Tom “durrrr” Dwan managed to make it through to Day 2 of the 2012 Aussie Millions Poker Championship, along with Jason Mercier, Gus Hansen, Tony G, and Phil Ivey, but only two of these would survive Day 2. Unfortunately, Dwan did not make it.
The total registration topped out at 659 players, with only 314 surviving Day 1a, 1b, and 1c. With a USD $1.6 million first place prize awaiting, there was a lot of pressure. The total prize pool was valued at $6.59 million.
Hansen’s decision to skip Day 1 and register late on Day 2, did not pay off. He was knocked out by Tony G, who said, “I busted the Great Dane. Gus always wants to move in, and I trapped him!”
Day 3 saw 75 players return with Tim O’Shea with the most chips at 921,000. Second-stacked at the end of Day 2 was Phil Ivey with 778,500 in chips. He would go on to have a pretty successful run when Day 3 play resumed.
Day 3 started on Thursday and after only three levels, about 50 players were already eliminated. Only 72 players would be paid, so unfortunately, the bottom three had to walk away empty handed, but Ivey managed to stay afloat throughout the day, making it through the night with a 1.107 million stack to start out Friday’s final leg of the tournament.
On Friday, 12 players were left, and Ivey continued to impress, remaining in the mix in what could have been his first big final table since 2010, though he left with 699,000 chips, making him shorter stacked than all other remaining players. O’Shea, the overnight chip leader, finished in 22nd place, and they continued to drop, whittling the field down.
Ivey eventually left in 12th place, but he then went on to win the $250K Challenge. After nearly a week of poker, Oliver Speidel took home the title after getting an early chip lead and knocking out five of his six opponents to earn the AUD $1.2 million first place prize.
