Anik has taken over those duties and joins Andrew “the Feld” Feldman and Bernard Lee to discuss the 2011 World Series of Poker schedule. They also speak with Annie Duke about the pro poker league that was announced recently, and they talk with Galen Hall about his win at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure.

Looking for that Edge?

Have you ever considered using an imitation blogger to get that little edge in a tournament? Check out the video “guide” by Lynn Gilmartin, Donnie Peters, and Tim Duckworth. And just in case it’s not crystal clear in this video, PokerNews does not support cheating of any form.

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