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Sunday, Jan. 13, 2008

Aussie Millions gets under way Monday

Gus Hansen
The Great Dane is ready to take on all challengers at the Aussie Millions.

By Jason Kirk

It's summer Down Under, and in the poker world that can mean only one thing: It's time for the biggest poker tournament held in the Southern Hemisphere, the Aussie Millions.

Melbourne's Crown Casino expects somewhere in the neighborhood of 850 players for this year's installment of the Southern Hemisphere's biggest poker tournament, which would be its largest field ever for the main event.

The tournament will once again be filmed by Fox Sports Network and broadcast around the world.

The schedule calls for a full week of high-stakes poker action, beginning with the first of two scheduled Day 1s at 12:30 p.m. local time on Monday. Once the field has been narrowed down, the final table will begin on Sunday, Jan. 20.

Just as it was last year, the Aussie Millions is being sponsored by Full Tilt Poker. There will be 89 players in the field who qualified through satellites on Full Tilt.

The locals can also expect a full contingent of Full Tilt pros in attendance. Phil Ivey, Mike "The Mouth" Matusow, Chris "Jesus" Ferguson, Erik Seidel, Allen Cunningham, Erick Lindgren, Andy Bloch, Clonie Gowen, Howard Lederer, John Juanda, and Jennifer Harman are all expected to take a seat at the Crown Casino's tables.

Another member of Team Full Tilt who will make a showing is the defending champion. The "Great Dane," Gus Hansen, took home A$1,500,000 (~$1,193,000) after outlasting 747 entrants in 2007. The field was up from the 2006 total of 417, and the final table was a truly international affair.

Aside from Hansen's home country, five other nations - Australia, Canada, Germany, Ireland, and the United States - were represented in the final nine.

Finishing runner-up to Hansen last year was 18-year-old American Jimmy "Gobboboy" Fricke. Unable to legally play similar high-stakes tournaments in his own country due to his age, Fricke stormed through the field in an impressive international live tournament debut and finished ahead of several well-known veteran players.

The 2007 Aussie Millions final table standings were as follows:

Place Name Prize AUD Prize USD
1st Gus Hansen $1,500,000 $1,192,919
2nd Jimmy Fricke $1,000,000 $795,279
3rd Andy Black $700,000 $556,695
4th Julius Colman $500,000 $397,640
5th Hans Vogl $400,000 $318,112
6th Marc Karam $300,000 $238,584
7th Kristy Gazes $220,000 $174,961
8th Jakob Glassl $155,000 $123,268
9th Dennis Huntly $155,000 $123,268

With several events already in the record books in Melbourne for this year's tournament series, some familiar faces have already made an impact Down Under. Fricke took down Event 4 to give a good start to his trip, and Lee Watkinson also pulled down a win in Event 7.

A final treat for the locals will be the Aussie Millions Cash Game Invitational. Starting with a buy-in of A$200,000, the game will take place Wednesday, Jan. 16, in front of a live audience at Crown Casino. Fox Sports Network will be filming the Cash Game Invitational to add to its television coverage of the Aussie Millions.

For all your Aussie Millions action when the cards hit the felt on Monday in Melbourne, stay tuned to the PokerListings.com Live Tournament Section. Arthur Crowson and Owen Laukkanen will be bringing you the freshest, ripest live updates, photos, interviews and more each and every day of the tournament.

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