Cary Katz Leads 14 Survivors into Day 2 of AU$100,000 Challenge
Welcome back to the 2019 Aussie Millions for Day 2 of Event #20: AU$100,000 Challenge from Crown Melbourne in Melbourne, Australia.
Friday saw a total of 33 entrants take to the field to contest the biggest buy-in tournament of the series, and with everyone seeing the field size grow throughout the day, many players fired multiple entries to try and grab that slice of Aussie Millions glory.
Registration remains open for the first level of play (ending at approximately 1:10 p.m.), and with the Main Event down to the final table of seven players and taking a day off, a couple players that manufactured deep runs such as Jack Salter and Michael Addamo may consider jumping in this tournament. A near-lock to enter was Bryn Kenney, but with him reaching the Aussie Millions final table, he may opt for the day off instead of taking a potentially long day on the felt here in the AU$100,000 Challenge.
With the field having one more hour to grow, there is a chance for this year's installment to creep up the leaderboard for biggest ever Aussie Millions AU$100,000 Challenge events.
| Year | Entries | Prize Pool | Winner | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | 76 | AU$7,486,000 | Yevgeniy Timoshenko | Ukraine | AU$2,000,000 |
| 2015 | 70 | AU$6,860,000 | Richard Yong | Malaysia | AU$1,870,000 |
| 2016 | 41 | AU$4,018,000 | Fabian Quoss | Germany | AU$1,446,480 |
| 2011 | 38 | AU$3,800,000 | Sam Trickett | United Kingdom | AU$1,525,000 |
| 2019 | 33 | AU$3,234,000 | -- | -- | -- |
| 2008 | 25 | AU$2,500,000 | Howard Lederer | United States | AU$1,250,000 |
Although 33 entrants took a seat on Day 1, just 14 players would survive into Day 2 after tweaks to the structure that saw the implementation of the big blind ante, along with the addition of a 30-second shot clock and four 60-second time extension buttons.
Leading those players into the final day of play is American Cary Katz who bagged an impressive 1,108,000 courtesy of a hand where he check-raised all-in on the turn on the penultimate hand of the night and went uncalled. Katz has collected high roller titles, final tables, and cashes all around the World, but the one place he has yet to collect a score on his way to compiling over $17.3 million in lifetime tournament earnings is here in Australia. Fortunately for Katz, he is currently in prime position to make a change to that.
Alex Foxen shot out to the chip lead in the first few levels on Day 1 before finishing with 999,000, while Manig Loeser fired three bullets in the event and ended with 872,000. Abraham Passet (751,000), Johannes Becker (730,000) and Tsugunari Toma (713,000) are the only other players that sit with an above-average chip stack.
| Table | Seat | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 | 1 | Michael Zhang | United Kingdom | 496,000 | 41 |
| 8 | 2 | Johannes Becker | Germany | 730,000 | 61 |
| 8 | 3 | Mustapha Kanit | Italy | 419,000 | 35 |
| 8 | 4 | Alex Foxen | United States | 999,000 | 83 |
| 8 | 5 | Abraham Passet | Germany | 751,000 | 63 |
| 8 | 6 | Huang Shan | China | 489,000 | 41 |
| 8 | 7 | Tsugunari Toma | Japan | 713,000 | 59 |
| 8 | 8 | Thomas Muehloecker | Austria | 528,000 | 44 |
| 10 | 1 | Andras Nemeth | Hungary | 242,000 | 20 |
| 10 | 2 | Michael Soyza | Malaysia | 399,000 | 33 |
| 10 | 3 | Dominik Nitsche | Germany | 390,000 | 33 |
| 10 | 4 | -- empty -- | -- | -- | -- |
| 10 | 5 | Cary Katz | United States | 1,108,000 | 92 |
| 10 | 6 | -- empty -- | -- | -- | -- |
| 10 | 7 | Manig Loeser | Germany | 872,000 | 73 |
| 10 | 8 | Rainer Kempe | Germany | 107,000 | 9 |
Play kicks off at 12:10 p.m. (AEDT) with the PokerNews Live Reporting Team providing continuous live updates of all the AU$100,000 Challenge. Registration and re-entries are open for one more level, so stay tuned right here to PokerNews.com for all the live coverage from the 2019 Aussie Millions.