Click here to read "Aussie Millions begins"

by Sarne Lightman

The dinner break has just been called and 101 of the original entrants are already gone including players such as Australian great Jeff Lissandro and American Mike Sexton.

World Champion Joe Hachem has had another tough couple of hours. "Its been like walking barefoot on broken glass," he tells me.

The flops have been cruel but his reads impeccable and no one is in doubt about how he became the world champ.

Joe raises from middle position with 5 5, the big blind calls...

The flop comes down 4c 5c 9c. The big blind checks and Joe leads out for 2/3 the pot. The big blind reraises and after a few minutes thought Joe lays down his trips. The big blind shows Ac2c.

Again Joe raises, this time from middle postion. He has AKoff. He again gets a flat call from the big blind. The flop comes A Q 4 rainbow. This time the big blind leads out with a pot sized bet. Joe, with a read that stuns the audience and the rest of the table, folds his AK face up. The big blind is stunned and shows everyone else his pocket queens.

Joe doesn't need flops, however, to build his chip stack:

With blinds of 150 - 300Antonio Esfandiari raises to 1k from middle position with Qc10c. He is called by the player to his left and it is folded around to Joe in the small blind.

Joe raises to 5k and Antonio and the caller both have to fold. Joe, who managed to talk the original caller out of the pot by a promise of showing his hand flips 9 5 offsuit.

As the break is called Joe has brought his stack back to 23k.

Many of the PokerStars online qualifiers are having an easier run. Doris Huminicki still has 36k and seems to be having a great time.

Bernie Martinelli from the states is also having a good run. His chips stack is a very healthy 35k and he is felling very confident.

Bernie Martinelli

George Magdas