Aussie Millions "Playing to its Strengths" says Tournament Director Joel Williams
With the 2020 Aussie Millions now in full swing, we finally caught up with Tournament Director Joel Williams who gave us his thoughts on how this year's tournament is shaping up and what the High Roller fields will be like later in the month.
After last year's tournament saw over 8,000 players from 45 countries across the world participate, Williams said that he would give the 2019 edition an 8 out of 10 rating.
"We had a record number of satellite qualifiers into the Main Event, which was a huge thing for us," Williams told PokerNews. "We know that's a big draw to people. If we can fill the Main Event with players whose only avenue to play a 10k event is through a satellite, then it's win-win. It gets those players in, and it also attracts players."
A total of 490 satellite entries helped the Main Event reach 822 players after the tournament had reached 800 the previous year, and Williams says that he hopes the tournament will never dip below 800 ever again.
This year, the tournament schedule has been "squashed" according to Williams. The immovable calendar items of Christmas and New Year, as well as the Lunar New Year towards the end of January, have meant the schedule has needed a few tweaks, but Williams says that he doesn't think it will affect the overall player experience.
"We've cut a few events, but from a player's perspective, I believe there's still the option to play what you want even if you're still in another event. It's harder from an operator perspective. There's always been an element of predictability about the schedule that we draw up, but this year it's a bit like a jigsaw puzzle that's been mixed up
"Fitting the schedule around Chinese New Year and the festive season was a little bit challenging. once we got through that and found our parameters it's been relatively smooth."
One thing that remains in the schedule is an extensive High Roller offering $25,000, $50,000 and $100,000 events later in the schedule, something Williams is bullish about as the festival gets underway.
"I can't see any reason why the High Rollers won't exceed anything seen in recent years. We've got people who didn't come last year, or haven't come for four or five years.
"Obviously no PCA means a lot of people who were on the fence are now back on our side of the court, and the Brisbane High Roller series is obviously the cherry on the top for players making that decision."
Williams believes that the continued success of the Aussie Millions will be done to the event playing to its strengths.
"We know that location isn't a strength. Melbourne may be a great city, and it may be a great time of year, but it's still a long way away from the rest of the world, and we can't control that.
"All we can control is guaranteeing our commitment to filling the Main Event with satellite qualifiers and hopefully providing the perception that this may well be the softest 10k Main Event on the planet. We're almost at the point where there's a 12-month rolling satellite offering, and even though we're starting almost two weeks earlier this year, we're already on track to exceed our satellite qualifiers.
"We can't control the price of hotels, the length of the flight, or the strength of the Australian dollar, but we can control the offering while players are here and that's the main thing we concern ourselves with."