Aussie Millions Flashback: The Main Event Begins

The 2009 Aussie Millions Poker Championship Main Event is underway, and by January 24th, we'll have a winner. Last year's Main Event drew 780 players, with a total prize pool of AUD $7.8 million. Of course we won't have an official player count for this year's event until the third Day One flight is underway. But players have been flooding into Melbourne over the past week and a half and it looks to be a good turnout. Past Aussie Millions winners Lee Nelson, Tony Bloom, Alexander Kostritsyn, and Gus Hansen have already participated in this year's preliminary events.

Ivan Demidov, final tablist at both the 2008 WSOP and WSOP Europe Main Events, is here. So is 2007 WSOP Europe Champion Annette "Annette_15" Obrestad. Other pros on hand include Jeff Lisandro, Chris Ferguson, Phil Ivey, JC Tran, Erik Seidel, Marsha Waggoner, Billy "The Croc" Argyros, Sorel Mizzi, Nick Binger, David Bach, Ross Boatman, Mel Judah, Tony G, Jason Gray, Kelly Kim, Richard Ashby, John Juanda, Nam Le, Patrik Antonius, John Hennigan, and Dan Shak.

So far, eight preliminary events have concluded. Winners from those are as follows (all prizes in AUD$):

Event #1, $1,000 No Limit Hold'em: Christian Heich -- $150,000
Event #2, $1,000 PokerPro No Limit Hold'em: Mitchell Carle -- $25,000
Event #3, $1,000 Omaha Hi/Lo: Mel Judah -- $30,600
Event #4, $1,000 Limit Hold'em: Zach Gruneberg -- $35,000
Event #5, $1,000 H.O.R.S.E.: Jarred Solomon -- $30,380
Event #6, $1,000 No Limit Hold'em w/ Rebuys: Mark Kassis -- $160,320
Event #7, $1,500 Bounty Feature Event: Saidal Wardak -- $151,200
Event #8, $100,000 No Limit Hold'em Challenge: David Steicke -- $1,200,000

On top of the Main Event, they'll be nine more events to play before the 2009 Aussie Millions concludes, including a $10,000 H.O.R.S.E event. The last event of the tournament will be the $1,000 2-Card Manila Championship w/ Rebuys. As Australia's national poker game, its perhaps fitting that this last event kicks off on Australia Day, Australia's national holiday marking the start of the country's colonization. Meanwhile, over the next several days, the Main Event field will be winnowed down until the winner claims the most prestigious poker prize in the southern hemisphere.