Seizing the chip lead in the first level alone, Pagano most notably pillaged the chip stack of Day 3 leader Samphane Phomveha in a huge hand to distance himself from the field.

Pagano flopped a set with sixes, filled up on the turn and got big calls from Phomveha, who held trip aces, all the way down.

When the dust settled, Pagano bagged up 3,561,000 in chips to grab the outright lead heading into Day 5 and a one million-chip advantage over second-place Olivier Rogez (2,688,000).

Pagano had already secured a record 20th EPT cash and is now in pole position to make yet another EPT final-table appearance.

Brammer, Inizan Still Lurking in Final 24

With just 54 players to start the day and a target of 24, things moved quickly on Day 4.

Brit Chris “NigDawG” Brammer, who began the day in third with just over a million chips, tread water for most of the day but still finished up in 8th with 1,262,000.

Fellow Brit Martins Adeniya, also in the top five to begin the day, wasn’t so lucky as he busted fairly early.

France’s Yorane Kerignard (1,124,000) and Marc Inizan (481,000), two of the more established players in a local-heavy field, are also still in contention.

Play Down to Final Table Begins

Play is scheduled to resume tomorrow at noon in France with a final table of eight the target number.

Remaining players have assured themselves of at least €23,000 with six-figures guaranteed for making the final seven.

A solid €875,000 is reserved for the winner.

The top 10 and their chip counts, care of the PokerStars blog.

1. Luca Pagano 3,561,000

2. Olivier Rogez 2,668,000

3. Vadzim Kursevich 1,815,000

4. Paul Guichard 1,700,000

5. Andre Corredoira 1,316,000

6. Ignat Liviu 1,303,000

7. Christian Togsverd 1,271,000

8. Chris Brammer 1,262,000

9. Artem Litvinov 1,193,000

10. Yorane Kerignard 1,124,000

Adeniya, the Day 2 chip leader, continued to build his stack over the course of the day and bagged up 893,000 to sit fifth heading to tomorrow.

Both, however, are chasing Frenchman Samphane Phomveha, who scooped a huge pot near the end of the night to take the chip lead into Day 4 with just under 1.5 million.

France’s Olivier Rogez (1,098,500) and Yorane Kerignard (979,000) round out the top 5.

Few Big Names Manage to Survive

With just 54 players still alive from the 170 or so that started the day and a very local-heavy field, big names are scarce with only a few managing to hold on through the day.

EPT Berlin final-tablist Marc Inizan is perhaps the most threatening, with just under $1 million in career earnings and 514,000 in chips to end the day.

PokerStars pro Luca Pagano also held on to some chips to secure his record 20th EPT cash and give him a shot at a bigger payday tomorrow.

Pagano finished with 344,000 in chips.

Making Money But Making Their Exit

Several notable players looked in position to make a big move on Day 3 but ended up crashing right out of the tournament instead, chief among them Lacay.

Bringing in a top five chip stack from Day 2, Lacay soared to the chip lead early on but fizzled out soon after Brammer hit the river ace against his jacks and busted in 58th place for €13,000.

Joining Lacay on the rail were Brits Toby Lewis and James Dempsey plus French rap icon Bruno "Kool Shen" Lopes.

Play is scheduled to resume tomorrow at noon in France with 24 the target number for players remaining by the end of the day.

Remaining players have assured themselves of at least €15,000 with €23,000 guaranteed for hitting the top 24.

Follow along with the live updates on the PokerStars blog.

After two Day Ones, the field numbered 889 players, of which 546 came back on Thursday afternoon for the continuation of the event. Leading the pack at the Casino Barriere was Day 1B chip leader Amir Salhani, who had amassed 191,100 chips in his starting day. Following him on the leaderboard was Toufik Ouirini, Day 1A chip leader Kristijonas Andrulis and Philippe Ma, but only Andrulis would be around by the time play ended on Thursday.

Adeniya would seize the lead of the EPT Deauville about two hours into play on Day Two and it came at the expense of Ma. After making a bet in late position, Adeniya saw Ma up the action to 6200, which Adeniya called. After an A-9-4 flop, Ma led out with a 10K bet and Adeniya simply made the call. The same happened on the King turn but, on the five river, Ma moved his remaining chips to the center of the felt. Facing a decision for his tournament life, Adeniya made the call and turned up an A-J for top pair. Ma was bluffing the entire time, showing only 7-4 for bottom pair, and the chip swing rocketed Adeniya into the chip lead with more than 237K in chips.

While this was going on, several of the notable names in the tournament poker world were falling by the wayside. WSOP floor host Kara Scott, Team PokerStars Pro Vanessa Rousso, Scotty Nguyen, Praz Bansi, Kevin MacPhee, Arnaud Mattern and EPT Season Seven Player of the Year Fernando Brito all headed out of the Casino Barriere with nothing to show for their efforts, but other top names were able to earn their way to Day Three play.

Looking to complete the mythical poker “Triple Crown,” James “Flushy” Dempsey was able to end the day with 274,600 (good enough for 25th place) after starting with only around 50K to start Thursday’s action. Ludovic Lacay was also active, garnering over 377K in chips to end the day in fourth place, and former World Poker Tour champion Chris Karagulleyan put his name in the hat as a contender by finishing with 360,700 (seventh).

Also of note among the remaining players is the continued success of Team PokerStars Pro Italy’s Luca Pagano, who is looking to continue to extend his record of cashes on the EPT. He is the only PokerStars pro left in the field and, if he is able to outlast fifty people from the 178 remaining players on Friday, Pagano will earn his twentieth lifetime cash on the EPT. Pagano is set well for this pursuit, holding slightly more than 174K in chips.

The day truly belonged to Adeniya, however, as he seemed to dominate pretty much any table he was at. Adeniya was able to push many opponents around as his stack grew, using the late stages of the evening’s play to expand his stack as players looked to survive the Day Two action. By the time that the final cards flew for the night, Adeniya was able to claim the chip lead with his 512,200 in chips:

1. Martins Adeniya, 512,200
2. Brahim Oubella, 452,000
3. Artem Litvinov, 397,100
4. Ludovic Lacay, 377,300
5. Jason Hallee, 375,900
6. Julien Ehrhardt, 363,300
7. Chris Karagulleyan, 360,700
8. Andre Vieira Andrade, 345,000
9. Fehmi Cherif, 338,400
10. Samphane Phomveha, 334,800

The money bubble will burst tomorrow, with the minimum payday of €7500 going to the 128th place finisher. The remaining players are all looking for the big payday, however, as first place will take down €875,000 from the €4.6 million prize pool. The latest champion on the EPT will be determined on Monday night and the final two days of the EPT Deauville will be streamed on the internet via PokerStars.tv.

Through it all Ivey remained consistent and ended up finishing sixth in chips with 1.1 million.

Amazingly Ivey has never cashed in the Aussie Millions but that will change this year as the money bubble burst early and with only 26 players left at the end of the day every player left is guaranteed $35,000 (AUD).

Joining Ivey in the final 26 is former Aussie Millions champ Lee Nelson who took down the tournament in 2006.

Nelson finished the day with 878,000 and a shot at becoming the first repeat winner in the history of event.

Also in the top 26 are pros David Steicke, Daniel Idema, Yann Dion and Grant Levy.

Not all the pros were that lucky, however, as Swede Michael Tureniec and consistent Australian casher Billy “The Croc” Argyros both busted in the money.

Koon Crushed on Last Hand of the Day

West Virginia product Jason Koon’s last hand of the day went about as bad it possibly could have as he flipped for his tournament life with a massive, tournament-leading, pot on the line and ended up losing.

“Unreal how heartbreaking tourney poker can be,” wrote Koon on Twitter. “Paint a Picasso over 3 days and just lose a massive flip for all the money.”

English pro Matt Turk was the player who won the pot and he finished with 2.6 million in chips, which makes him the overwhelming chip leader.

Still, he’ll have to get past a red-hot Ivey who was stacking chips all day long and even made an opponent, who had already committed half his stack, fold pocket kings pre-flop.

Tournament organizers announced a surprising decision to change the schedule at the end of the day. They have moved the final table back to Sunday despite the fact that there are only 26 players left.

Apparently the decision was made because organizers are moving the $250k Challenge from tomorrow to Saturday so that more players can play and there’s only one TV feature table.

Regardless play will resume in the Main Event at 12:30 p.m. tomorrow and it could be another short day.

Here’s a look at the top 10 chip leaders heading into Day 4:

Matt Turk – 2,675,000 Tim O’Shea – 1,376,000 Patrick Healy – 1,353,000 Bjorn Li – 1,222,000 Yann Dion – 1,156,000 Phil Ivey – 1,107,000 Daniel Idema – 1,033,000 Minh Nguyen – 992,000 Borge Dypvik – 882,000 Lee Nelson – 878,000

After a couple late entrants and an adjustment to the prize structure, the money distribution has been set. All told, there were 659 runners contributing to a AUD $6.59 million prize pool. The top 72 players will get paid, with the eventual winner banking AUD $1.6 million and those that just make the money rewarded with AUD $15,000. Here is a look at the official payouts for the final table, in Australian dollars:

1.    $1,600,000
2.    $1,000,000
3.    $610,000
4.    $405,000
5.    $300,000
6.    $230,000
7.    $170,000
8.    $125,000
9.    $125,000

O’Shea reached the top of the leader board primarily because of one hand from late in the day. Already with a chip stack of almost half a million (which would have still put him in the top ten going into Day 3), he raised under the gun pre-flop and Josh Barrett called him from the big blind. The prime number flop of 3-5-7 produced some raising and re-raising prior to a 4 being dealt on the turn. At that, Barrett checked, O’Shea bet 125,000, and Barrett called. Similarly, upon seeing an Ace on the river, Barrett checked-called again, this time for 150,000 chips. That turn card is what did it for O’Shea, as he held A-6 for a straight. Barrett had flopped two pair with his 5-7 and was none too happy to see that he had been beaten. That pot launched O’Shea to the top of the field, as it grew his stack to 940,000 chips. Barrett fell to 245,000. He has since dipped below 200,000, but he is still alive and could be in much worse shape.

The beginning of Day 3 should be interesting, as only two players need to be eliminated for the money bubble to burst. Coincidentally, two players – James Sin and Patrick Lui – are in utter desperation mode, as their stacks of 10,500 and 7,000, respectively, are miniscule compared to the blinds and antes of 2,000/4,000/500. Three other players are only in the 30,000’s, giving them around 8-9 big blinds with which to play. Nobody else is below 12 big blinds.

Day 3 will start up at 12:30pm local time at the Crown Casino in Melbourne.

2012 Aussie Millions Main Event – End of Day 2 Chip Leaders

1.    Tim O’Shea – 921,000
2.    Phil Ivey – 778,500
3.    Aage Ravn – 708,500
4.    Jason Koon – 667,500
5.    Oliver Speidel – 540,000
6.    Patrick Healy – 521,000
7.    Yann Dion – 495,000
8.    Mohamad Kowssarie – 477,000
9.    Rob Angood – 470,500
10.    Janis Lesiwski – 463,500

The prize structure has yet to be announced, but we can make a fair estimate. With a combined field of 657 players, the total prize pool should be $6.57 million AUD. According to the Aussie Millions Terms and Conditions, approximately the top 10 percent of the field will make the money, so we’re looking at 65 or 66 getting paid, though that could be rounded up or down if tournament organizers want to have the money bubble burst with a set number of full tables remaining. Also according to the T&C’s, first place will receive 20 percent of the prize pool, which would amount to $1.314 million AUD. Here’s what the top ten payouts should look like (again, these are estimates in Australian dollars):

1.    $1.314 million
2.    $919,800
3.    $788,400
4.    $591,300
5.    $459,900
6.    $394,200
7.    $328,500
8.    $262,800
9.    $197,100
10.    $131,400

While Lam and Ylitalo were the top dogs of Day 1C, all eyes were on Phil Ivey, who continues to ramp up his return to tournament poker after a lengthy hiatus for most of 2011. And as it turns it out, perhaps the biggest hand of the day, when taking into account chips and player significance, involved Ivey and famed cricketer Shane Warne. After an all-heart flop of Ah-Qh-Jh, Ivey bet 5,000, only to see George Moussa raise to 10,500 and Warne call. After a minute or so of thought, Ivey re-raised it to 30,000, forcing Moussa to fold. Warne wasn’t going anywhere, though, and decided to move all-in for 84,400. Ivey made the call, putting himself all-in, as he had 300 chips fewer than Warne.

The all-in face-off was inevitable: Ivey held 6h-8h for a flopped flush, while Warne had pocket Aces for top set (no heart). The turn and river were safe for Ivey, as Warne couldn’t make a boat or quads. That hand crippled Warne, who was eliminated on the next hand, and more than doubled-up Ivey, whose stack grew to 185,000, placing him firmly amongst the chip leaders.

The remaining 305 players will now combine into a single field and return to the Crown Casino in Melbourne for Day 2 at 12:30pm local time Wednesday.

2012 Aussie Millions Main Event – End of Day 1C Chip Leaders

1.    Robert Lam – 198,400
2.    Robin Ylitalo – 192,600
3.    David Sonelin – 186,200
4.    Phil Ivey – 184,000
5.    Chad Awerbuch – 161,000
6.    Jason Koon – 156,300
7.    Pat Dillon – 151,500
8.    Michael Pedley – 146,300
9.    David Steicke – 140,000
10.    Daniel Foote – 139,300

Combined Days 1A, 1B, and 1C Chip Leaders

1.    Brett Watson – 257,400
2.    Robert Lam – 198,400
3.    Robin Ylitalo – 192,600
4.    James Dempsey – 189,000
5.    David Sonelin – 186,200
6.    Phil Ivey – 184,000
7.    Ilir Beluli – 182,700
8.    Paul Sing – 177,100
9.    Chad Awerbuch – 161,000
10.    Jason Koon – 156,300

It was clear from the start of the tournament that Ivey came to play and in the first few levels of play he amassed over 180,000 chips. Robert Lam looks to be the chip leader with 198,000.

It seemed that Ivey was involved in almost every big hand that occurred on Day 1c and despite a slight downswing in the later stages of the day he managed to recover and finish with a very strong 184,000 chips, good enough for fourth overall.

Day 1c Draws Big Crowd

Ivey wasn’t the only story on Day 1c of 2012 Aussie Millions as 317 players jammed their way into the poker room.

With the $100k Challenge out of the way it was an intensely pro-heavy field with heavy hitters Daniel Negreanu, Erik Seidel, Jason Mercier, Dan Smith, Tony Hachem, JC Tran, Sam Trickett, Sorel Mizzi, Chris Moorman and Nam Le all hitting the felt.

Day 1c was easily the biggest day of the tournament attendance-wise and when you add the 340 players from Day 1a and Day 1b we’re looking at an overall field in the range of 660 players. That number is down slightly from the 721 players in last year’s Main Event.

The exact prizepool will not be released until tomorrow because registration is technically open through the first level, but there’s good chance first place will once again award close to $2 million.

While Ivey fared exceptionally well on Day 1c there were a number of big name pros who simply never got anything going.

Daniel Negreanu, Erik Seidel and Sorel Mizzi all busted with little fanfare.

Meanwhile Jason Koon, David Steicke, Michael Pedley, Melanie Weisner, Brian Roberts, JC Tran, James Obst and Jason Mercier finished with above average stacks.

Ivey Crushes Warne

Phil Ivey played arguably the most memorable hand of the entire tournament with just 20 minutes left on the clock.

Australian cricketer Shane Warne had the misfortune of flopping a set of aces on a A♥ Q♥ J♥ flop against Ivey who had 8♥ 6♥ for the flush.

All the money went in on the flop and Warne, who had been absolutely flying early on, was crippled to 300 chips and busted on the next hand.

Ivey, on the other hand, moved up to 185,000 chips and finished near the top of the leaderboard.

It was a fast day and over half the field was eradicated with only 149 players booking their ticket into Day 2.

Day 2 of 2012 Aussie Millions should be a good one as it’s the first day where every remaining player will be under the same roof.

Join us for our continuing coverage from the Crown Casino in Sunny Melbourne.

For most of Monday, Dempsey couldn’t find any traction. Nothing he tried worked and his 30,000 chip starting stack dwindled to 6,000 by the dinner break. In the last couple levels of the night, however, he went on a major run, piling chip upon chip, breaking the 100,000 barrier and eventually finishing as the chip leader.

James Dempsey, known as “Flushy” in the poker community, is highly respected online tournament player, with about a million dollars in online tourney earnings. While he hasn’t been as prolific online recently, Dempsey has ranked as high as 30th on the PocketFives worldwide tournament rankings. On the live tournament circuit, he had his breakthrough moment in 2010 when he captured his first and only World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet, winning the $1,500 Pot-Limit Hold’em event for $197,470. He then followed that up less than two weeks later with a runner-up finish in the $10,000 Omaha Hi/Lo 8 Championship, earning him another $301,789. This past December, Dempsey upped the ante, winning the $10,000 Championship Event of the Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic, banking $821,612.

Day 1B saw 187 players register for the Aussie Millions, following the 153 that entered Day 1A. Tuesday’s Day 1C is expected to be larger than either of the first two and will ultimately determine the prize pool. Play will resume at 12:30pm local time at the Crown Casino in Melbourne, Australia as the final Day 1 flight kicks off. The tournament is slated to run through Saturday.

While Dempsey led the Day 1B field, the overall leader remains Day 1A’s Brett Watson, who is the only player with over 200,000 chips. At 257,400, he reigns far above the rest of the players.

2012 Aussie Millions Main Event – End of Day 1B Chip Leaders

1.    James Dempsey – 189,000
2.    Ilir Beluli – 182,700
3.    Kenna James – 151,400
4.    Nabil Edgtton – 148,300
5.    Paul Wilde – 146,500
6.    Octavian Vogele – 120,000
7.    Emad Maaree – 112,500
8.    Tom Dwan – 107,400
9.    Dennis Huntly – 88,000
10.    Chris O’Donnell – 71,500

Combined Days 1A and 1B Chip Leaders

1.    Brett Watson – 257,400
2.    James Dempsey – 189,000
3.    Ilir Beluli – 182,700
4.    Paul Sing – 177,100
5.    Ben Jenkins – 154,500
6.    Kenna James – 151,400
7.    Nabil Edgtton – 148,300
8.    Paul Wilde – 146,500
9.    Rob Angood – 133,200
10.    Andrew Hinrichsen – 132,900

Dempsey finished as the chip leader with 189,000 while James picked up 151k and Dwan ended with 107k.

A total of 187 players made an appearance on Day 1b, which was a decent jump from the 153 on Day 1a.

Overall the tournament is still trending down significantly from the 721 players who entered last year and will need a massive Day 1c to get anywhere close to breaking that number. 

There were plenty of well-known poker pros in the field today with Annette Obrestad, JP Kelly, Tristan Wade, Tom Dwan, Mel Judah, Shawn Buchanan, Jonathan Karamalikis, Kenna James, David Bach and Marvin Rettenmaier looking to do some damage.

Former Aussie Millions champs Stewart Scott and Tyron Krost were also in the field today looking to add another Australian title to their record.

Krost experienced the pleasure of having the Crown Casino pay for his buy-in as part of his lifetime “golden ticket” from winning the 10th Anniversary Aussie Millions Tournament of Champions. Krost put his freeroll to good use and finished with 52,000 chips.

Tom Dwan, who hasn’t recorded a cash in a tournament since the WSOP, put in a vintage durrrr performance that saw him swing his way to 107,000 chips.

In a crowd-pleasing hand Dwan called all the way down a scary K-K-9-Q-3 board with three spades while holding a paltry T-9. Fortunately for Dwan his opponent was caught red handed with 8-7.

Dwan is no doubt looking to follow online nemesis Viktor “Isildur1” Blom’s lead by winning his first major tournament and the Aussie Millions wouldn’t be a bad one to win. 

Not all pros were so lucky, however, and Andrew Scott, Harry Demetriou, Mel Judah, Simon Watt, Marvin Rettenmaier, Shawn Buchanan, Tom Koral, Xin Zhao and Justin Cohen were among the many players to bust on Day 1b.

A total of 104 players ended their night by bagging up chips.

Day 1c, the final starting day, begins tomorrow at 12:30 p.m. local time and PokerListings will be on hand with all sorts of coverage.

Hansen ended play for the night and took the chip lead when he flopped two pair with 7-6 and it held to beat Ivey's 88 with an up-and-down straight draw.

Outside of a recent trip to Macau, Ivey has been on hiatus from tournament poker since Black Friday so it set the railbirds buzzing when Ivey strolled into the tournament area an hour late and sat down to play.

Unfortunately for Ivey, who was very active and seemed to have little rust on his game, his tournament will end without a payout

Tough Final Eight, but Not Expected Final Eight

Hansen and Hachem lead a very tough final eight as expected, but maybe not with exactly the expected players.

Dan Smith, Mikhail Smirnov, Sorel Mizzi, Tony G, Nam Le and Sam Trickett will join them tomorrow on the final table with several high-profile players on the rail.

Down goes Ivey.

 

Jason Mercier, who busted in 10th, is one of them along with perennial high roller final-tablist Erik Seidel, who went out in 11th.

Bustouts Fast and Furious

Due to the fast structure, several of the 22 runners who started the event were gone early.

Mike "SirWatts" Watson, Tom Dwan, Dan Shak, Masa Kagawa, Tony Bloom and Jonathan Karamilikis were all sent home before the dinner break.

Following shortly after were Daniel Alaei, Daniel Negreanu, Tobias Renkemeier, Dan "jungleman12" Cates and JC Tran.

The 22 total runners was well short of the 38 players who entered the event in 2011.

The four players who cash will split just over $2 million AUD between them with $1,012,000 to the winner.

Second-place will take $616,000, third $330,000 and fourth $242,000.

Check back tomorrow for a recap of the final.

The final eight and their chip counts:

1. Gus Hansen 567,000

2. Joe Hachem 538,500

3. Dan Smith 346,500

4. Mikhail Smirnov 265,000

5. Sorel Mizzi 228,500

6. Tony G 102,000

7. Nam Le 79,500

8. Sam Trickett 73,000

Click through to our blog for a photo essay on the high roller event and follow the action in the 2012 Aussie Millions main event with our live updates.