An Impressive Star-Studded Field for Day 1C

Ben Charlton takes Day 1C chip lead

Dated: 21 January 2009 

Day 1C of the 2009 Aussie Millions Main Event was not only the largest field of the three Day 1 sessions, but was also swarming with stars. Some of the hot-shot poker pros included Scotty Nguyen, Joe Hachem, Clonie Gowen, Phil Laak and Lee "Final Table" Nelson. Other stars who've made their star-studded name off the felt included cricket legend Shane Warne, actor Michael Vartan, jockey Shane Dye and world champion boxer Jeff Fenech. With a huge 288 players hitting the felt at Crown Casino for Day 1C, the total number of Main Event entrants jumped to an impressive 681.

The first to make an exit was David "Chino" Rheem who was unfortunate enough to have one of the shortest Main Events in his recent history of only two hands. Other early eliminations included Lee "Final Table" Nelson, Shane Warne, Tom Dwan, Marlon Goonawardana, and Gus Hansen. 

Day 1C was a rough one for celebrities turned poker players. Jennifer Tilly busted on a coin flip late in the day, but most of the athletes and actors in the field were long gone by then. Boxer Jeff Fenech was the sole survivor among the celebrity athletes, making it through Day 1C with a healthy stack. Fenech eliminated Tony Hachem late in the day with a flush-over-flush hand to move near the top of the leader board.

As the day wore on, more big names exited, including John Juanda, Nam Le, Yevgeniy Timoshenko and JC Tran.

Ben Charlton made a late surge to finish the day with the chip lead, ending up second over all three Day 1 flights behind Chris Chronis' impressive Day 1A performance. 

The top 10 chip counts from Day 1C:

Ben Charlton -- 161,000
Luis Pampliega -- 143,600
Jani Mikkola -- 109,050
John Paul Kelly -- 104,500
Tom Rafferty -- 95,000
Mike Manttan -- 92,000
Michael Binger -- 86,000
Bodo Sbrezesny -- 83,000
Richard Ashby -- 83,000
Mark Phillips -- 81,850

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