Who'll Win the 2016 Aussie Millions Poker Championship Main Event?

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After a grueling battle to get down from 40 players to a final table of 7 on Day 4, today is the day the 2016 Aussie Millions Poker Championship Main Event champion will be crowned. All 7 players had a day of rest and are guaranteed AU$210,000. But each and every one of them is eyeing that AU$1,600,000 first place prize.

Well rounded grinder Ari Engel is in best position, starting out in pole position with a staggering 8,155,000 (136 big blinds). Engel's biggest cash to date is $177,045 for winning the Punta Cana Poker Classic 2014so things must go real sour today - a Philip Hilm kind of level sour - for him to not break that personal record today.

Engel has steep competition, all just as hungry for the title. WPT host Tony Dunst is the biggest of Engel's rivals, bringing 100 big blinds to the final table this afternoon. It's already somewhat of a fairy tale for Dunst as he had given up on playing when he lost one of the two $5,000 chips that he was going to buy in with. Angered with himself and plenty flustered, the American World Poker Tour host was ready to up and leave Melbourne altogether, but friends talked him back into playing, and now he has reached the final stage in an epic turnaround of fortune.

The Aussie Millions Main Event final table is also headlines by two female players making their appearance. Kitty Kuo has kept her unbelievable streak of deep runs alive and is sure to cross the million dollar live earnings mark here today. Things really have to go her side today for her to win, as she starts out with just 17 big blinds. Samantha Abernathy is in better position with 41 big blinds, and she's sure to triple her live earnings here today.

Australian day 2 chip leader Dylan Honeyman starts out as the shortest stack in the field with just 885,000, good for 15 big blinds at the start of the day.

The Main Event final table starts at 12:30 local time (30 minutes from now). The live stream and our coverage with hole cards up, starts on half an hour delay.

Seat	Name	Country	Chip Count	Big Blinds
1	Dylan Honeyman	Australia	885,000	15
2	Alexander Lynskey	Australia	2,390,000	40
3	Tony Dunst	United States	5,990,000	100
4	Samantha Abernathy	United States	2,485,000	41
5	Ari Engel	Canada	8,155,000	136
6	Kitty Kuo	Taiwan	1,005,000	17
7	John Apostolidis	Australia	960,000	16

Year	Players	Buy-In	Variant	Champion	Country	Prize (AU$)	Prize (USD)
2016	732	AU$10,000	NLH	--TBD--	--TBD--	AU$1,600,000	$1,122,825
2015	648	AU$10,000	NLH	Manny Stavropoulos	Australia	AU$1,385,500	$1,094,737
2014	668	AU$10,000	NLH	Ami Barer	Canada	AU$1,600,000	$1,399,739
2013	629	AU$10,000	NLH	Mervin Chan	Malaysia	AU$1,600,000	$1,689,118
2012	659	AU$10,000	NLH	Oliver Speidel	Australia	AU$1,600,000	$1,647,158
2011	721	AU$10,000	NLH	David Gorr	Australia	AU$2,000,000	$1,978,044
2010	746	AU$10,000	NLH	Tyron Krost	Australia	AU$2,000,000	$1,845,921
2009	681	AU$10,000	NLH	Stewart Scott	Australia	AU$2,000,000	$1,420,737
2008	780	AU$10,000	NLH	Alexander Kostritsyn	Russia	AU$1,650,000	$1,450,396
2007	747	AU$10,000	NLH	Gus Hansen	Denmark	AU$1,500,000	$1,192,919
2006	418	AU$10,000	NLH	Lee Nelson	New Zealand	AU$1,295,800	$949,694
2005	263	AU$10,000	NLH	Jamil Dia	New Zealand	AU$1,000,000	$777,442
2004	133	AU$10,000	NLH	Tony Bloom	United Kingdom	AU$426,500	$323,456
2003	122	AU$10,000	NLH	Peter Costa	United Kingdom	AU$394,870	$221,862
2002	66	AU$5,000	NLH	John Maver	Australia	AU$150,000	$78,030
2001	101	AU$1,500	NLH	Sam Korman	Australia	AU$53,025	$28,368
2000	109	AU$1,500	NLH	Leo Boxell	Australia	AU$65,225	$38,483
1999	109	AU$1,000	PLH	Milo Nadalin	Australia	AU$38,150	$24,801
1998	74	AU$1,000	LH	Alex Horowitz	Australia	AU$25,900	$15,693

The player profiles underneath are courtesy of the PokerStars Blog:

Player	Chips	Progress
Ari Engel	8,155,000

Tony Dunst	5,990,000

Samantha Abernathy	2,485,000
Alexander Lynskey	2,390,000
Kitty Kuo	1,005,000

John Apostolidis	960,000
Dylan Honeyman	885,000