Gening Dai Wins $1,500 Mystery Bounty at Aussie Millions

University student Gening Dai took a shot in the $1,500 Mystery Bounty at the Aussie Millions Poker Championship 2026 Presented by CrownBet — and it paid off in a big way.

The buy-in marked a significant step up from Dai’s usual stakes. A self-professed small-stakes player, he had planned for the Mystery Bounty to be his final event before heading home, a shot he decided to take on a whim.

It proved to be the right move, as Dai outlasted a 912-entry field to become the last player standing, claiming the $174,495 AUD top prize, which represented the largest share of the 1,185,600 AUD prize pool.

Dai remained a relatively unassuming presence, particularly at the final table, until a key hand saw him turn a full house against Kenta Ito to score a massive pot five-handed. From that point on, Dai seized the opportunity and began aggressing at a much higher frequency to great success. Dai never lost the chip lead from that point and went on to bulldoze his opponents until eventually defeating Chester Swords heads-up for the victory.

Final Table Results

*Does not include bounty prizes. The largest bounties were claimed by Jaxon Byrne ($90,000 AUD), Max Sarafin ($50,000 AUD), Van Marcus ($25,000 AUD), and Kenta Ito ($25,000 AUD).

Winner’s Reaction

Clearly exhausted from the marathon session of poker he had just endured, Dai mentioned that he was “Happy, but tired” immediately following his win.

“My brain is not working, I couldn’t even figure out the chip counts!” Dai joked.

“I play small stakes normally,” the 25-year-old student of Monash University explained. “I’ve never got any results in buy-ins over $500. I got lucky, that’s for sure.”

Dai, who has only been playing tournaments for two years, said he balances poker with his studies and typically finds time to play a couple of times a week. He also admitted the Mystery Bounty format isn’t one he particularly enjoys. Despite collecting six bounties en route to victory, none were among the larger prizes.

“When people seek the bounties, they are crazy! Everyone just goes all in all the time. I’m not a fan of that actually, I prefer regular events. The bounty prize pool is not related with me! I’ll play the regular nine-handed events from now,” Dai said.

Going forward, Dai explained that he won’t be taking too many aggressive shots in future, but now feels comfortable playing at a similar buy in level.

“Before this win, the Mystery Bounty was going to be my last event. May now I’ll play a few more before leaving.”

Day 2 Action

A total of 124 players returned for Day 2 from the 912-entry field, with only 10 spots remaining until the money bubble would burst. Unsurprisingly, even with a good bit of stalling occurring at most tables, it only took a half hour until hand-for-hand play began.

Saulo Sabioni ended up soft bubbling after running pocket tens into Ito’s Cowboys, and Stephen Topakas similarly fell to Cowboys on the stone bubble after being forced all in from the big blind holding nine-eight and failing to improve.

Once players were in the money, it was officially “game on” as Mystery Bounty tickets came into play. The eliminations henceforth came fast and furious, with plenty of players happy to gamble in hopes of claiming bounty tickets.

Among the notables who were unable to escape the onslaught of eliminations include Steven Zhou, Matthew Wakeman, Ehsan Amiri, Malcolm Trayner, and Brendan Pettit after shoving a dominated ace into Tristan Wade.

Despite the pickup, Wade was also eliminated after losing a flip holding ace-ten against Dai, who held pocket eights, with three tables remaining.

The race from three tables down to the final table went at a blistering pace as there were plenty of short stacks looking to either double up or bust trying.

Ahmed Abdellatif ended up bubbling the final table after shoving over the top of a raise by Jaxon Byrne with a a dominated ace and failing to improve.

Aussie Millions Ambassador Van Marcus entered the final table with the only eight-figure stack but immediately saw his lead get minimized after Swords scored a double KO holding aces against Chien-Hui Chiang and Benjamin French, who were eliminated in ninth and eighth place respectively.

Following Ciaran Paxman‘s exit in seventh, an extended lull in eliminations saw multiple double-ups before Jaxon Byrne shoved pocket fives into Marcus’ pocket nines. Despite the disappointing finish in sixth, Bryne still had plenty of reasons to smile after pulling the highest bounty for $90,000 AUD.

Yesha Punjabi, the last lady standing, made her exit in fifth after taking a small beat with her ace against Swords’ king-ten and not long after is when a key hand propelled Dai into the chip lead.

Dai opened with pocket jacks, and Ito defended his big blind with queen-three. Ito flopped trips and check-raised, but Dai called before filling up on the turn. Ito continued to apply pressure and eventually moved all in on the river, only to be shown the bad news as Dai’s full house sent him to the rail in fourth place and gave Dai a commanding chip lead.

Putting his newfound chips to work, Dai raised time and time again preflop and was met with little resistance.

Marcus eventually took a stand against Dai holding pocket fours, but he was unable to hold against Dai’s ten-three suited to set up a lopsided match between Dai and Swords. He bowed out in third, the same position he came in the $2,500 H.O.R.S.E.

Swords did manage to double up through Dai, but he quickly found himself back on the short stack before calling a shove from Dai holding pocket deuces. Dai’s king-eight found a pair of kings on the flop and Swords found no help on the turn or river, putting an end to a 15-hour final day and crowning Dai as the Mystery Bounty champion.