Although the Main Event started on Saturday, there is still a long way to go until we get to see who will take home the prestigious title. In the meantime, the $100,000 Challenge concluded on Monday and Andrew Robl finished on top and claimed the A$1 million first place prize.

Aussie Millions $100,000 Challenge

Only 21 players took on the challenge and paid the 6-figure buy-in to get a shot at the title. An interesting fact to point out here is that Robl was the only player to use the re-entry option available for this event and fired another bullet after being eliminated first from the tables; this decision later proved to be a very good one although pretty expensive at the time. This made the total entries for the event 22 and the prize pool worth A$1,957,000, the smallest one since 2007.

After almost 10 levels of play on Sunday, the remaining seven players came back on Monday to determine the winner. Having a double elimination happen on the last hand of the first day meant that the traditional eight-handed final table will be one short. This only made things more exciting as the top four places would make it into the money and get something for their efforts while the first three to be eliminated will walk away empty-handed on this great Australian poker day.

It didn鈥檛 take more than 20 minutes for the first elimination from the final table to take place. As Vanessa Selbst started things off with a 16,000 raise, Tobias Reinkemeier came in and made it 63,000 only to have Robl come in from the big blind and make it 123,000. Selbst folded and Reinkemeier made the call with his remaining stack, which was about 115,000, while holding K-Q of clubs. When Robl showed his As-Qh, things weren鈥檛 looking very good for the German and became even worse when an Ace hit the flop, with no clubs. The 7c on the river sealed his faith and Robl took the pot while Reinkemeier was sent to the rails.

The next one to go was Selbst after getting into a raising battle with Masa Kagawa, the chip leader at the beginning of the day. As there where only five players remaining, the money bubble was just about to burst and the play became very tense. Niklas Heinecker was feeling the pressure most of all since he was the short stack by far and made a move while opening for 40,000 and Kagawa made it 70,000 from the small blind. Heinecker called and kept another 24,000 chips in front of him. The flop showed Kd-Js-8s and the 24,000 chips were pushed towards the middle of the table; Masa called with Ad-Qs.

Heinecker showed his Tc-9c which gave him decent odds with the chance to land a straight at both ends. Sadly for him, the 2h on the turn and the 4c on the river didn鈥檛 help him and so he left the final table as the bubble boy.

Heads Up

As the table continued to clear, only two remained, Robl and Igor Kurganov. The difference in prize money between the top two places was almostA$400,000 so despite the Russian starting with a 1:10 disadvantage, he was determined to catch up. After doubling up and getting some big pots, he made it to 915,000 while Robl was still ahead with 1.285 million. The final hand of the event heated after the board showed 9c, 4c, 2h, 3d and Robl fired a 60,000 bullet and Kurganov made it 190,000. Robl then went all-in and Kurganov called while holding 4d-3c which gave him double pair. However, Robl showed his As-5c for a straight and the Qs on the river didn鈥檛 do anything to change the outcome.