The 2020 Aussie Millions Main Event is in the books. Vincent 'Wonky' Wan, a cash-game regular at the Crown Casino in Melbourne, faded a field of 820 runners to win this year's title. First place paid out $1.3 million AUD per terms of a three-way deal with Ngoc Tai Hoang and Gareth Pepper. Erik Seidel finished in fifth place.
Aussie aussie aussie... oy! Oy! Oy! An Australian took down the 2020 Aussie Millions after an American and a Brit won it in the previous two years. Vincent Wan, known as Wonky among the locals at the Crown Casino in Melbourne, Australia, outlasted a tough final table that included the legendary Erik Seidel to win the marquee Main Event championship and the most prestigious event in the southern hemisphere. Wan also won the first major event of 2020 with a heck of a performance.
This year's Aussie Millions has been overshadowed by the devastating fires that engulfed the Australian wilderness. But there's a saying in showbiz that the show must go on. Besides, poker players (ho hum... players flush with cash at the time) are generous when it comes to charitable causes... especially dire ones like natural disasters in Australia. So, any type of tournament like the Aussie Millions that generates wealth has a chance to help raise money for various charities to assist in the latest natural disaster.
This year's Aussie Millions Main Event attracted 820 runners, which just fell short of another record-breaking tournament. With a $10,000 buy-in, the field generated a prize pool in excess of $8.2 million in Aussie bucks.
This year's event paid out 88 players with most of the cheesecake set aside to the final table.
Nick Pupillo bubbled the final table in eighth place. Mike Del Vecchio made the final table the previous two years including a runner-up finish last year. Alas, Del Vecchio made another deep run, but he bowed out in tenth place... and missed the final table by a few spots.
The final table of seven included... Vincent Wan, Ngoc Tai Hoang, Gareth Pepper, Nino Ullmann, Erik Seidel, Oliver Weis, and Nicolas Malo.
Malo hit the road first in seventh place, followed by one of two Germans at the final table, Oliver Weis, in sixth place.
Everyone was buzzing when Erik Seidel made the final table. He fought back jet lag and the fact he's fending off kids almost half his age for several long nights in a row. Ah, don't feel too bad for one of the all-time greatest players... because he advanced to the final table for a shot at padding his career earnings by another cool million.
Alas, Seidel was one of the shorties with five to go and he could not muster up a valiant comeback. Seidel made a final stand with Ace-ten against Ace-Jack. Wan flopped a pair of Jacks, which held up. Seidel bounced in fifth place, which paid out $378,660 AUD or approximately $260K USD.
With four to go, it came down to an Aussie, Kiwi, German, and a player from Vietnam.
The former chip-leader, Nin Ullman, busted in fourth place, which paid out $480K AUD.
With three remaining, the final three chopped up the money. Hoang led with 10.5 million against Wan's 9.8 million, and Pepper's 4.2 million. They agreed to chop the money up top evenly with $1.3 million AUD each and third would bank $1 million AUD. There was no extra cash left on top... they were playing for bragging rights and the trophy.
Pepper busted shortly after the deal. For a third-place finish, Gareth Pepper banked a cool million in Aussie bucks, or approximately $688K USD.
Pepper's elimination set up the heads-up battle between Hoang and Wan. On the final hand, Wan took out Hoang with ten-nine offsuit against Ace-trey. Wan flopped a pair of nines on the all spades board. Hoang held a nut-flush draw with the 
:, but he whiffed on the turn and river.
Vietnam's Ngoc Tai Hoang earned $1,318,000 AUD for second place, which is roughly $907K USD. Not too shabby for second place, eh?
For winning the 2020 Aussie Millions, Wan earned an equal payout worth $1,318,000 AUD for second place, which is approximately $907K USD.
Wan joins the likes of some big names who shipped the Aussie Millions over the years. Previous champions included Bryn Kenny, Leo Boxell, Peter Costa Tony Bloom, Lee Nelson, Gus Hansen, Ami Barer, Alexander Kostritsyn, Ari Engel, Shurane Vijayaram, Manny Stavropoulos, and Toby Lewis.
Notables who cashed in the 2020 Aussie Millions Main Event included Mike Del Vecchio, Nick Pupillo, Fabian Quoss, Manig Loeser, Jack Wu, Jinsoo Kang, Bryce Yockey, Randy Lew, Dan O'Sea, Steve Miller, Mike Gross, John Chu, oni Jouhkimainen, Joel Cohen, Ben Lamb, David Wang, Pete Chen, Scott Margerson, Tomas Ribeiro, Simon Burns, Dan Ross, Sergio Aido, Gavin Flynn, Quan Zhou, Yin Liu, Bernie Stang, Russ Thomas, Maria Lampropulos, Tom Wing, Max Young, Jeff Madsen, Dzmitry Ubranovich, Rory Young, Max Deveson, Chi Zhang, Simon Carter, Ben Zhang, Stanley Wu, Jack Salter, Vivian Im, Kahle Burns, and Tu Tran.
2020 Aussie Millions Main Event
Buy-in: $10,000 AUD
Entrants: 820
Prize Pool: $8.2 million AUD
Payouts: 82
Final Tale Results:
1. Vincent Wan (Australia) A$1,318,000*
2. Ngoc Tai Hoang (Vietnam) A$1,318,000*
3. Gareth Pepper (New Zealand) A$1,000,000*
4. Nino Ullmann (Germany) A$480,160
5. Erik Seidel (USA) A$378,660
6. Oliver Weis (Germany) A$307,820
7. Nicolas Malo(Canada) A$240,080
** Final 3 made a deal
