Aussie Millions 2019: Paul-Francois Tedeschi Leads 79 Survivors on Day 1A of Main Event

The most-awaited tournament at the ongoing 2019 Aussie Millions i.e. the A$10,600 Main Event is now well underway. The first of the event’s three starting flights played out over the weekend after defending champion Toby Lewis administered the ‘Shuffle up and deal’ announcement to formally declare the event open.

Entries trickled in steadily to bring a total 165 hopefuls to the field. After an action-packed run, only 79 of them still remain standing for Day 2. France’s Paul-Francois Tedeschi (cover image) is at the helm with a stack as big as 195,400. Tedeschi had a good head start early on in the day but he climbed up the rankings shortly after the dinner break to bag the chip lead.

From the Indian contingent we saw 2019 APT Vietnam Main Event winner Abhinav Iyer take to the felts. However, Iyer failed to make Day 2. He was reported to be in action well past the eighth level but ended up joining the rail before the day closed out.

Meanwhile, the second starting flight i.e. Day 1B of the Main Event is presently underway. The field had grown to 243 by Level 3 with late registrations still open. With these numbers, the Main Event seems well on track to match last year’s numbers of 800 entries.

We can look forward to several other Indians entering the event in the two remaining starting flights. Expected attendees are Raghav Bansal and Paawan Bansal. Interestingly, the poker pros are also big fans of lawn tennis as Raghav and Paawan, all made the most of their time Down Under as they went to watch the 2019 Australian Open Tennis finals between Noval Djokovic and Rafael Nadal at Melbourne Park yesterday.

We can look forward to several other Indians entering the event in the two remaining starting flights. Expected attendees are Raghav Bansal and Paawan Bansal. Interestingly, the poker pros are also big fans of lawn tennis as Raghav, Paawan and Aditya, all made the most of their time Down Under as they went to watch the 2019 Australian Open Tennis finals between Noval Djokovic and Rafael Nadal at Melbourne Park yesterday.

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For an ardent tennis fan there are few things better in life than a Nadal vs Djokovic grand slam final, watching this match live I'm struggling to come up with one. Hoping for another six hour marathon! #vamos #australianopen #tennis

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Trailing Tedeshi in chips after Day 1A are Ong Dingxiang (186,000) and Pierce McKellar (170,100). The players are familiar names at the Aussie Millions and both had final tabled separate event sat this series last year. Ong had finished third in the Six Max, while McKellar had made a fifth place finish at the Opening Event last year.

Other notables who survived the opening flight are Mel Judah (48,200), former Main Event champion David Gorr (51,200),Benny Glaser (56,200), Anthony Hachem (62,100), and Dzmitry Urbanovich (76,300), Alex Lee (79,800), Australian bracelet-winner Jackie Glazier (84,800), 2018 WSOP Main Event final tablist Michael Dyer (86,200), Indian-origin player Ajay Chabra (92,400), 2019 Eight-Game champion Michael Gathy (101,200) and Vojtech Ruzicka (125,500).

Day 1A Recap

One of the most anticipated events of the ongoing 2019 Aussie Millions, the $10,600 Main Event is finally on! The opening flight kicked off with a bang over the weekend and it was defending champion Toby Lewis who flagged off the proceedings.

The entry field kept building up steadily with a number of poker prominent registering to enter. Early notables to enter the field were Aussie Hall of Famer Mel Judah, Aymoh Hata, Sam Khoueis, Johannes Becker, 2018 Aussie Millions finalist Johan Schumacher.

By the time registration closed for the day, the field had grown 165-strong. Eliminations saw players hit the rail fairly quickly and at the end of the day only 79 managed to find bags for Day 2, with French pro Paul-Francois Tedeschi (195,400) leading the pack.

Some of the early eliminations included Antonio Casale, Michael Moore, Jessica Ngu, Kenny Hallaert, Graeme Putt and 2018 Aussie Millions Main Event finalist Johan Schumacher.

Another Indian challenger Abhinav Iyer was seen in the thick of action at the flight. At Level 8, Iyer scored a big double up in a cooler of a hand when he flopped a full house with and his opponent hit a set holding on the flop . Iyer’s opponent failed to connect on the turn and the river and Iyer doubled up to over 70,000. However despite the big boost, Iyer failed to make it till the end of play.

Former Main Event champion Ari Engel was eliminated at the hands of Heidi May who held pocket kings against Engel’s jack-ten suited. May himself was eliminated in the final level of the evening after she lost a big pot to Luc Meritan where May flopped top pair with ace-king against Meritan’s pocket jacks, and Meritan rivered a jack to stay alive. Left with crumbs, May was eliminated shortly thereafter.

Shortly before the dinner break, another former Aussie Millions Main Event winner Manny Stavropoulos also hit the rail after finding his straight run down by an opponent’s superior straight.

Dingxiang Ong (186,000) is the next big stack after Tedeschi. Ong skyrocketed to the top towards the end of the evening after he won a big 3-way all in pot with his pocket aces getting the better of Dzmitry Urbanovich`s cowboys, and a third player who held pocket tens. Ong would have chip led the Day 1A survivors had it not been for the final hand of the night where he lost a sizeable chunk of his stack to Pierce McKeller.

Pierce McKellar (170,100) and Quan Zhou (168,600) are also carrying big stacks for Day 2.

Top 10 Chip Counts At the End of Day 1A

1. Paul-Francois Tedeschi – 195,400
2. Ong Dingxiang – 186,000
3. Pierce McKellar – 170,100
4. Quan Zhou – 168,600
5. Jeremy Pekarek – 153,000
6. Chao Duan – 129,300
7. Mihai Barbu – 127,0008
8. Thorben Vellrath – 126,900
9. Vojtech Ruzicka – 125,500
10. Antonio Tavella – 104,000

Content & Images courtesy: PokerNews/crownmelbourne.com.au

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*Please note that we had erroneously reported that Aditya Sushant had played and was eliminated on Day 1A of Aussie Millions Main Event. The same has been rectified in this report on 30.01.2019.