2008 Aussie Millions

Event 7 - $3,250 Pot Limit Omaha w/Rebuys
Day: 1
Event Info

2008 Aussie Millions

Final Results
Winner
Winning Hand
9qjk
Prize
180,600 AUD
Event Info
Buy-in
3,000 AUD
Prize Pool
516,000 AUD
Entries
65
Level Info
Level
13
Blinds
2,000 / 4,000
Ante
0

Limp, Limp, Limp, Limp....

The "Italian Pirate" at Work
The "Italian Pirate" at Work
...Raise. Thus was the action in a recent hand that was won by Max Pescatori who put in a 9,000 pre-flop raise after Michael "Sticky" Guttman, Mike Sexton, Van Marcus and Lenny Barshack all limped into the pot.

Tags: Max Pescatori

Play Is Tight

The play has been rather tight and careful so far on the final table. We have nine quality players and you get the feeling that with the blinds currently quite small compared to their chip counts, that they are prepared to be patient and wait for the goods before they strike.

Lenny Barshack was able to capture a small pot off Tom "Durrrr" Dwan early in the proceedings, however Dwan was able to take his chips back in the following hand.

The flop was {5-Diamonds}{2-Spades}{4-Diamonds} and Barshack led with a bet of 4,000, to which Dwan called. The turn was the {2-Hearts} and an 8,000 chip bet by Barshack was called once again. The river brings the {A-Spades} and Barshack checks the action over to his opponent. Dwan cuts out chips and looks like making a value bet but thinks twice and checks his hand.

Barshack sheepishly flashes A-J-X-X knowing that his hand is beat as Dwan shows {3-Spades}{6-Hearts}{3-Hearts}{4-Spades} for the straight to take a nice pot.

Level: 9

Blinds: 600/1,200

Ante: 0

Final Table Demographics

The final table of Event #7 has to be one of the most diverse and talented groups of players that the poker world has seen in a long time.

Seat 1: Van Marcus
Marcus is an Australian pro who earned over $300,000 on the tournament trail last year. Marcus is well-known for his cash game play, both online and in brick and mortar venues.

Seat 2: Lenny Barshack
Barshack is an American player who has one WSOP final table to his name. He finished 5th in a $3,000 Pot Limit Hold'em event in 1998, good for a $23,220 payday.

Seat 3: Max Pescatori
Max currently sits second atop the Italian all-time money list. Pescatori has earned one WSOP bracelet and has recorded over 1.9 million dollars in career tournament earnings.

Seat 4: Mark Kassis
Little is known about local high stakes cash game player Mark Kassis, though he did put up a 40th place finish at last year's Aussie Millions. Kassis enters the final table as its leader with 99,700 in chips.

Seat 5: Jamie Pickering
If Jamie Pickering's Aussie Millions run ended today, it would be considered an overwhelming success. Earlier in the week, Pickering took down Event #4 $1,100 Limit Hold'em, good for a $39,360 payday. A win here today would certainly boost Pickering's ranking amongst Australia's top players.

Seat 6: Michael "Sticky" Guttman
A local favorite, Guttman comes from the Australian school of poker's hard knocks. "Sticky" has amassed over $700,000 in career tournament earnings and looks to add another notch on his belt with a win here today.

Seat 7: Lee Watkinson
Watkinson capped off a phenomenal 2007 with an 8th place finish at the WSOP Main Event, good for a $585,699 score. Watkinson is a member of Team Full Tilt and has earned over 3.2 million dollars in tournament winnings throughout the course of his career.

Seat 8: Tom "Durrrr" Dwan
"Durrrr" is a living legend amongst the online poker contingent, and can be found online playing in some of the biggest games the net has to offer. Dwan's best live finish was a 4th place result at the 2007 WPT Finals in Mashantucket ($324,244).

Seat 9: Mike Sexton
Widely known as the original ambassador of poker, Mike Sexton is one of the most accomplished players the game has ever seen. Sexton, a true professional in every sense of the word, has registered over 3.3 million dollars in career tournament earnings and comes to the final table with the second largest chip stack (71,000).

Stick around ... things are about to get interesting.

Tags: Mike SextonTom Dwan

Play Resumes

The nine final table contestants have returned from the break and have taken their seats at the feature table. Play will resume with blinds of 400/800 and Mark Kassis currently owns the chip lead with just under 100,000 in chips.

Dinner Break

The tournament clock has been paused while the nine remaining players take their dinner break.

Here's how they stack up at the break:

Seat 1: Van Marcus - 42,500
Seat 2: Lenny Barshack - 62,900
Seat 3: Max Pescatori - 60,300
Seat 4: Mark Kassis - 99,700
Seat 5: Jamie Pickering - 65,300
Seat 6: Michael "Sticky" Guttman - 38,200
Seat 7: Lee Watkinson - 35,500
Seat 8: Tom "Durrrr" Dwan - 41,600
Seat 9: Mike Sexton - 71,000

Tags: Mike Sexton

Final Table Set; Peter Peeters Bubbles

Peter Peeters Eliminated on Bubble
Peter Peeters Eliminated on Bubble
On a flop of {9-Spades}{3-Hearts}{2-Hearts} Peter Peeters checked the action to Lenny Barshack who fired out a 4,500 bet. Peeters made the call and the turn is the {10-Diamonds}. Peeters leads for 8,000 and Barshack pushes all in and covers Peeters. Peeters thinks for a moment before making the call and the cards are flipped:

Peeters: {10-Spades}{9-Clubs}{A-Clubs}{4-Diamonds}
Barshack: {K-Clubs}{K-Spades}{4-Spades}{3-Clubs}

Peeters is in great shape with top two pair as Barshack is drawing slim. However one of his outs is the {K-Hearts} which lands on the river to eliminate Peeters in dramatic fashion.

With this elimination our star-studded final table is now set. The players will now be taking 40-minute dinner break and we'll have the updated chips counts for you shortly.

Tags: Peter Peeters

10 Players Remain

Table 31:

Seat 1: Mike Sexton
Seat 5: Mark Kassis
Seat 6: Peter Peeters
Seat 7: Tom "Durrrr" Dwan
Seat 8: Lenny Barshack

Table 32:

Seat 1: Jamie Pickering
Seat 3: Max Pescatori
Seat 4: Van Marcus
Seat 5: Lee Watkinson
Seat 9: Michael "Sticky" Guttman

With 10 players remaining in the tournament, we've reached both the money and final table bubbles. Tournament director Danny McDonagh tells us that the dinner break will begin when we either lose one more player, or when we reach the end of the current blind level - whichever comes first.

Pickering Eliminates Two!

On the flop of {7-Clubs}{5-Spades}{A-Clubs} Mark Goodwin pushes the last of his chips into the middle and both Fred Bart and Jamie Pickering make the call.

The turn is {3-Hearts} and Bart also commits the rest of his chips with Pickering making the call.

Bart: {10-Diamonds}{Q-Diamonds}{4-Hearts}{6-Hearts}
Goodwin: {8-Clubs}{6-Clubs}{9-Spades}{4-Diamonds}
Pickering: {5-Clubs}{J-Spades}{K-Clubs}{A-Spades}

Bart and Goodwin share the lead with a straight, but they have to dodge a lot of cards on the river to survive. The river is the {Q-Clubs} and Pickering makes the nut flush to eliminate both players and take down a huge pot!

Tags: Jamie Pickering