No Limit Hold'em action returned to the Crown Poker Room on Thursday with Event #6 - $1,150 No Limit Holdem with Rebuys. The 126 entrants rebought a staggering 457 times to create the largest prize pool so far for the 2009 Aussie Millions. Top players from around the world joined the fray including Kelly Kim, Alexander Kostritsyn, Ivan Demidov, Sorel Mizzi, Jeff Lisandro and Michael Pedley. Day One saw the field thin to a final table of nine, with Jonathan Karamilikis taking the chip lead into Day Two.
The final table chip counts and seating assignments looked like this as the nine survivors bagged their chips to return for the following day's finale:
Seat 1: Sorel Mizzi -- 131,200
Seat 2: Clark Hamagami -- 95,700
Seat 3: Tony Dunst -- 120,900
Seat 4: Mark Kassis -- 124,200
Seat 5: Rayan Nathan -- 38,700
Seat 6: Larry Karambis -- 79,900
Seat 7: Jonathan Karamalikis -- 153,000
Seat 8: Richard Ashby -- 83,400
Seat 9: Peter Rho -- 49.400
Many of the players at the final table were more recognizable by their online-poker screen names than their real given names. With Jonathan "xMONSTERxDONGx" Karamalikis leading the pack, the final table included "Imper1um," "chufty," "rkruok" and "Bond18." Still, all the digital expertise in the world couldn't hold off Sydney native Mark Kassis, who started the day third in chips and tenaciously hung on through a lengthy heads-up match with Karamalikis to take down the event's AUD$160,326 first place prize.
Tony Dunst busted in ninth place ($11,077) to Sorel Mizzi's straight, who also sent Peter Rho packing in eight place ($16,907) with a diamond flush draw. Richard Ashby logged his first cash of the 2009 Aussie Millions with his seventh-place ($22,737) finish. Rayan Nathan was the next to fall when his Jd8h couldn't outrun Larry Karambis' QcQs. Nathan picked up a jack on the flop, but no more help as he finished in sixth place ($30,607).
Sorel Mizzi and Jonathan Karamalikis tangled in a confrontation of the online superstars, and it was Mizzi who came out on the short end who busted in fifth place ($37,895). Karambis finished in fourth place for $53,927 after being bitten by Clark Hamagami's pocket jacks with a third jack on the flop.
Three-handed play lasted a while before Clark Hamagami succumbed in third place ($82,203) to Karamalikis' full house 7c7s7h4c4s.
Karamalikis took nearly a 2:1 chip lead into heads-up play, but the swings were wild as he and Mark Kassis traded the chip lead for nearly an hour. In the end, Kassis' pocket queens won himself the smooth $160,326 and the $4,000 Aussie Millions championship ring. Karamalikis took home $120,098 in second place.
Links:
Crown Poker Photo Gallery | PokerNews Introduces the Final Table | PokerNews Interviews Mark Kassis
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