James Obst Leads After Day 1a of the 2016 Aussie Millions Main Event
The first of three starting day of the 2016 Aussie Millions drew a crowd of 180 players, and it was top Australian pro James Obst who came out on top with a massive 212,100-chip stack. On one of the last hands of the night Obst grabbed the lead when a player six-bet shoved on him holding ten-jack suites, while Obst held aces.
After a word from defending champion Manny Stavropoulos the action got underway, and Stavropoulos took his seat as well. The man who won nearly $1.4 million last year didn't have a very spectacular day, but he still managed to bag up 19,500 chips.
Plenty of familiar faces played on Day 1a, Philipp Gruissem was among those that did very well, bagging up 97,900. Other top pros that advanced include Max Silver (84,300), Michael Egan (133,600) and Jonathan Karamalikis (70,000).
Things didn't go well for Jack Salter, who was among the first players go get knocked out, and the same could be said for Leo Boxell. Christopher Frank and Oliver Gill were among the early casualties as wel while former WSOP Europe Main Event winner Kevin MacPhee ran pocket tens into aces, and that made sure wouldn't make a deep run in this event.
Last year's Day 1a chip leader, Jan Suchanek, had another successful day, took 104,800 to Day 2 today, and that means in contention once again.
Play will continue tomorrow at 12:30 p.m. local time with Day 1b, and PokerNews will be right there with you for all the coverage.