Poker news

Only 28 players remain Down Under to chase the 2009 Aussie Millions Main Event title and the $2 million AU first place price.

Day 2 was all about the ladies as Annica Ivert and Annette Obrestad but as the third day of play wound down the attention turned to Michael Tureniec, the only player with more than 1,000,000 in chips.

Obrestad and Ivert aren’t far behind though. With 807,000 Obrestad is in fifth place while Ivert, the relatively unknown cash game player from Sweden, sits in seventh with 709,000. The action on Thursday saw a number of the biggest remaining names eliminated from the event.

Joe Hachem was unable to continue his heroics from Day 2 and busted before the money bubble burst. One star player who did hang around long enough to cash was Patrik Antonius. Finishing in 41st place Antonius made $20,000 AU. Clonie Gowen almost survived the day but busted in 32nd place for $30,000 AU and Scott Nguyen posted a 50th place finish for $15,000 AU.

There are still some star players in contention though. November Niner Kelly Kim sits in 16th place with 380,000 and Sorel Mizzi has 293,000 – good enough for 20th spot. Joe Cassidy will have his work cut out for him when he returns to the table on Friday afternoon. The Los Angeles-based pro has only 197,000 chips.

The 28 players will return to action Friday at 8:30 pm ET and will play until the final table has been determined.

Aussie Millions Main Event Top 10 Chip Counts:

1. Michael Tureniec - 1,072,000
2. Christian Heich - 880,000
3. Chris Chronis - 862,000
4. Rajkumar Ramakrishnan - 840,000
5. Annette Obrestad - 807,000
6. Sam Capra - 768,000
7. Annica Ivert - 709,000
8. Stewart Scott - 628,000
9. Richard Ashby - 606,000
10. Antonio Casale - 566,000