Aussie Millions

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The Crown Casino in Melbourne, Australia, added poker in 1997. One year later, they held their first major live championship event, a $1000* buy-in Limit Hold’em tournament. The event was then called the Australasian Poker Championship and it had 74 players who competed for $74,000 in prize money. In 2001 the name of the tournament was changed to the Crown Australian Poker Championship, but it is more popularly known as the “Aussie Millions” event. The event was also moved to January instead of July, and the buy-in was increased to $5,000.

By 2006 the buy-in had increased to $10,000 and the number of entrants had grown to 418 and the field had become international in every sense of the word, as players came from across the globe to compete for the $4 million dollar prize pool. The tournament also includes a full slate of preliminary events covering the spectrum of poker games, beginning almost two weeks before the main event. The final event at Aussie Millions is actually a live satellite to the 2008 main event!

Many online poker rooms, such as Full Tilt Poker, have now added satellites to the Aussie Millions event to their tournament schedules. The winners of these satellites are usually given a full prize package which includes airfare and hotel, a buy-in to the main event, and cash for additional expenses. Watch for even more poker rooms to add satellites to this event. As poker continues to increase in popularity across the world, the Aussie Millions event will grow with it.

Aussie Millions History

The Aussie Millions is a live poker event that’s held annually in January. Every year the event has been held in January and I can’t see that changing anytime soon, as it’s been a huge success. The event is always held at the Crown Casino in Melbourne, Australia as well and the casino has become known around the world thanks to the Aussie Millions. Most poker players don’t know this, but the Aussie Millions has been held since 1998, which is a few years before poker hit the mainstream crowd.

There were a total of 74 players that competed in the very first Aussie Millions with a buy-in of $1000. The majority of the players that competed in the tournament were from Australia though, as there were only 10 international players. Nowadays the Aussie Millions attracts hundreds of international players every year in January and a lot of the best poker pros travel down under every year to participate in the tournaments.

When the Aussie Millions first started there was only a single event, but it’s grown into a huge series of tournaments that take place throughout the month of January. This year, the number of events in the Aussie Millions is 20 including the famous $10,500 Main Event that is always played at the end of the Aussie Millions. With over 500 players playing in the Main Event the past few years, the prize pool in the Main Event is always massive.

In 2009 the Aussie Millions become famously known around the poker world for setting the record for the biggest cash game in the history of poker. The buy-in for the cash game was $1M and it features the best high stakes players in the world including Ivey and Dwan. It’s a shame that they don’t offer the cash game every year now because watching the action on television was awesome.

The Aussie Millions is currently the sixth biggest poker event in the world and if it continues becoming bigger it should overtake some of the other events in a few years. Traveling to Australia after the Christmas holidays can be troublesome for a lot of people, but if you ever have the chance you don’t want to miss out on the opportunity to play with the best poker players in the world.

If you want to try and win a travel package to Australia that includes a seat in the Aussie Millions main event, you can either play in satellite throughout the year at the Crown Casino in Melbourne or online. Certain online poker sites provide satellite events to the Aussie Millions during December, so make sure you keep an eye out for them this year.

*The Aussie Millions event buy-ins are given in AUD$