Here we go with some more updates from correspondent, Shane, in Australia for the Aussie Millions.

Day 1 is often about survival, just looking for the satisfaction of getting through the early stages of a major tournament. Day 2 is a very different beast, not those that are left are all looking to make some moves and get ahead. Day 2 of the Aussie Millions saw 4 of the 7 Carbon Poker qualifiers at the felt looking for glory.

Jonatan “FATSTAKK” Soderstrom

Unfortunately for FATSTAKK the new day didn’t bring any new action. While he at least did finally get a new table the situation for him was much the same. Another move saw him get some time at the TV table under the bright lights but sadly that didn’t help either. Not a single premium hand for two days saw his stack slowly grind down, eventually he was forced to get it all-in with AT. He got a call and his opponent flipped up AK to have him dominated, a position which changed quickly when he flopped a ten to take the lead. Things again changed quickly when a king came down on the river and the reddest Swede I have ever seen was sent to the rail.

Rob “bigdoggy1234″ Ludlow

The little big dog with the big heart kept hanging around on day 2. He played some shortstack poker over these two days that Barry Greenstein would have been proud of. bigdoggy had struggled to get calls for most of day one, begging and pleading for a double up, day 2 was much of the same every time he fired at a pot his opponent got out of the way. After taking one such hand with a shove at the flop he fired out a preflop raise, only this time his opponent fired back and pushed all-in over the top of him. bigdoggy went deep into the tank for few minutes before turning his cap backwards and shoving all his chips in. Bigdoggy showed AQ vs his opponents  77 and we were off to the races. Clearly a greyhound bigdoggy took the early lead catching two aces on the flop, streaking off to the win with blanks on the turn and river. He finally gets his double up!

bigdoggy’s next big hand came up against a young lady. Yesterday’s readers would have already heard of, Haley from Hawthorne. The rather attractive Haley [ed note - Shane did not get a date] has spent plenty of time at the felt with our players and after the next hand she probably wishes she didn’t. She got the last of her chips in with 88 and after tanking for a few minutes bigdoggy called her down with AK. The AK hit and unfortunately I’d be seeing no more of Haley this week and she was sent to the rail with her partner. A few at the table were quite upset with what they thought was a slowroll from doggy. Being the slight underdog in the hand he assures me he wasn’t all that comfortable risking what was almost all his chips in a race. But as we have seen before, this is one doggy that always seems to catch the rabbit. (Yes more greyhound references!)

Bigdoggy’s luck couldn’t last all day and he was eventually our next loss for the day. On a 524 flop he fired his last 35k into the middle getting called down by pocket 3’s. With AT in hand doggy was well behind and clearly a front runner he never caught up and was sent to the rail.

While watching bigdoggy’s table I caught what had to be the hand of the day. A short stack pushed all-in for his last 40k or so in chips and was called down by one of the biggest stacks at the table. Immediately to the left of that stack was another big stack who came all-in over the top. These two older gentlemen had spent most of the day side by side and the original caller clearly had a great read laying down his hand, showing the table his pocket kings as he did so. The bigger all-in showed pocket aces and the folder was quickly patting himself on the back for an amazing lay down. The short stack showed AT and was clearly dominated no matter who he went to the showdown with. This hand was not finished with its twists and turns though as no sooner had the folder started to feel good a king rained down on the flop, with no ace to follow he had in fact folded what would have been a set of kings. Sometimes you just need the extra cahoonas to make the big calls and without them you are left to lament what could have been, this had to be one of those times.

Dustin “DrextheTex” Drexel

Drex had been up and down on day 1, and this was how day two was always going to play out. Never shy to mix it up Drex got into plenty of good spots he just needed some cards to fall his way for a good run deep in the tourney. The luck was mixed from the start back to back pocket jacks saw him steal a pot one hand but then lose the showdown on the next. His biggest hand of the day saw him flop a straight against top pair when his 78 caught JT9 on the flop up against Q5. The straight held up and he was soon the chip leader of our remaining qualifiers with over 120k in chips.
That lead evaporated in the blink of an eye though. Still with over 100k in chips looking at an A44JK board Tex came hard over the top and moved all-in. Unfortunately he was called down and his opponents JJ had rivered a straight and were good, sending the big Tex to the rail. Still on Tex he surely wins the photo of the day with the sweet shot of his mirrored sunglasses, now thats a poker face! (more…)