Le Monde du Poker.

January 21 2012, Chad Holloway, Donnie Peters, Josh Bell

With the 2012 Aussie Millions Poker Championship nearing the start of the AUD$10,000 Main Event, not to mention the $100,000 Challenge and $250,000 Super High Roller, a virtual who’s who of poker royalty have made their way to Melbourne, Australia, including Daniel Negreanu, Erik Seidel, Patrik Antonius, Barry Greenstein, and Gus Hansen. However, before the major events occur, there is still plenty of preliminary action to be had.

Here’s a look at the action from Day 10 of the 2012 Aussie Millions Poker Championship:

Event #6: $1,100 No-Limit Hold'em with Rebuys

Event #6: $1,100 No-Limit Hold'em with Rebuys recommenced on Saturday as a stacked final table played down to a winner. The tournament originally attracted 92 players who accounted for 331 rebuys, creating a massive $423,000 prize pool. The final table, all competing for a $122,670 first-place prize, consisted of some familiar names including Tyron Krost, the 2010 Aussie Millions champ; Dan “djk123” Kelly, who won Event #2: $1,100 Pot-Limit Omaha earlier in the week; online stars Jim “Mr_BigQueso” Collopy and Jonathan Karamalikis; and German pro Marvin Rettenmaier.

Australian pro Michael Pedley outlasted them all to capture the title for the second time in five years!

Here is how things stacked up at the beginning of the day:

The first elimination of the day came when action folded to Michael Benvenuti in the cutoff and he opened to 3,500, which Rettenmaier called from the big blind. Both players proceeded to check the flop, and the was put out on the turn. Rettenmaier was first to act and led out for 3,800, Benvenuti called, and the hit the river.

Rettenmaier thought for a few moments before moving all-in — enough to put his opponent at risk. Benvenuti hit the tank for a solid three minutes before a clock was called. At this point, Benvenuti announced a call only to muck when Rettenmaier rolled over for trips. Benvenuti was eliminated in tenth place.

Then, a short-stacked Andrew Scarfe hit the rail after his failed to get there against Krost's . After that, a hand developed that changed the course of the tournament. It began when action folded to Rettenmaier on the button and he raised to 4,200. Karamalikis was in the big blind and pushed back to the tune of 10,600. Rettenmaier thought for a moment and then four-bet to 22,900, and Karamalikis simply moved all-in for 101,900 total. Rettenmaier looked a bit blithe and made the call, creating a pot of around 205,000!

Showdown

Karamalikis was ahead and stayed there as the board ran out , doubling him into a big chip leader, while Rettenmaier, who began the day as chip leader, was reduced to the short stack.

After losing that pot, Rettenmaier was unable to recover. His demise came when he ran into Krost's . Rettenmaier failed to hit an ace and was dispatched in eighth place. He was followed out the door by Tony Sama, who’s couldn’t overcome Mike Watson's .

The next elimination came when Collopy raised to 6,000 under the gun and Kelly, who was next to act, three-bet to 13,300. Action folded back around to Collopy and he moved all-in for a little over 50,000, which Kelly called.

Showdown

Collopy was dominated and in need of a ten, and while the window card was the , it was followed by the and on the flop. Both players had flopped a set, meaning Collopy needed to catch the case ten to survive. The turn was not it, and neither was the river. Collopy was eliminated on the hand in sixth place.

From there, Watson raised to 6,000 and Kelly opted to call from the big blind. The flop brought out and both players checked. The turn was the and Kelly lead out for 11,000. Watson gathered some chips and pushed a raise to 25,000 forward. Kelly announced he was all-in and Watson sighed as he made the call for his tournament life.

Kelly turned over for a flopped flush and Watson threw his cards face down towards the muck. The dealer turned over his and he was drawing dead. The completed the board as Watson shook hands with his opponents and exited in fifth place.

Krost was the next casualty when he got all-in preflop with against Kelly's . The board ran out and the former Aussie Millions champ made his way across the room to take his seat in the 10th Anniversary Tournament of Champions, which had begun about an hour earlier.

The three-handed battle was intense as chips bounced back and forth between all the players. Kelly was the next to fall when he moved all-in preflop with and was called by Pedley who was holding . The board ran out , eliminating Kelly.

The heads-up match between Pedley and Karamalikis was fairly short, though both traded blows. Eventually Pedley managed to pull out to a decent chip lead and called Karamalikis’ all-in bet of 117,000. Pedley held and had Karamalikis' crushed. The board ran out an uneventful , and Pedley captured the Aussie Millions $1,100 NLHE with Rebuys title for the second time in five years.

Event #7: $1,650 Feature Event, No-Limit Hold'em Bounties

Dozens of players hit the rails throughout the day in Event #7: $1,650 NLH Bounties. Only 32 players survived to Day 2. Each of these players will be guaranteed at least $3,000, but the $119,500 first-place prize is what they're all are gunning for.

Once the field was dwindled down to 32 in Event #7, there was a redraw and the format changed to a shootout tournament.

Some of the players who didn’t manage to make it to the shootout stage included Maria Ho, Barry Greenstein, Roberto Romanello, Vitaly Lunkin and Mel Judah.

It took almost 12 hours to make it to the final 32. Mark Montague was the unlucky bubble boy, and once the shootout stage was set, the players bagged up their chips, and the tables for Sunday’s Day 2 were arranged. There was a seeded redraw based on chip counts, with a sliding scale used to organize the four tables of eight players.

Melanie Weisner will start the final day with the chip lead, returning with a whopping 241,100. Joining Weisner as the chip leader of their respective tables includes Jamie Pickering, Hans Dorn and Mark Betts.

Top 5 Chip Counts

10th Anniversary Aussie Millions Tournament of Champions

With the 2012 Aussie Millions marking the 10th anniversary of the series, a special Tournament of Champions event was added to the schedule. The event was a winner-take-all — one that saw eight of the nine Aussie Millions Main Event winners take to the felt to try and get their hands on the "golden ticket."

The "golden ticket," the first-place prize, will grant entry to the Aussie Millions Main Event every year for an entire lifetime. The eight players who attended were Peter Costa (2003), Tony Bloom (2004), Jamil Dia (2005), Lee Nelson (2006), Gus Hansen (2007), Stewart Scott (2009), Tyron Krost (2010) and David Gorr (2011).

Play moved along quite steadily until Krost found himself heads-up with Bloom and the two were just about even in chips. Krost, who begun the day with an empty seat due to the fact that he was at the final table of Event #6, did very well to fight the short stack for most of the day and get down to the final two.

He chipped away at Bloom before taking a massive lead in one big confrontation that saw both players get their money in on the flop holding top pair. Krost had the better kicker and it held to give him the commanding lead.

From there, Bloom doubled a couple of times, but couldn't out-race Krost's . Bloom's pocket nines held until the river, but that's where Krost hit his ace to win the hand and the event.

Krost, 25, picked up a lifetime of Aussie Millions Main Event buy-ins.

Upcoming Events

The PokerNews Live Reporting Team will be on hand to bring you live updates from the final day of Event #7 $1,650 NLHE Bounties. The 2012 Crown’s Aussie Millions Poker Championship Main Event will also kick off, as well as the high stakes action of the $100,000 Challenge.

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