Phil Ivey, Tom Dwan, and Patrik Antonius were taking on several wealthy Malaysian businessmen/poker players.
They were playing $500/$1,000 with a $100 ante and a minimum buy-in of $100,000. Their opponents were Wang Qiang, Paul Phua and Richard Yong.
Several pots in the $200,000-$400,000 range were played with Antonius walking away the biggest winner and Ivey and the Malaysians sustaining most of the losses.
Antonius lost a $300k flip and had to reload, but he was back in the black after flopping a boat 20 minutes later.
Patrik Antonius won the largest pot, of $435,500, against Richard Yong when they got it all in on the flop and Antonius' AA held up against Yong's K-high flush draw.
Juanda was paid in full for a flopped wheel and then won a few other pots to finish up nearly $250k. Dwan found himself scooping a $250k pot with a missed flush draw and jack high.
Paul Phua stacked Ivey and decided to call it quits. His friends joined him, and the game broke about five hours after it started.
Once Ivey busted his initial $100,000 buy-in, the game broke for a short time before returning with Sam Trickett, David Benyamine, Justin Smith, Andrew Feldman, Eli Elezra and Dan Cates replacing Ivey, Juanda, and the Malaysians. Sam Trickett and David Benyamine were the second session's big winners, while Andrew Feldman and Dan Cates didn't come out so well.
"Tom Dwan was doing his very best to get them to come back. He even tried (unsuccessfully) to convince Yong to leave his chips here overnight. Whether or not they'll be back is still a mystery."
Day 2 of the Million Dollar Cash Game is scheduled for Tuesday at the Crown Casino. The new line-up will run from 4 pm to midnight local time.
In addition, there are sizable side games running with Australian high stakes player Andrewkirk inviting Dan "jungleman12" Cates to play in the $500/$1000 PLO or $1k/$2k NLHE games in the Mahogany room at the Crown Casino against some Asian businessmen.
