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AUSSIE MILLIONS HISTORYThe Aussie Millions has become one of the biggest poker events in the world, with the official launch of the Aussie Millions in 2001, but hit the big time in 2003 and entry numbers and prize pools have rocketed ever since. The 2012 Event gets underway in January and is expected to hold its biggest entry list to date.
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HISTORY..The Crown Australasian Poker Championships' really became the first ‘Aussie Millions Poker Championship' in 2003, when the event was increased to a AUD$10,000 buy-in and reached AUD$1 million in prize money. It was very well received and supported by both our local players and some well known international players as well. Since, has been re-branded to become known internationally as the ‘Aussie Millions Poker Championship' and has become one of the major stops on the international circuit.
Poker at Crown was introduced in June 1997 with the first major championship, then known as the Australasian Poker 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 truly international, attracting a field of 122 entrants and a $1.2m prize pool. |
WINNERS ROW
2003 Champion Peter Costa
2004 Champion Tony Bloom |
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In January 2005, the Aussie Millions reached new heights with a record 263 participants paying $10,000 each to enter the No Limit Holdem 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, USA, Sweden, Holland, Canada, Italy and Lebanon.
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2005 Champion Jamil Dia |
WINNERS ROW
2006 Champion Lee Nelson
2007 Champion Gus Hansen
2008 Champion Alex Kostritsyn |
In 2006 the Aussie Millions proved itself as one of the world’s top multi-million dollar Poker events when 418 players competed for a slice of the AUD$4,18,000 prize pool including some of the biggest names in the Poker world such as WSOP Champion Joe Hachem, Phil Ivey, John Juanda, Daniel Negreanu, Barry Greenstein, Kathy Leibert, Scott Fischman, Chip Jett, David Williams, Antonio Esfandiari, Mike Sexton, Tony G, Jesse Jones, Clonnie Gowan plus many more.
The 2007 Aussie Millions again exceeded all expectations with main event player numbers increasing by over 70% year on year, attracting 747 entrants. The event was filmed by Fox Sports Net for the second consecutive year and with high profile pro player Gus Hansen winning the event and collecting the $1.5 million first prize, no doubt the 10 episode series will attract a wide audience when it airs in the US in mid 2007. In 2008 21-Year-Old Russian Young Gun Alexander Kostritsyn was Crowned Aussie Millions Champion. He had to taken down one of the toughest NL Hold'em tournament players in the world in Erik Seidel for the victory. Seidel walked away in second place with a cool AUD$1 Million. Kostritsyn took home AUD$1.65 Million, the largest prize ever awarded in a live poker tournament in the Southern Hemisphere. He outlasted a record field of 780 players who anted up the AUD$10,000 buy-in for the ‘Main Event’, creating an unprecedented prize pool of AUD$7.80 Million. In three years the entry numbers had trebled which is an amazing feat and indication of exactly how far this tournament has come, and with the record entry numbers comes a record prize pool again to treble in three years is just a credit to Australia, The Crown, Aussie Millions and of course the players themselves. |
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Most recently, the 2009 Aussie Millions Main Event saw the title remain on it's own soil with the first Aussie ever to win the Aussie Millions - Stewart Scott. The Main Event was the culmination of 18 individual events, which this year generated more than AUD$13 million in total prize money.
Following on from the enormous ratings success of the US screening of the 2007 and 2008 Aussie Millions Main Event, Crown and Fox Sports Net (FSN) partnered up for another year that will again see the Aussie Millions filmed for broadcast internationally in 2009 with a reach of over 81 million homes. A coup for Australian Poker, Crown’s collaboration with FSN further consolidates the prestige, recognition and credibility of the Aussie Millions, particularly in America, the home of Texas Holdem, and a country that widely considers poker its national game. The 2010 Aussie Millions Poker Championship included a total of 20 events, with the AUD$10,500 Main Event and the elite AUD$100,000 buy-in No-Limit Hold'em event as the biggest highlights. Winning the ‘Main Event’ at Crown’s Aussie Millions makes instant stars and often instant millionaires out of those with a dream and the determination to outmanoeuvre and outlast the competition. Day 1 of the ‘Main Event’ took place on Sunday 24 January 2010, and developed into a television series for international audiences. Past Aussie Millions Champions who attended were Lee Nelson (2006), Gus Hansen (2007), Alexander Kostritsyn (2008) and Stewart Scott (2009) who walked away with AUD$2 million! Melbourne, Australia. Sunday 31 January 2010. The new king of poker was crowned , when 23-year-old Australian poker player Tyron Krost won Crown Casino’s 2010 Aussie Millions Poker Championship ‘Main Event’ and took home AUD$2 million, one of the largest prizes ever awarded in a live poker tournament in the Southern Hemisphere. The new king of poker was crowned on Sunday 30 of January 2011 , when David Gorr, a 68-year-old grandfather from Melbourne, Victoria collected a whopping AUD$2,000,000 in prize money. He was also presented with the widely-cherished and universally-revered diamond-encrusted gold bracelet, representing the game’s ultimate achievement. who will take home the trophy in 2012...........? |
WINNERS ROW
2009 Champion Stewart Scott
2010 Champion Tyron Krost
2011 Champion David Gorr
2012 Champion.........?
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