Crown Australian Poker Championship

Crown Australian Poker Championship
Sport Texas Hold 'em
Founded 1998
No. of teams No officially recognized teams
Country Australia Australia
Most recent
champion(s)
Canada Ari Engel
Official website www.aussiemillions.com

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.

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 USA, 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 prizepool).

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]

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

Main Event Winners

1998 Australian Poker Championships (Limit Hold'em)

Final Table [9]
Place Name Prize
1st Australia Alex Horowitz $25,900
2nd Australia Ken Eastwood $14,800
3rd Australia David Gorr $7,400
4th Australia Leo Boxell $4,810
5th Australia Mike Ivin $3,700
6th England Jason Gray $2,960
7th Australia Michael Marcos $2,220
8th United States Vince Oliver $1,850
9th Slovakia Emilia Garvenovak $1,480

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

Final Table [10]
Place Name Prize
1st Australia Milo Nadalin $38,150
2nd Australia Adam Haman $21,800
3rd Australia Joe Meissner $10,900
4th Australia Sam Khouiss $7,085
5th Australia Larry Jones $5,450
6th Australia Billy Argyros $4,360
7th Australia Brian Mulvihill $3,270
8th Australia Vic Thornton $2,725
9th Australia John Maver $2,180

2000 Australian Poker Championships

Final Table [11]
Place Name Prize
1st Australia Leo Boxell $65,225
2nd Australia Gerry Fitt $32,700
3rd Australia Gary Benson $16,350
4th England Jason Gray $10,628
5th Australia Martin Comer $8,175
6th Australia Charles Cuschieri $6,540
7th Australia Joe Humunicki $4,905
8th Australia Wendy Boxell $4,088
9th Australia Chris Newton $3,270

2001 Australian Poker Championships

Final Table [12]
Place Name Prize
1st Australia Sam Korman $53,025
2nd Australia Eric Sclavos $30,300
3rd Australia James Potter $15,150
4th Australia Toby Atroshenko $9,848
5th Australia John Maitland $7,575
6th New Zealand Jamil Dia $6,060
7th Australia Gerry Fitt $4,545
8th New Zealand Lee Nelson $3,787
9th Australia Mick Anderson $3,030

2002 Australian Poker Championships

Final Table [13]
Place Name Prize
1st Australia John Maver $150,000
2nd Australia John Homann $63,000
3rd Australia David Szetho $35,000
4th New Zealand Lee Nelson $24,500
5th Australia Chris Newton $17,500
6th Australia Toby Atroshenko $10,500
7th Republic of Ireland Frank Callaghan $9,625
8th Australia Mike Guttman $7,875
9th New Zealand Constantin Harach $7,000

2003 Crown Australian Poker Championships

Final Table [14]
Place Name Prize
1st England Peter Costa $394,870
2nd Australia Leo Boxell $225,640
3rd England Harry Demetriou $124,102
4th Australia Sam Khouiss $101,538
5th Australia Joe Cabret $78,974
6th England Ram Vaswani $67,692
7th Australia Martin Comer $56,410
8th Austria Erich Kollmann $45,128
9th England Joe Beevers $33,846

2004 Crown Australian Poker Championships

Final Table [15]
Place Name Prize
1st England Tony Bloom $426,500
2nd United States Jesse Jones $243,700
3rd United States Kenna James $134,000
4th Australia David Hatzis $109,700
5th England Mark Banin $85,300
6th Australia Brian Hull $73,100
7th Australia Mike Ivin $60,900
8th Australia Han Luu $48,700
9th Australia Tino Lechich $36,600

2005 Crown Australian Poker Championships

Final Table [16]
Place Name Prize
1st New Zealand Jamil Dia $1,000,000
2nd United States Mike Simkin $465,000
3rd Australia George Mamacas $250,000
4th Australia Martin Comer $170,000
5th Republic of Ireland Stephen McLean $110,000
6th Australia Warwick Dunnett $80,000
7th United States Jonathan Paul $70,000
8th Australia Gary Benson $60,000
9th Netherlands Marcel Lüske $50,000

2006 Crown Australian Poker Championships

Final Table [17]
Place Name Prize
1st New Zealand Lee Nelson $1,295,800
2nd United States Robert Neary $689,700
3rd Canada Nenad Medic $376,200
4th United States Shannon Shorr $271,700
5th United States Jeff Sealey $209,000
6th Australia Russell Davies $167,200
7th Australia Wes Bugiera $125,400

2007 Crown Australian Poker Championships

Final Table [18]
Place Name Prize
1st Denmark Gus Hansen $1,500,000
2nd United States Jimmy Fricke $1,000,000
3rd Republic of Ireland Andy Black $700,000
4th Australia Julius Colman $500,000
5th Germany Hans Vogl $400,000
6th Canada Marc Karam $300,000
7th United States Kristy Gazes $220,000

2008 Crown Australian Poker Championships

Final Table [19]
Place Name Prize
1st Russia Alexander Kostritsyn $1,650,000
2nd United States Erik Seidel $1,000,000
3rd Australia Michael Chrisanthopoulos $700,000
4th Australia Peter Ling $500,000
5th Australia Nino Marotta $400,000
6th Australia Antonio Casale $300,000
7th Australia Peter Mobbs $225,000

2009 Crown Australian Poker Championship

Final Table
Place Name Prize
1st Australia Stewart Scott $2,000,000
2nd United States Peter Rho $1,000,000
3rd Canada Elliot Smith $700,000
4th Australia Rajkumar Ramakrishnan $400,000
5th Australia Sam Capra $300,000
6th United States Zach Gruneberg $210,000
7th England Richard Ashby $150,000

2010 Crown Australian Poker Championship

Final Table
Place Name Prize
1st Australia Tyron Krost $2,000,000
2nd Denmark Frederik Jensen $1,100,000
3rd Canada Sorel Mizzi $715,000
4th Australia Kosta Varoxis $450,000
5th Canada Peter Jetten $350,000
6th United States Steven Friedlander $250,000
7th Norway Annette Obrestad $175,000

2011 Crown Australian Poker Championship

Final Table
Place Name Prize
1st Australia David Gorr $2,000,000
2nd United Kingdom James Keys $1,035,000
3rd Australia Jeff Rossiter $700,000
4th Australia Michael Ryan $450,000
5th United States Randy Dorfman $325,000
6th United Kingdom Samad Razavi $225,000
7th United Kingdom Chris Moorman $175,000

2012 Crown Australian Poker Championship

Final Table
Place Name Prize
1st Australia Oliver Speidel $1,600,000
2nd Hong Kong Kenneth Wong $1,000,000
3rd Australia Mile Krstanoski $610,000
4th Sweden Mohamad Kowssarie $405,000
5th Australia Patrick Healy $300,000
6th Hong Kong Bjorn Li $230,000
7th Canada Yann Dion $170,000

2013 Crown Australian Poker Championship

Final Table
Place Name Prize
1st Malaysia Mervin Chan $1,600,000
2nd Australia Joseph Cabret $1,000,000
3rd Finland Patrik Antonius $600,000
4th United States Dan Shak $400,000
5th Australia Jarrod Glennon $290,000
6th New Zealand David Yan $220,000
7th Hong Kong Jay Tan $150,000

2014 Aussie Millions Poker Championship

Final Table
Place Name Prize
1st Canada Ami Barer $1,600,000
2nd Canada Sorel Mizzi $1,000,000
3rd United States Jake Balsiger $650,000
4th United States Darren Rabinowitz $450,000
5th United States Vincent Rubianes $335,000
6th Australia Andrew Phaedonos $250,000
7th United States Scott Seiver $170,000

2015 Aussie Millions Poker Championship

Final Table
Place Name Prize
1st Australia Manny Stavropoulos $1,385,500
2nd Germany Lennart Uphoff $1,214,500
3rd New Caledonia Joel Douaglin $630,000
4th United Kingdom James Rann $430,000
5th United States Brian Rast $315,000
6th Australia Anthony Legg $235,000
7th United States Richard Lyndaker $160,000

2016 Aussie Millions Poker Championship

Final Table
Place Name Prize
1st Canada Ari Engel $1,600,000
2nd United States Tony Dunst $1,000,000
3rd United States Samantha Abernathy $624,000
4th Australia Alex Lynskey $445,000
5th Australia Dylan Honeyman $340,000
6th Taiwan Kitty Kuo $270,000
7th Australia John Apostolidis $210,000

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 Italy 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

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 Republic of Ireland Steve O'Dwyer A$ 951,960 16 (1 Rebuy) A$ 3,920,000

References

  1. 2013-02-25. "The 2013 Aussie Millions Airs On OneHD Tonight".
  2. 1 2 3 "2009 Aussie Millions Tournament Schedule". Bodog Poker. 19 December 2008. Retrieved 4 January 2009.
  3. http://www.coinflip.com/news/dan-shak-beats-phil-ivey-hu-aussie-millions-100000-challenge.html
  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. 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. 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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