Defending Champ Falls and Dean Schneider Thrives on Day 1b
The 2014 Aussie Millions Main Event continued on Monday as 153 players entered the second of three starting flights. hat number was down slightly from Day 1a’s 176 runners, but that wasn’t exactly a surprise considering it overlapped with the Super Bowl.
Still, it was a full day of action as dozens of players hit the rail over the course of seven 90-minute levels. By the time the clock expired for the night, 81 players remained with Dean Schneider and his stack of 188,800 leading the way.
Others who bagged up big stacks were Gareth Dwyer (161,100), Daniel Neilson (119,900), Michael Hussey (106,400), Michael Laming (105,000), and Tim English (104,200). Furthermore, notables Erik Seidel (116,800), Antonio Esfandiari (77,700), and Paul Klann (56,200) all advanced to Day 2.
We caught up with Schneider late on Day 1b to find out how he acquired his stack:
It was a busy day of action in Crown’s Poker Room on Monday as 30 players returned in the $25,000 Challenge to play down to a winner and a sea of tables were set up to accommodate the second starting flight of the 2014 Aussie Millions Main Event.
As the day wore on plenty of players hit the rail including Michael Egan, Aaron Benton, 2011 champ David Gorr, Andy Lee, Luke McLean, David Steicke, and defending champ Mervin Chan.
Chan was the only player not to experience elimination last year on his way to a $1.6-million payday, but this year he had to deal with it in Level 6 (250/500/75) in brutal fashion. The betting details remain a mystery, but we do know that Chan was sent to the rail by Sotirios Kappas.
The last of Chan's chips went in on the river with a board reading 
, and he was likely confident with his 
flopped Broadway straight. Unfortunately for him Kappas, who won a big pot earlier in the day by hitting running cards, managed to make a runner-runner full house with the 
. A shell-shocked Chan watched his chips pushed across the table and then took his leave from the 2014 Aussie Millions Main Event ensuring that a new champion will be crowned.
Day 1c is set to kick off at 12:30 local time on Tuesday, and it’s expected to be the biggest and best starting flight yet. Among those expected to take their shot are Daniel Negreanu, Angel Guillen, Jason Mercier, Dan Smith, Philipp Gruissem, Scott Seiver and Dan Shak. Join us then as we bring you all the latest and greatest from Melbourne.
In the meantime, check out this video on how to stay healthy while on the road: