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 7 million. After a 6 year long hiatus, Aussie Millions is back in 2026.
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.
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.
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: 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, and 24 in 2010. Daniel Shak won the 2010 tournament for a total prize of A$1,200,000. A record field of 38 played in the 2011 edition.
$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.
The 2012 event was won by Ivey, who defeated 15 other players to win $2 million, the largest prize of his career. Trickett won the 2013 event, also winning $2 million after defeating 17 other players.
Results Main Event Winners 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 Place Name Prize 1st Alex Horowitz $25,900 2nd Ken Eastwood $14,800 3rd David Gorr $7,400 4th Leo Boxell $4,810 5th Mike Ivin $3,700 6th Jason Gray $2,960 7th Michael Marcos $2,220 8th Vince Oliver $1,850 9th 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 Place Name Prize 1st Milo Nadalin $38,150 2nd Adam Haman $21,800 3rd Joe Meissner $10,900 4th Sam Khouiss $7,085 5th Larry Jones $5,450 6th Billy Argyros $4,360 7th Brian Mulvihill $3,270 8th Vic Thornton $2,725 9th 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 Place Name Prize 1st Leo Boxell $65,225 2nd Gerry Fitt $32,700 3rd Gary Benson $16,350 4th Jason Gray $10,628 5th Martin Comer $8,175 6th Charles Cuschieri $6,540 7th Joe Humunicki $4,905 8th Wendy Boxell $4,088 9th 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 Place Name Prize 1st Sam Korman $53,025 2nd Eric Sclavos $30,300 3rd James Potter $15,150 4th Toby Atroshenko $9,848 5th John Maitland $7,575 6th Jamil Dia $6,060 7th Gerry Fitt $4,545 8th Lee Nelson $3,787 9th 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 Place Name Prize 1st John Maver $150,000 2nd John Homann $63,000 3rd David Szetho $35,000 4th Lee Nelson $24,500 5th Chris Newton $17,500 6th Toby Atroshenko $10,500 7th Frank Callaghan $9,625 8th Mike Guttman $7,875 9th 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 Place Name Prize 1st Peter Costa $394,870 2nd Leo Boxell $225,640 3rd Harry Demetriou $124,102 4th Sam Khouiss $101,538 5th Joe Cabret $78,974 6th Ram Vaswani $67,692 7th Martin Comer $56,410 8th Erich Kollmann $45,128 9th 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 Place Name Prize 1st Tony Bloom $426,500 2nd Jesse Jones $243,700 3rd Kenna James $134,000 4th David Hatzis $109,700 5th Mark Banin $85,300 6th Brian Hull $73,100 7th Mike Ivin $60,900 8th Han Luu $48,700 9th 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 Place Name Prize 1st Jamil Dia $1,000,000 2nd Mike Simkin $465,000 3rd George Mamacas $250,000 4th Martin Comer $170,000 5th Stephen McLean $110,000 6th Warwick Dunnett $80,000 7th Jonathan Paul $70,000 8th Gary Benson $60,000 9th 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 Place Name Prize 1st Lee Nelson $1,295,800 2nd Robert Neary $689,700 3rd Nenad Medic $376,200 4th Shannon Shorr $271,700 5th Jeff Sealey $209,000 6th Russell Davies $167,200 7th 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 Place Name Prize 1st Gus Hansen $1,500,000 2nd Jimmy Fricke $1,000,000 3rd Andy Black $700,000 4th Julius Colman $500,000 5th Hans Vogl $400,000 6th Marc Karam $300,000 7th 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 Place Name Prize 1st Alexander Kostritsyn $1,650,000 2nd Erik Seidel $1,000,000 3rd Michael Chrisanthopoulos $700,000 4th Peter Ling $500,000 5th Nino Marotta $400,000 6th Antonio Casale $300,000 7th 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 1st Stewart Scott $2,000,000 2nd Peter Rho $1,000,000 3rd Elliot Smith $700,000 4th Rajkumar Ramakrishnan $400,000 5th Sam Capra $300,000 6th Zach Gruneberg $210,000 7th 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 1st Tyron Krost $2,000,000 2nd Frederik Jensen $1,100,000 3rd Sorel Mizzi $715,000 4th Kosta Varoxis $450,000 5th Peter Jetten $350,000 6th Steven Friedlander $250,000 7th 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 1st David Gorr $2,000,000 2nd James Keys $1,035,000 3rd Jeff Rossiter $700,000 4th Michael Ryan $450,000 5th Randy Dorfman $325,000 6th Samad Razavi $225,000 7th 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