The Crown Australia Poker Championship, or Aussie Millions as it is affectionately known, has the largest prize pool of any tournament in the southern hemisphere with over 7 million Australian dollars up for grabs. As a result it attracts some of the biggest professional players in the world to its heaving tables and only in Australia could the theatre of poker truly be allowed to flourish.
The competition began life in 1998 after the Crown Casino in Melbourne started offering poker the year before. A modest 74 entrants got involved in this first tournament with $1000 buy in and in 2001 40 entrants contributed to a $200,000 prize pool. It was 2003 that saw the event get international attention, with 122 entrants and a whopping $1.2 million prize pool up for grabs and legitimising the ‘Aussie Millions’ moniker. By 2005 things had really got global and 263 contestants from around the world gathered, each paying 10 thousand Australian dollars for the privilege of entry, competing for a total of over $2.5 million. Things grew even more in 2006 with 418 entrants to the Aussie Millions, including top pros like Phil Ivey and Daniel Negreanu, all playing their hardest to win over $4 million in prize money. 2007 saw even more growth, with 747 registered entrants and a corresponding prize pool of $7 million, with the winner netting a massive $1.5 million.
Ivey making a move in the aussie millions:
2008 was again a record year for the Aussie Millions championship, with 780 players signing on and paying their money, with the winner hailing all the way from Russia and taking $1.6 million back to his chilly homeland.
Unlike similar large tournaments, Aussie Millions kicks off with eight-handed tables in their Hold ‘em arena and sticks with this number until the players have been whittled down to just 36. At that point tables of 6 are enforced, whereas in most other tournaments tables of 9 are used from the offset.
The tournament isn’t just about big prizes, it’s also got a few other tricks up its sleeve. The most exciting event on offer is the $100,000 challenge which understandably requires players to stump up the tenth of a million to buy their way in. There’s a time limit of 30 seconds in which you can deal with your hand, so things are kept at a lightening pace throughout and only the richest and best players in the world can realistically make any money from this game. However, interest is continually rising even in this high risk portion of the tournament, with entrant numbers increasing from 10 in its opening year of 2006 to 25 by the time the tournament took place in 2008.
The poker championship started on a small scale and early winners were exclusively from Australia itself, but as international interest grew the crown has been taken by a foreigner on four occasions since the first tournament. However, 2009 saw the big prize go to native Australian Stewart Scott who won the maximum amount of $2 million dollars. This is despite the maximum prize pool being slightly lower than in previous years at a still dizzying $6.8 million.