Crown Australian Poker Championship

The Australian Poker Championship, commonly known as Aussie Millions, is a series of poker tournaments held at the Crown Casino, in Melbourne, Australia. The Main Event of the series is the Southern Hemisphere's richest poker tournament with a prize pool in excess of A$7 million.

Crown Australian Poker Championship
SportTexas Hold 'em
Founded1998
No. of teamsNo officially recognized teams
CountryAustralia Australia
Most recent
champion(s)
Australia Vincent Wan
Official websitewww.aussiemillions.com

History

Poker at Crown was introduced in June 1997, with the first major championship held shortly after in July 1998. The Main Event was a $1,000 buy in Limit Holdem tournament that attracted 74 entries with a $74,000 prize pool. The Crown Australian Poker Championship, or the 'Aussie Millions' as it became known, moved to January in 2001, attracting 40 entrants with a $5,000 buy in for a prize pool of $200,000. January 2003 saw the event go international, attracting a field of 122 entrants and a $1,200,000 prize pool. In January 2005, the Aussie Millions continued to grow with 263 participants paying $10,000 each to enter the No Limit Hold'em Main Event, generating the biggest prize pool ever in the Southern Hemisphere of $2,630,000. Over half the field was from overseas including players from New Zealand, England, Ireland, Norway, Denmark, the US, Sweden, the Netherlands, Canada, Italy and Lebanon. In 2006, 418 players competed for a share of the $4,180,000 prize pool, including some of the biggest names in the Poker world such as WSOP Champion Joe Hachem, along with Phil Ivey, John Juanda and Daniel Negreanu. The 2007 championship commenced on Sunday 14 January 2007 with the final table held on Friday 19 January 2007. The buy-in was $10,500 ($10,000+$500). A record 747 players entered, which generated a prize pool of $7,470,000. The top 80 players were "in the money" and received between $15,000 and $1,500,000 each.

The 2008 championship concluded on Sunday 20 January 2008 with the winner being the 21-year-old Russian Alexander Kostritsyn. The buy-in was $10,500 ($10,000+$500). A record 780 players entered, which generated a prize pool of $7,800,000. The top 80 players were "in the money" and received between $15,000 and $1,650,000 each. The 2009 event will feature a total of 15 tournaments. The Main Event will have a guaranteed $2 million first prize. It will also feature ten players taking part in the first Million Dollar Poker Cash Game, the largest poker game of its kind anywhere in the world. Ten players will be required to stake a minimum of $1 million, though it is expected that some players will bring more to the table. The Aussie Millions is now regarded as the largest poker tournament in the Southern Hemisphere and the sixth-largest internationally (by prize pool).

Television

In 2013, Crown's Aussie Millions Poker Championship television coverage, produced by McGuire Media in conjunction with Poker PROductions, was a nine-episode series broadcast on One HD and ESPN Australia. The series was hosted by Lynn Gilmartin, with commentary by Joe Hachem and Jonno Pittock, as well as pro analysis by Antonio Esfandiari.[1]

Main Event structure

The structure of the Main Event is slightly different from that of most other major tournaments. While most major Hold 'em tournaments, including the World Series of Poker Main Event, play at nine-handed tables throughout, the Aussie Millions Main Event begins with eight-handed tables. Play continues eight-handed until the field is reduced to 36 players, at which point all tables are six-handed. The 2009 Aussie Millions Main Event structure will see Day 1 divided into three flights, with blind levels of 90 minutes' duration. From Day 2 until the completion of the tournament, the blind levels are 120 minutes long.[2]

High roller events

The Aussie Millions is also known for its high roller tournaments, which have featured some of the highest buy-ins in history.

$100,000 Challenge

The high roller trend began in 2006 when the Aussie Millions launched its $100,000 No Limit Holdem Challenge (actual buy in is $100,500, including the $500 entry fee), at that time billed as the highest buy-in of any poker tournament in history. It has a particularly unusual structure:[2]

  • Players start with 100,000 chips, a comparatively larger amount compared to both the Aussie Millions and WSOP Main Events.
  • Betting is pot limit preflop and no limit afterwards.
  • Players are allowed only 30 seconds to act on their hands. At the start of the tournament, each player is given three extensions of 30 seconds each for use during the tournament.

The $100,000 Challenge was first played in 2006, with 10 entrants. Eighteen entered the Challenge in 2007, 25 in 2008,[2] and 24 in 2010. Daniel Shak won the 2010 tournament for a total prize of A$1,200,000.[3] A record field of 38 played in the 2011 edition.[4]

$250,000 Super High Roller

With a number of other poker events adding tournaments with buy-ins comparable to that of the $100,000 Challenge, the Aussie Millions added a tournament with a $250,000 buy-in in 2011, which the organisers again claimed as the world's highest. (Since then, the World Series of Poker has held an official event with a US$1 million buy-in.) It was originally scheduled to be a heads-up no-limit event, but the organisers changed the format twice, settling on what they thought would be a single-table no-limit hold 'em tournament. However, 20 players entered the inaugural $250K tournament, including major stars Phil Ivey, Erik Seidel, Tom Dwan, Chris Ferguson, John Juanda, David Benyamine and Annette Obrestad, plus Sam Trickett, who had just won that year's $100K event. Seidel, who had finished second in the $100K event, won the $2.5 million first prize, defeating Trickett in heads-up play.[5][6]

The 2012 event was won by Ivey, who defeated 15 other players to win $2 million, the largest prize of his career.[7] Trickett won the 2013 event, also winning $2 million after defeating 17 other players.[8]

Results

1998 Australian Poker Championships (Limit Hold'em)

  • Buy-in: $1,000
  • Date: 26 July 1998
  • Number of buy-ins: 74
  • Total Prize Pool: $74,000
  • Number of Payouts: 9
Final Table [9]
Place Name Prize
1stAustralia Alex Horowitz$25,900
2ndAustralia Ken Eastwood$14,800
3rdAustralia David Gorr$7,400
4thAustralia Leo Boxell$4,810
5thAustralia Mike Ivin$3,700
6thEngland Jason Gray$2,960
7thAustralia Michael Marcos$2,220
8thUnited States Vince Oliver$1,850
9thSlovakia Emilia Garvenovak$1,480

1999 Australian Poker Championships (Pot-Limit Hold'em)

  • Buy-in: $1,000
  • Date: August 1999
  • Number of buy-ins: 109
  • Total Prize Pool: $109,000
  • Number of Payouts: 18
Final Table [10]
Place Name Prize
1stAustralia Milo Nadalin$38,150
2ndAustralia Adam Haman$21,800
3rdAustralia Joe Meissner$10,900
4thAustralia Sam Khouiss$7,085
5thAustralia Larry Jones$5,450
6thAustralia Billy Argyros$4,360
7thAustralia Brian Mulvihill$3,270
8thAustralia Vic Thornton$2,725
9thAustralia John Maver$2,180

2000 Australian Poker Championships

  • Buy-in: $1,500
  • Date: Sunday, 27 August 2000
  • Number of buy-ins: 109
  • Total Prize Pool: $173,500
  • Number of Payouts: 18
Final Table [11]
Place Name Prize
1stAustralia Leo Boxell$65,225
2ndAustralia Gerry Fitt$32,700
3rdAustralia Gary Benson$16,350
4thEngland Jason Gray$10,628
5thAustralia Martin Comer$8,175
6thAustralia Charles Cuschieri$6,540
7thAustralia Joe Humunicki$4,905
8thAustralia Wendy Boxell$4,088
9thAustralia Chris Newton$3,270

2001 Australian Poker Championships

  • Buy-in: $1,500
  • Date: Friday, 24 August 2001
  • Number of buy-ins: 101
  • Total Prize Pool: $151,500
  • Number of Payouts: 18
Final Table [12]
Place Name Prize
1stAustralia Sam Korman$53,025
2ndAustralia Eric Sclavos$30,300
3rdAustralia James Potter$15,150
4thAustralia Toby Atroshenko$9,848
5thAustralia John Maitland$7,575
6thNew Zealand Jamil Dia$6,060
7thAustralia Gerry Fitt$4,545
8thNew Zealand Lee Nelson$3,787
9thAustralia Mick Anderson$3,030

2002 Australian Poker Championships

  • Buy-in: $5,000
  • 2-Day Event: Friday, 11 January 2002 to Saturday, 12 January 2002
  • Number of buy-ins: 66
  • Total Prize Pool: $330,000
  • Number of Payouts: 10
Final Table [13]
Place Name Prize
1stAustralia John Maver$150,000
2ndAustralia John Homann$63,000
3rdAustralia David Szetho$35,000
4thNew Zealand Lee Nelson$24,500
5thAustralia Chris Newton$17,500
6thAustralia Toby Atroshenko$10,500
7thRepublic of Ireland Frank Callaghan$9,625
8thAustralia Mike Guttman$7,875
9thNew Zealand Constantin Harach$7,000

2003 Crown Australian Poker Championships

  • Buy-in: $10,000
  • Date: Sunday, 12 January 2003
  • Number of buy-ins: 122
  • Total Prize Pool: $1,220,000
  • Number of Payouts: 18
Final Table [14]
Place Name Prize
1stEngland Peter Costa$394,870
2ndAustralia Leo Boxell$225,640
3rdEngland Harry Demetriou$124,102
4thAustralia Sam Khouiss$101,538
5thAustralia Joe Cabret$78,974
6thEngland Ram Vaswani$67,692
7thAustralia Martin Comer$56,410
8thAustria Erich Kollmann$45,128
9thEngland Joe Beevers$33,846

2004 Crown Australian Poker Championships

  • Buy-in: $10,000
  • Date: Thursday, 15 January 2004
  • Number of buy-ins: 133
  • Total Prize Pool: $1,330,000
  • Number of Payouts: 18
Final Table [15]
Place Name Prize
1stEngland Tony Bloom$426,500
2ndUnited States Jesse Jones$243,700
3rdUnited States Kenna James$134,000
4thAustralia David Hatzis$109,700
5thEngland Mark Banin$85,300
6thAustralia Brian Hull$73,100
7thAustralia Mike Ivin$60,900
8thAustralia Han Luu$48,700
9thAustralia Tino Lechich$36,600

2005 Crown Australian Poker Championships

  • Buy-in: $10,000
  • 3-Day Event: Tuesday, 18 January 2005 to Thursday, 20 January 2005
  • Number of buy-ins: 263
  • Total Prize Pool: $2,630,000
  • Number of Payouts: 40
Final Table [16]
Place Name Prize
1stNew Zealand Jamil Dia$1,000,000
2ndUnited States Mike Simkin$465,000
3rdAustralia George Mamacas$250,000
4thAustralia Martin Comer$170,000
5thRepublic of Ireland Stephen McLean$110,000
6thAustralia Warwick Dunnett$80,000
7thUnited States Jonathan Paul$70,000
8thAustralia Gary Benson$60,000
9thNetherlands Marcel Lüske$50,000

2006 Crown Australian Poker Championships

  • Buy-in: $10,000
  • 6-Day Event: Saturday, 14 January 2006 to Thursday, 19 January 2006
  • Number of buy-ins: 418
  • Total Prize Pool: $4,180,000
  • Number of Payouts: 48
Final Table [17]
Place Name Prize
1stNew Zealand Lee Nelson$1,295,800
2ndUnited States Robert Neary$689,700
3rdCanada Nenad Medic$376,200
4thUnited States Shannon Shorr$271,700
5thUnited States Jeff Sealey$209,000
6thAustralia Russell Davies$167,200
7thAustralia Wes Bugiera$125,400

2007 Crown Australian Poker Championships

  • Buy-in: $10,000
  • 6-Day Event: Sunday, 14 January 2007 to Friday, 19 January 2007
  • Number of buy-ins: 747
  • Total Prize Pool: $7,470,000
  • Number of Payouts: 80
Final Table [18]
Place Name Prize
1stDenmark Gus Hansen$1,500,000
2ndUnited States Jimmy Fricke$1,000,000
3rdRepublic of Ireland Andy Black$700,000
4thAustralia Julius Colman$500,000
5thGermany Hans Vogl$400,000
6thCanada Marc Karam$300,000
7thUnited States Kristy Gazes$220,000

2008 Crown Australian Poker Championships

  • Buy-in: $10,000
  • 6-Day Event: Sunday, 14 January 2008 to Friday, 19 January 2008
  • Number of buy-ins: 780
  • Total Prize Pool: A$7,758,500
  • Number of Payouts: 80
Final Table [19]
Place Name Prize
1stRussia Alexander Kostritsyn$1,650,000
2ndUnited States Erik Seidel$1,000,000
3rdAustralia Michael Chrisanthopoulos$700,000
4thAustralia Peter Ling$500,000
5thAustralia Nino Marotta$400,000
6thAustralia Antonio Casale$300,000
7thAustralia Peter Mobbs$225,000

2009 Crown Australian Poker Championship

  • Buy-in: $10,000
  • 7-Day Event: Saturday, 17 January 2009 to Friday, 23 January 2009
  • Number of buy-ins: 681
  • Total Prize Pool: $6,810,000
  • Number of Payouts: 64
Final Table
Place Name Prize
1stAustralia Stewart Scott$2,000,000
2ndUnited States Peter Rho$1,000,000
3rdCanada Elliot Smith$700,000
4thAustralia Rajkumar Ramakrishnan$400,000
5thAustralia Sam Capra$300,000
6thUnited States Zach Gruneberg$210,000
7thEngland Richard Ashby$150,000

2010 Crown Australian Poker Championship

  • Buy-in: $10,000
  • 7-Day Event: Sunday, 24 January 2010 to Saturday, 30 January 2010
  • Number of buy-ins: 746
  • Total Prize Pool: $7,460,000
  • Number of Payouts: 72
Final Table
Place Name Prize
1stAustralia Tyron Krost$2,000,000
2ndDenmark Frederik Jensen$1,100,000
3rdCanada Sorel Mizzi$715,000
4thAustralia Kosta Varoxis$450,000
5thCanada Peter Jetten$350,000
6thUnited States Steven Friedlander$250,000
7thNorway Annette Obrestad$175,000

2011 Crown Australian Poker Championship

  • Buy-in: $10,000
  • 7-Day Event: Sunday, 23 January 2011 to Saturday, 29 January 2011
  • Number of buy-ins: 721
  • Total Prize Pool: $7,210,000
  • Number of Payouts: 72
Final Table
Place Name Prize
1stAustralia David Gorr$2,000,000
2ndUnited Kingdom James Keys$1,035,000
3rdAustralia Jeff Rossiter$700,000
4thAustralia Michael Ryan$450,000
5thUnited States Randy Dorfman$325,000
6thUnited Kingdom Samad Razavi$225,000
7thUnited Kingdom Chris Moorman$175,000

2012 Crown Australian Poker Championship

  • Buy-in: $10,000
  • 7-Day Event: Sunday, 22 January 2012 to Saturday, 28 January 2012
  • Number of buy-ins: 659
  • Total Prize Pool: $6,590,000
  • Number of Payouts: 72
Final Table
Place Name Prize
1stAustralia Oliver Speidel$1,600,000
2ndHong Kong Kenneth Wong$1,000,000
3rdAustralia Mile Krstanoski$610,000
4thSweden Mohamad Kowssarie$405,000
5thAustralia Patrick Healy$300,000
6thHong Kong Bjorn Li$230,000
7thCanada Yann Dion$170,000

2013 Crown Australian Poker Championship

  • Buy-in: $10,000
  • 7-Day Event: Sunday, 27 January to Saturday, 2 February 2013
  • Number of buy-ins: 629
  • Total Prize Pool: $6,290,000
  • Number of Payouts: 64
Final Table
Place Name Prize
1stMalaysia Mervin Chan$1,600,000
2ndAustralia Joseph Cabret$1,000,000
3rdFinland Patrik Antonius$600,000
4thUnited States Dan Shak$400,000
5thAustralia Jarrod Glennon$290,000
6thNew Zealand David Yan$220,000
7thHong Kong Jay Tan$150,000

2014 Aussie Millions Poker Championship

  • Buy-in: $10,600
  • 7-Day Event: Sunday, 2 February to Sunday, 9 February 2014
  • Number of buy-ins: 668
  • Total Prize Pool: $6,680,000
  • Number of Payouts: 72
Final Table
Place Name Prize
1stCanada Ami Barer$1,600,000
2ndCanada Sorel Mizzi$1,000,000
3rdUnited States Jake Balsiger$650,000
4thUnited States Darren Rabinowitz$450,000
5thUnited States Vincent Rubianes$335,000
6thAustralia Andrew Phaedonos$250,000
7thUnited States Scott Seiver$170,000

2015 Aussie Millions Poker Championship

  • Buy-in: $10,600
  • 7-Day Event: 25 January–February 1
  • Number of buy-ins: 648
  • Total Prize Pool: $6,480,000
  • Number of Payouts: 72
Final Table
Place Name Prize
1stAustralia Manny Stavropoulos$1,385,500
2ndGermany Lennart Uphoff$1,214,500
3rdNew Caledonia Joel Douaglin$630,000
4thUnited Kingdom James Rann$430,000
5thUnited States Brian Rast$315,000
6thAustralia Anthony Legg$235,000
7thUnited States Richard Lyndaker$160,000

2016 Aussie Millions Poker Championship

  • Buy-in: $10,600
  • 6-Day Event: 25–31 January
  • Number of buy-ins: 732
  • Total Prize Pool: $7,320,000
  • Number of Payouts: 81
Final Table
Place Name Prize
1stCanada Ari Engel$1,600,000
2ndUnited States Tony Dunst$1,000,000
3rdUnited States Samantha Abernathy$624,000
4thAustralia Alex Lynskey$445,000
5thAustralia Dylan Honeyman$340,000
6thTaiwan Kitty Kuo$270,000
7thAustralia John Apostolidis$210,000

2017 Aussie Millions Poker Championship

  • Buy-in: $10,000
  • 9-Day Event: 22–30 January
  • Number of buy-ins: 725
  • Total Prize Pool: $7,685,000
  • Number of Payouts: 80
Final Table
Place Name Prize
1stAustralia Shurane Vijayaram$1,600,000
2ndUnited Kingdom Ben Heath$1,000,000
3rdGermany Tobias Hausen$620,000
4thAustralia Jeff Rossiter$440,000
5thGermany Fedor Holz$335,000
6thUnited States David Olson$270,000
7thAustralia Luke Roberts$210,000

2018 Aussie Millions Poker Championship

  • Buy-in: $10,600
  • 8-Day Event: 28 January–February 4
  • Number of buy-ins: 800
  • Total Prize Pool: $8,000,000
  • Number of Payouts: 88
Final Table
Place Name Prize
1stEngland Toby Lewis$1,458,198
2ndSwitzerland Stefan Huber$909,699
3rdNorway Espen Solaas$1,177,103
4thAustralia Chul-Hyon Park$470,000
5thUnited States Mike Del Vecchio$370,000
6thAustralia Ben Richardson$300,000
7thBelgium Johan Schumacher$235,000

2019 Aussie Millions Poker Championship

  • Buy-in: $10,600
  • 7-Day Event: 28 January–February 3
  • Number of buy-ins: 822
  • Total Prize Pool: $8,220,000
  • Number of Payouts: 88
Final Table
Place Name Prize
1stUnited States Bryn Kenney$1,272,598*
2ndUnited States Mike Del Vecchio$1,272,162*
3rdAustralia Andrew Hinrichsen$1,098,739*
4thAustralia Clinton Taylor$483,000
5thAustralia Matthew Wakeman$380,300
6thSouth Korea Gyeong Byeong Lee$309,000
7thAustralia Hamish Crawshaw$242,000

*-The final three players made a deal, with Kenney being crowned champion

2020 Aussie Millions Poker Championship

  • Buy-in: $10,600
  • 7-Day Event: 17–24 January 2020
  • Number of buy-ins: 820
  • Total Prize Pool: $8,200,000
  • Number of Payouts: 88
Final Table
Place Name Prize
1stAustralia Vincent Wan$1,318,000*
2ndVietnam Ngoc Tai Hoang$1,318,000*
3rdNew Zealand Gareth Pepper$1,000,000*
4thGermany Nino Ullmann$480,160
5thUnited States Erik Seidel$378,660
6thGermany Oliver Weis$307,820
7thCanada Nicolas Malo$240,080

* - Denotes deal between the final three players

High Roller Winners (A$100,000 Challenge)

Year Winner Prize Entries Total Prize Pool
2006 Indonesia John Juanda A$1,000,000 10 A$1,000,000
2007 United States Erick Lindgren A$1,000,000 18 A$1,800,000
2008 United States Howard Lederer A$1,250,000 25 A$2,500,000
2009 Australia David Steicke A$1,200,000 23 A$2,300,000
2010 United States Daniel Shak A$1,200,000 24 A$2,400,000
2011 United Kingdom Sam Trickett A$1,525,000 38 A$3,800,000
2012 United States Dan Smith A$1,012,000 22 A$2,200,000
2013 United States Andrew Robl A$1,000,000 22 A$2,200,000
2014 Ukraine Yevgeniy Timoshenko A$2,000,000 47 (29 Rebuys) A$7,486,000
2015 Malaysia Richard Yong A$1,870,000 70 A$6,860,000
2016 Germany Fabian Quoss A$1,446,480 41 (11 Rebuys) A$4,018,000
2017 United States Nick Petrangelo A$882,000 18 A$1,764,000
2018 Malaysia Michael Lim A$931,000 19 A$1,862,000
2019 United States Cary Katz A$1,481,760 42 A$4,116,000
2020 Australia Kahle Burns A$1,746,360 54 A$5,292,000

Super High Roller Winners (A$250,000 Challenge)

Year Winner Prize Entries Total Prize Pool
2011 United States Erik Seidel A$2,500,000 20 A$5,000,000
2012 United States Phil Ivey A$2,000,000 16 A$4,000,000
2013 United Kingdom Sam Trickett A$2,000,000 18 A$4,500,000
2014 United States Phil Ivey A$4,000,000 30 (16 Rebuys) A$11,270,000
2015 United States Phil Ivey A$2,205,000 25 A$6,105,000
2016 United States Steve O'Dwyer A$951,960 16 (1 Rebuy) A$3,920,000

References

  1. "The 2013 Aussie Millions Airs On OneHD Tonight". 25 February 2013.
  2. "2009 Aussie Millions Tournament Schedule". Bodog Poker. 19 December 2008. Archived from the original on 22 December 2008. Retrieved 4 January 2009.
  3. "Coinflip.com - We Play With Casino and Sportsbook Bonuses".
  4. Teemu (23 January 2011). "Sam Trickett wins Aussie Millions $100K Challenge and A$1,525,000". HighStakesDB.com. Retrieved 28 January 2011.
  5. LikeABoss (27 January 2011). "Congratulations to Erik Seidel, Winner of the 2011 Aussie Millions $250,000 Super High Roller Event (A$2,500,000)". Pokernews.com. Retrieved 28 January 2011.
  6. "2011 Aussie Millions Official Prizepool" (Press release). Crown Casino Melbourne. 28 January 2011. Archived from the original on 30 January 2011. Retrieved 28 January 2011.
  7. "Welcome Back Phil Ivey, Winner of the $250,000 Super High Roller (A$2,000,000)!" (Press release). Crown Casino Melbourne. 29 January 2012. Archived from the original on 1 February 2012. Retrieved 26 March 2012.
  8. Rinkema, Remko (1 February 2013). "Sam Trickett Wins 2013 Aussie Millions $250,000 Challenge". Poker News. Retrieved 24 March 2013.
  9. "1998 Australian Poker Championships Main Event results". Retrieved 17 October 2008.
  10. "1999 Australian Poker Championships Main Event results". Retrieved 17 October 2008.
  11. "2000 Australian Poker Championships Main Event results". Retrieved 17 October 2008.
  12. "2001 Australian Poker Championships Main Event results". Retrieved 17 October 2008.
  13. "2002 Australian Poker Championships Main Event results". Retrieved 17 October 2008.
  14. "2003 Aussie Millions Main Event results". Retrieved 17 October 2008.
  15. "2004 Aussie Millions Main Event results". Retrieved 17 October 2008.
  16. "2005 Aussie Millions Main Event results". Retrieved 17 October 2008.
  17. "2006 Aussie Millions Main Event results". Retrieved 17 October 2008.
  18. "2007 Aussie Millions Main Event results". Retrieved 17 October 2008.
  19. "2008 Aussie Millions Main Event results". Retrieved 17 October 2008.
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