We've spotted some more famous faces in the crowd among which two EPT winners (Rupert Elder and Toby Lewis), two WSOP bracelet winners (Valdemar Kwaysser and Ayaz Mahmood) and last year's Main Event finalist Bjorn Li.
It's the first starting day of the 2013 Aussie Millions Main Event, and the local stars came to play! In total these five Australians have amassed $8,432,513 in live tournament earnings and the tournaments they won form an impressive list.
Oliver Speidel (2012), David Gorr (2011) and Lee Nelson (2006) have all won the Aussie Millions Main Event. Nelson also won the 2011 ANZPT Melbourne, Boxell the 2011 APPT Melbourne and Michael Kanaan won the 2011 ANZPT Sydney. The Aussies have come out in full force today as their biggest tournament of the year is underway.
Toby Lewis and an opponent were heads up on a board of . The player led out for 2,500 into a pot of around 5,000, and Lewis tanked for a bit before raising to 6,800.
Defending champion Oliver Speidel just kicked things off by announcing the "Shuffle up and deal." The cards are in the air for seven 90 minute levels, which will have us finish around 1:20AM local time.
Day 1a of the 2013 Aussie Millions Main Event is set to begin in 90 minutes or so here at the beautiful Crown Casino in Melbourne, Australia. The plan is to play seven 90-minute levels, with a 75-minute dinner break after Level 4.
Oliver Speidel, the winner of the 2012 Aussie Millions Main Event, bested a field of 659 players to earn $1,600,000. The largest Aussie Millions Main Event (780 players) took place in 2008, and the winner was Russian Alexander Kostritsyn ($1,650,000).
Here's a list of all of the winners:
Year
Winner
Prize
1998*
Alex Horowitz
$25,900
1999*
Milo Nadalin
$38,150
2000
Leo Boxell
$65,225
2001
Sam Korman
$53,025
2002
John Maver
$150,000
2003
Peter Costa
$394,870
2004
Tony Bloom
$426,500
2005
Jamil Dia
$1,000,000
2006
Lee Nelson
$1,295,800
2007
Gus Hansen
$1,500,000
2008
Alexander Kostritsyn
$1,650,000
2009
Stewart Scott
$2,000,000
2010
Tyron Krost
$2,000,000
2011
David Gorr
$2,000,000
2012
Oliver Speidel
$1,600,000
*Denotes a game other than no-limit hold'em.
Today is the first of three Day 1's, and PokerNews will be on the floor giving you all of the live, up-to-the-minute updates. Stay tuned!
![[user101598]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
. The player led out for 2,500 into a pot of around 5,000, and Lewis tanked for a bit before raising to 6,800.
