Phil Ivey Wins Same Aussie Millions Event A Third Time For US$1.7m

Today Phil Ivey tweeted “I love Australia”, and it’s not too difficult to figure out why. Apart from being a beautiful country full of spectacular beaches, friendly people, and exotic creatures, the Oceanian country is also host to the Aussie Millions, a competition that has been exceedingly good to Ivey over the years.
Take the Aussie Millions LK Boutique $250,000 Challenge, for instance. In 2012, Ivey beat a 16 player field to win the re-buy event for US$2,058,948, and in 2014 he would do it again by overcoming a field of 30 player to capture the US$3,582,753 first-place prize. Then last night, Phil Ivey captured his third title in four years after defeating the 25 player field to take top honors again, this time worth an impressive US$1,710,854.
On Day 2 of the $250,000 Challenge, Phil Ivey ensured Richard Yong would go home empty-handed after eliminating him in 6th place, after which the remaining five finalists would all be guaranteed at least double their initial buy-in.
Doug Polk (K-K) then called Erik Seidel’s (A-3) preflop all-in to send him to the rail in 5th (US$427,519), while an hour later Mike McDonald (Ks-8s) called Scott Seiver‘s (7h-4s) re-raise all-in on an As-7s-6h flop, and following the 5s and 3d turn and river, Seiver, too, exited the competition in 4th for US$570,284.
The three handed action subsequently lasted a further three hours before Polk (Ac-5c) moved all-in preflop, only to be called by McDonald holding Ah-Qd. The board then ran out Qc-8c-5h-3h-9s to send Polk to the rail in 3rd (US$807,709), thus setting up the final battle between Ivey and McDonald for the title.
As the heads-up commenced, Ivey held a 3.61m to 2.64m chip advantage over his remaining opponent, and managed to reduce McDonald to a 1.3m stack when the deciding hand was played with McDonald (A-Q) and Ivey (K-Q) all-in preflop. Fortunately for Ivey, the dealer spread out a 10-10-K-8-9 board, and just like that Mike McDonald had to settle for a runner-up finish worth US$1,235,228, while Phil Ivey’s huge win moved him up to 3rd spot on poker’s ‘All Time Money List’, overtaking Dan Colman in the process.
Final Table Results (AU$):
1 Phil Ivey     $2,205,000
2 Mike McDonald     $1,592,500
3 Doug Polk     $1,041,500
4 Scott Seiver     $735,000
5 Erik Seidel     $551,000