Australian Poker Championship
The tournament, known as Aussie Millions, started in the beginning of 1997, the first major championship was held in summer 1998. The event is held at the Melbourne ’s Crown Casino .It is the richest poker tournament in the Southern Hemisphere with a prize pool 7 million Australian Dollars.
From 2003 the event became international, the number of local and foreign players is raising from year to year. From 2005 the majority of players came from abroad , from all over the world. In 2006 Aussie Millions attracted 418 participants, between them a number of wellknown poker players including World Series of Poker champion Joe Hachem, John Juanda , Daniel Negreanu, Phil Ivey .
In 2007 Aussie Millions attracted 747 players from 25 countries. The prize of 7 470 000 Australian Dollars was divided between 80 players , the prizes starting from 15,000 dollars, and the big prize of 1,5 millions of Australian Dollars.
The 2008 Aussie Millions championship, gathering a record of 780 players from 32 countries, had a prize pool of 7,800,000 Australian Dollars. The tournament was win by Alexander Kostritsyn, a young player from Russia, receiving 1,650,000 Australian Dollar for his performance.
In 2009 the big prize of 2,000,000 went to Australia, after three year Stewart Scott became the first Aussie to win the tournament The pool prize of 6,810,000 Australian Dollars was shared by 68 players, the number of participants decreasing for the first time after 2001.
The 2010 tournament will start in 14 January, and the final game in 31 January.
