Hand #4: Samantha Abernathy had the button fresh off her knockout of John Apostolidis in seventh place. Play folded to Ari Engel in the small blind, and he raised all in against Kitty Kuo's big blind with the . Kuo folded, and Engel won the pot.
Hand #5: Engel had the button to start this hand. Tony Dunst raised to 125,000 with the from the hijack seat, and Dylan Honeyman, who was in the big blind with , reraised all in for 1.1 million. Dunst folded, and Honeyman won the pot.
Hand #6: Kuo had the button, and she moved all in for 845,000 with the to win the blinds and antes.
Hand #7: Honeyman had the button to start this hand, and Kuo raised from the cutoff seat to 125,000 with . Everyone folded, and she won the pot.
Hand #8: Engel raised from under the gun with the and won the blinds and antes.
Hand #9: On the button, Dunst raised to 135,000 with the to win the pot.
Hand #10: Alexander Lynskey opened from the hijack seat to 125,000 with the , and Dunst reraised to 275,000 from the cutoff position with an unknown hand. Play moved over to Engel in the small blind, and he reraised to 740,000 after some thought with the . Kuo folded from the big blind, Lynskey folded, and then Dunst also gave it up to give Engel the pot.
Hand #3: Action was on Apostolidis under the gun plus one and he made it 205,000 with . Action folded to Samantha Abernathy in the small blind and she shoved all in for 2.4 million with . Ari Engel quickly released from the big blind, Apostolidis made the call.
The flop came , doing nothing for Apostolidis. The on the turn was no help and neither was the on the river.
John Apostolidis made his exit in 7th place, good for AU$210,000. The six remaining players are guaranteed AU$270,000 from here on out.
Hand #1: Action folded to John Apostolidis in the cutoff with and he shoved all in. Everyone folded and Apostolidis took down the blinds and antes.
Hand #2: Ari Engel raised to 135,000 under the gun. Action folded to short stack Dylan Honeyman in the cutoff with and he pushed all in. The button and both blinds released and so did Engel. Pot to Honyeman.
World Poker Tour Raw Deal analyst Tony Dunst joins Remko Rinkema to talk about his path in poker, the importance of having good friends in the game, working for the WPT, and much more.
The final table is about to go underway, but the players havent taken their seats yet. Our coverage is on a 30-minute delay, so expect hand for hand updates to start a bit later as well.
After a grueling battle to get down from 40 players to a final table of 7 on Day 4, today is the day the 2016 Aussie Millions Poker Championship Main Event champion will be crowned. All 7 players had a day of rest and are guaranteed AU$210,000. But each and every one of them is eyeing that AU$1,600,000 first place prize.
Well rounded grinder Ari Engel is in best position, starting out in pole position with a staggering 8,155,000 (136 big blinds). Engel's biggest cash to date is $177,045 for winning the Punta Cana Poker Classic 2014so things must go real sour today - a Philip Hilm kind of level sour - for him to not break that personal record today.
Engel has steep competition, all just as hungry for the title. WPT host Tony Dunst is the biggest of Engel's rivals, bringing 100 big blinds to the final table this afternoon. It's already somewhat of a fairy tale for Dunst as he had given up on playing when he lost one of the two $5,000 chips that he was going to buy in with. Angered with himself and plenty flustered, the American World Poker Tour host was ready to up and leave Melbourne altogether, but friends talked him back into playing, and now he has reached the final stage in an epic turnaround of fortune.
The Aussie Millions Main Event final table is also headlines by two female players making their appearance. Kitty Kuo has kept her unbelievable streak of deep runs alive and is sure to cross the million dollar live earnings mark here today. Things really have to go her side today for her to win, as she starts out with just 17 big blinds. Samantha Abernathy is in better position with 41 big blinds, and she's sure to triple her live earnings here today.
Australian day 2 chip leader Dylan Honeyman starts out as the shortest stack in the field with just 885,000, good for 15 big blinds at the start of the day.
The Main Event final table starts at 12:30 local time (30 minutes from now). The live stream and our coverage with hole cards up, starts on half an hour delay.
Seat
Name
Country
Chip Count
Big Blinds
1
Dylan Honeyman
Australia
885,000
15
2
Alexander Lynskey
Australia
2,390,000
40
3
Tony Dunst
United States
5,990,000
100
4
Samantha Abernathy
United States
2,485,000
41
5
Ari Engel
Canada
8,155,000
136
6
Kitty Kuo
Taiwan
1,005,000
17
7
John Apostolidis
Australia
960,000
16
Year
Players
Buy-In
Variant
Champion
Country
Prize (AU$)
Prize (USD)
2016
732
AU$10,000
NLH
--TBD--
--TBD--
AU$1,600,000
$1,122,825
2015
648
AU$10,000
NLH
Manny Stavropoulos
Australia
AU$1,385,500
$1,094,737
2014
668
AU$10,000
NLH
Ami Barer
Canada
AU$1,600,000
$1,399,739
2013
629
AU$10,000
NLH
Mervin Chan
Malaysia
AU$1,600,000
$1,689,118
2012
659
AU$10,000
NLH
Oliver Speidel
Australia
AU$1,600,000
$1,647,158
2011
721
AU$10,000
NLH
David Gorr
Australia
AU$2,000,000
$1,978,044
2010
746
AU$10,000
NLH
Tyron Krost
Australia
AU$2,000,000
$1,845,921
2009
681
AU$10,000
NLH
Stewart Scott
Australia
AU$2,000,000
$1,420,737
2008
780
AU$10,000
NLH
Alexander Kostritsyn
Russia
AU$1,650,000
$1,450,396
2007
747
AU$10,000
NLH
Gus Hansen
Denmark
AU$1,500,000
$1,192,919
2006
418
AU$10,000
NLH
Lee Nelson
New Zealand
AU$1,295,800
$949,694
2005
263
AU$10,000
NLH
Jamil Dia
New Zealand
AU$1,000,000
$777,442
2004
133
AU$10,000
NLH
Tony Bloom
United Kingdom
AU$426,500
$323,456
2003
122
AU$10,000
NLH
Peter Costa
United Kingdom
AU$394,870
$221,862
2002
66
AU$5,000
NLH
John Maver
Australia
AU$150,000
$78,030
2001
101
AU$1,500
NLH
Sam Korman
Australia
AU$53,025
$28,368
2000
109
AU$1,500
NLH
Leo Boxell
Australia
AU$65,225
$38,483
1999
109
AU$1,000
PLH
Milo Nadalin
Australia
AU$38,150
$24,801
1998
74
AU$1,000
LH
Alex Horowitz
Australia
AU$25,900
$15,693
The player profiles underneath are courtesy of the PokerStars Blog:
Dylan Honeyman is a 25-year old professional poker player from Perth in Western Australia. An unassuming character at the table, Dylan’s quiet demeanour belies his aggressive play that has been honed in the online world under the moniker “WhiteRabbito”.
Dylan clearly enjoys the big stage of the Aussie Millions. His best live result came with a win in the Bounty Event at the 2013 Aussie Millions for AU$120,000. He also cashed in the Aussie Millions Main Event last year in 56th place. Now with at least AU$210,000 locked up, Dylan has recorded his best ever result and will be looking to at least climb a few more pay jumps as the short stack of the final table.
Dylan says that his progress through this tournament has been "a blur", but clearly it was Day 2 where he made the biggest impact where he ended the day as the chip leader. He says that he has enjoyed the excellent deep structure of this event and has had an amazing time in Melbourne. There would be nothing more amazing that to end his trip with the Aussie Millions title.
Another Australian young gun on this final table is Queensland’s Alex Lynskey. At just 25 years of age, Alex has already racked up an impressive poker resume at events all around the world.
Last year Alex rose to prominence with a deep run in this very event. He looked set to reach the final table before a cruel bad beat would send him home in ninth place. He has bettered that mark this time around and looks focused to gain vengeance with a run at the top prize of AU$1.6 million.
The 2015 Aussie Millions kick-started a great year for Alex with a couple of WSOP cashes and results on the EPT and UKIPT. However his biggest cash came with a final table result at the WPT Choctaw event where his sixth place finish was worth US$135,504. The experience he gained under the bright lights of that TV table will hold him in good stead for this final table.
Away from poker, Alex enjoys travel, food and sport, and he says that he has enjoyed the home field advantage over the international visitors at this event. He says he has enjoyed playing with such a good structure in a venue as great as the Crown Poker Room.
. Kuo folded, and Engel won the pot.
from the hijack seat, and Dylan Honeyman, who was in the big blind with 
, reraised all in for 1.1 million. Dunst folded, and Honeyman won the pot.
to win the blinds and antes.
. Everyone folded, and she won the pot.
and won the blinds and antes.
to win the pot.
. Kuo folded from the big blind, Lynskey folded, and then Dunst also gave it up to give Engel the pot.
. Action folded to Samantha Abernathy in the small blind and she shoved all in for 2.4 million with 
, doing nothing for Apostolidis. The 
on the turn was no help and neither was the 
on the river.
and he pushed all in. The button and both blinds released and so did Engel. Pot to Honyeman.
