Poker Down Under: The 2012 Aussie Millions Is Underway

Poker News / Short-Stacked Shamus / 20 January 2012 / Leave a Comment

Day 1 of Event No. 1 at the 2012 Aussie Millions (Photo: PokerNews)

Last year the U.K. was well represented at the Aussie Millions Main Event with three players making the final table -- Chris Moorman (7th), Samad Razavi (6th), and James Keys (2nd). The 68-year-old Aussie player David Gorr won the title and $2 million first prize.

After spending the first half of the month focused on the Bahamas and the recently-completed PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, the poker world has now turned its attention to Melbourne, Australia and the Crown Casino for the 10th annual Aussie Millions Poker Championship.

Comprising the final three weeks of January, the Aussie Millions includes 26 different tournaments with buy-ins ranging from as low as $550 to the whopping $250,000 buy-in "Super High Roller" event. Games include no-limit hold'em in a variety of formats (including a team tourney), pot-limit Omaha, H.O.R.S.E., Chinese Poker, and mixed events including a $10,500 buy-in 8-game tournament coming at the end of the schedule. (All dollar amounts mentioned here are AUD, currently worth just a shade more than USD, with $1 AUD about $1.04 USD.)

Events that will be getting the most attention during the series will include the $10,600 buy-in, week-long Main Event (Event No. 8, starting Jan. 22), the two-day No-Limit Hold'em $100,000 Challenge (Event No. 9, also starting Jan. 22), and the single-day No-Limit Hold'em $250,000 Challenge (Event No. 27, Jan. 27). The $5,000 Chinese Poker tournament (Event No. 12), a new event at the Aussie Millions, may also attract some eyes, particularly if it happens to draw some name pros.

Speaking of, another storyline from this year's Aussie Millions will concern who among the battalion of Full Tilt Poker-associated pros might participate, if any. Last year the Full Tilters were everywhere during the series, particularly in the $100K and $250K events where the fields were mostly filled with FTP-sponsored players.

More than half of the 38 who participated in the $100,000 NLHE event at Melbourne last January won by Sam Trickett were Full Tilt pros. And 11 of the 20 who played in the $250,000 Super High Roller won by Erik Seidel were either members of Team Full Tilt or Full Tilt Red pros. But with the online poker site's shutdown, ongoing legal troubles, and still-pending sale efforts, expectations are that the many familiar faces of Full Tilt will likely be conspicuous by their absence this time around.

Some may recall how that $250,000 buy-in event -- the largest-ever buy-in for any poker tournament -- was a last-minute addition to the Aussie Millions schedule in 2011, thereby provoking criticism from some including Daniel Negreanu who saw Seidel cruise past him on the All-Time Money leaderboard thanks to his $2,500,000 payday for winning the Super High Roller.

Indeed, in a recent blog post listing his goals for 2012, Negreanu repeated his criticism of last year's event, referring to it as a "$250,000 buy-in sit 'n' go... clearly not a tournament, but a last minute sit 'n' go to appease three Asian businessmen in Australia."

This year the $250,000 event has been part of the schedule all along, and so while the notice has been there it still features a rapid-paced "sit 'n' go"-type structure that perhaps belies the event's price tag. In any case, it will surely be interesting to see next week just who participates this time around, as well as who plays in the $100K event that starts on Sunday.

The Main Event kicks off on Sunday as well, but with three Day 1 flights scheduled (Sunday through Tuesday) those who play in the $100K event shouldn't find it too difficult to participate in both, if they wish.

To get a sense of how the Aussie Millions has grown over the past decade, here's a look at all of the Main Event winners at the Crown since 2003:

2011 (721 players): David Gorr ($2,000,000 first prize)
2010 (746): Tyron Krost ($2,000,000)
2009 (681): Stewart Scott ($2,000,000)
2008 (780): Alexander Kostritsyn ($1,650,000)
2007 (747): Gus Hansen ($1,500,000)
2006 (418): Lee Nelson ($1,295,800)
2005 (263): Jamil Dia ($1,000,000)
2004 (133): Tony Bloom ($426,500)
2003 (122): Peter Costa ($394,870)

Last year the U.K. was well represented at the Aussie Millions Main Event with three players making the final table -- Chris Moorman (who finished 7th), Samad Razavi (6th), and James Keys (2nd). And as noted the 68-year-old Aussie David Gorr emerged as the winner, besting a total field of 721 to claim $2 million worth of the tourney's $7.21 million prize pool.

After a week's worth of poker, three events have concluded thus far at the 2012 Aussie Millions. Brendon Rubie of Australia won Event No. 1, earning a $200,000 return on his $1,100 buy-in. The American Dan Kelly took Event No. 2, a $1,100 pot-limit Omaha event which drew 129 players. Kelly earned $33,400 for his win. And Sandeep Pulusani of the U.S. topped a field of 150 in Event No. 3, a $1,100 No-Limit Hold'em Shootout, winning $37,500 for his victory.

But as mentioned, the coming week -- and especially those high roller events and the Main Event -- will be producing the most intriguing stories from down under, thus helping to herald in another year of dramatic, high-stakes tournament poker.

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