Just Eighteen Remain; Moorman and Vos Leading
After a near ten-hour grind on the felt of the Crown Casino poker room, Day 3 of the 2011 Aussie Millions Main Event has come to an end!
Seventy-six players took to the felt at the start of the day, but unfortunately four of them would be going empty handed. Van Marcus and Eugene Katchalov would be two of these before a simultaneous Carter Phillips and Julius Colman elimination would see the two split the AUD$15,000 minimum-cash.
From then, the action flowed fast as we proceeded to lose a further thirteen players before break as overnight chip leader Randy Dorfman was overtaken by the man everybody strives to emulate – whether it be poker skills, aura or ability to transcend the human species and act like a robot sent back into time to crush the poker world – Patrik Antonius. As players jostled for position on the leaderboard, it would be Dorfman becoming the first man to join the seven-figure club as a further seventeen players hit the rail before the next break as Dorfman edged ahead of Antonius.
As the final thirty-six redrew and the dinner bell tolled, it would be Team Full Tilt Poker members Howard Lederer and Erick Lindgren swiftly bumped to the rail on the resumption of play as the final four tables were reached with just over a level remaining in the day.
When Manny Rodrigues was the last elimination of the night, he joined the likes of locals Haibo Chu (56th), John Dalessandri (55th), Nik Lackovic (54th), Karib Karib (50th), Michael Guttman (45th), Emanuel Seal (25th) and Matthew Kirk (20th), alongside internationals Carter Phillips (equal 72nd), Mike Sowers (40th), Lederer (34th), Lindgren (33rd), Gabe Patgorski (32nd) and Elliot Smith (23rd) all unable to survive to the penultimate day.
That day will see just eighteen players surviving with Chris Moorman holding the greatest chance of capturing the AUD$2,000,000 first prize as he will carry through 1,643,000 in chips. Snapping at his heels include Mark Vos (1,200,000), Cliff Lee (1,192,000), Dorfman (1,190,000) and Jeff Rossiter (1,069,000) who are the only players in the seven-figure club.. Antonius (965,000) along with last year's third-place finisher Sorel Mizzi (965,000) and Randy Lew (488,000) still remain in the mix to claim their first – and most likely not their last – Aussie Millions title!
Make sure to join the PokerNews Live Reporting team tomorrow from 12:30 pm EST as we play down till just a final table of seven remains with all the live coverage being brought to you from the luxurious Crown Casino in Melbourne, Australia!