28 Jan 12

Phil Ivey Wins Aussie Millions $250,000 Super High Roller

Returning to tournament poker in 2012 with a resounding bang, Phil Ivey follows up his deep run in the Aussie Millions Main Event with an AU$2,000,000 win in the $250,000 buy-in Super High Roller.

Ivey
Phil Ivey begins 2012 with his largest score.
Image source: PokerNews
The $250,000 buy-in "Challenge" event at the 2012 Aussie Millions has concluded with Phil Ivey the last man standing. The biggest tournament of the year saw 16 players put up a quarter-million dollars, with a star-studded final table giving Ivey the biggest score of his illustrious career.

It's a rich man's world

A field of 16 players who can afford to pay up $250,000 for a poker tournament guarantees you some of the biggest names in the game - plus some Asian businessmen.

We got the former in spades, with the likes of Tom Dwan, Daniel Negreanu, Jason Mercier, Patrik Antonius, Gus Hansen, $100,000 Challenge winner Dan Smith, Sam Trickett and reigning champion Erik Seidel all making up the tough field.

Tom Dwan was the first to bust his 250,000 stack when he ran his trip queens into Gus Hansen's rivered full house. From there the field was whittled down to a final table, though only three of the finalists would see at least a AU$800,000 mincash.

Big bubble

With four players left, the difference between busting out and hanging on one more spot was close to a million dollars. That unfortunate bubble boy was Daniel Negreanu, who 3-bet his stack with As8d from the big blind over a Patrik Antonius raise. The Finn, holding JcJd, made the easy call and held on a queen-high board. That left Antonius, Ivey and Gus Hansen as the final three players.

Ship it to Ivey

Three handed play began at the 25,000/50,000 level with Ivey and Antonius sitting on around 1.5 million chips apiece and Hansen with approximately a third of that. His stack went in on a 4cJcKd flop against Phil Ivey.

Hansen's Kc8s was in bad shape agaisnt Ivey's jacks and fours, and the Js on the turn all but sealed the deal. Hansen couldn't hit his two-outer and was eliminated with AU$800,000 prize money.

Ivey held a chip lead 2.2 million to 1.8 million when he and Antonius began their heads-up battle, with blinds of 30,000/60,000. Over the course of a few hands, Ivey extended that lead before the final hand saw Antonius move in with his last ten big blinds holding Ks3d. Ivey called with AhQd, only to see Antonius take the lead on a 5s6s3c flop. The Qc on the turn, however, put Ivey back in front and he held on the 8d river to take down the AU$2,000,000 first prize.

Aussie Millions $250,000 Challenge

Final Results
Place Name Prize (AU$)
1st Phil Ivey
 $2,000,000
2nd Patrik Antonius
 $1,200,000
3rd Gus Hansen
 $800,000
4th Daniel Negreanu
 -
5th Sorel Mizzi
 -
6th Winfred Yu
 -
7th Tony Bloom
 -
7th Dan Smith
 -
8th Jason Mercier
 -
9th Paul Phua
 -
10th Nick Wong
 -
11th Erik Seidel
 -
12th Sam Trickett
 -
13th John Juanda
 -
14th Mohamad Kowssarie
 -
15th Richard Yong
 -
16th Tom Dwan
 -
Players:  1 (16)
 Prize pool: AUD$4,000,000
Average Stack: 2,785,000