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Welcome to Day 1 of 2018 Aussie Millions $100,000 Challenge
Now in its 13th year, the Aussie Millions $100,000 Challenge has handed out just over A$38m in prize money to some of the best players in the world, and the 2018 edition gets underway at 2:15pm local time here in Melbourne.
The tournament has been won by some of the biggest names in world poker. Inaugural winner John Juanda has garnered quite the poker resume since 2006, with the 2008 WSOPE and EPT 12 Barcelona among the highlights. Sam Trickett followed up his 2011 win by finishing runner-up in the $250,000 Challenge the same year, and winning it two years later.
Last year Nick Petrangelo took home the title after beating small field, densely packed with some of the greatest poker players in the world. Petrangelo beat Mike Watson and Fedor Holz into second and third respectively, and it will be interesting to see if any of these players will take to the felt this year.
| Year | Winner | Prize | Entries | Total Prize Pool |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | John Juanda | A$ 1,000,000 | 10 | A$ 1,000,000 |
| 2007 | Erick Lindgren | A$ 1,000,000 | 18 | A$ 1,800,000 |
| 2008 | Howard Lederer | A$ 1,250,000 | 25 | A$ 2,500,000 |
| 2009 | David Steicke | A$ 1,200,000 | 23 | A$ 2,300,000 |
| 2010 | Daniel Shak | A$ 1,200,000 | 24 | A$ 2,400,000 |
| 2011 | Sam Trickett | A$ 1,525,000 | 38 | A$ 3,800,000 |
| 2012 | Dan Smith | A$ 1,012,000 | 22 | A$ 2,200,000 |
| 2013 | Andrew Robl | A$ 1,000,000 | 22 | A$ 2,200,000 |
| 2014 | Yevgeniy Timoshenko | A$ 2,000,000 | 47 | A$ 7,486,000 |
| 2015 | Richard Yong | A$ 1,870,000 | 70 | A$ 6,860,000 |
| 2016 | Fabian Quoss | A$ 1,446,480 | 41 | A$ 4,018,000 |
| 2017 | Nick Petrangelo | A$ 882,000 | 18 | A$ 1,764,000 |
The tournament is a prestigious one, not just in terms of the players that have won it, but in terms of the players who have had repeated success in it. There are only seven players who have cashed multiple times in the Aussie Millions $100,000 Challenge, and Erik Seidel leads the way with four cashes for over A$3m.
| Player | Cashes | Total Earnings (AU$) |
|---|---|---|
| Erik Seidel | 4 | $3,201,000 |
| David Steicke | 3 | $1,975,000 |
| Tony Bloom | 3 | $1,775,000 |
| Dan Shak | 3 | $1,637,000 |
| Fedor Holz | 2 | $634,060 |
| Masa Kagawa | 2 | $570,000 |
| Tony G | 2 | $342,000 |
Players will each receive 250,000 in chips. On Day 1 the levels will be 40-minutes long, and they will increase to 60 minutes in length from Day 2.
Late registration and re-entries are available until the end of Level 10, with nine levels scheduled for Day 1. Here is today's structure:
| Level | Small Blind | Big Blind | Ante |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 500 | 1,000 | 100 |
| 2 | 700 | 1,400 | 200 |
| 3 | 1,000 | 2,000 | 300 |
| 4 | 1,500 | 3,000 | 500 |
| 5 | 2,000 | 4,000 | 500 |
| 6 | 2,500 | 5,000 | 500 |
| 7 | 3,000 | 6,000 | 1,000 |
| 8 | 4,000 | 8,000 | 1,000 |
| 9 | 5,000 | 10,000 | 1,000 |
Stay tuned to PokerNews for all the action live from the Crown Casino in Melbourne.