[SS] “Did you guys see that Phil Ivey won the Aussie Millions Super High Roller again?” Stan the Stat queried.
[RR] “The guy’s not human”, Roderick the Rock noted in assent.
[LL] “How many times has he won it now?” Leroy the Lion inquired.
[SS] “Three times in the last four years, although he also played in the first event in 2011.”
[RR] “That’s insane.”
[SS] “Yeah, even with the small fields — 20, 16, 18, 30, and 25 — three wins over such a tough group of pros is incredible. I don’t know what secrets he’s figured out, but he’s taken in almost a third of his career tournament earnings here1.”
[RR] “Who won the Main Event this year?”
[SS] “Manny Stavropoulos, a local from South Melbourne. He’s a cash game player who also plays in many of the big tournaments in Australia but previously had only amassed about $135,000 in tournament earnings and never won an event. He returned the crown to the home country after three years:
Aussie Millions Champions
| Year | Winner | Prize | Players | Cashed | Runner Up |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1998 | Alex Horowitz | $15,693 | 74 | 9 | Ken Eastwood |
| 1999 | Milo Nadalin | $24,801 | 109 | 18 | Adam Haman |
| 2000 | Leo Boxell | $38,483 | 109 | 18 | Gerry Fitt |
| 2001 | Sam Korman | $28,368 | 101 | 18 | Eric Sclavos |
| 2002 | John Maver | $78,030 | 66 | 10 | John Homann |
| 2003 | Peter Costa | $221,862 | 122 | 18 | Leo Boxell |
| 2004 | Tony Bloom | $323,456 | 133 | 18 | Jesse Jones |
| 2005 | Jamil Dia | $777,442 | 263 | 40 | Mike Simkin |
| 2006 | Lee Nelson | $949,694 | 418 | 48 | Robert Neary |
| 2007 | Gus Hansen2 | $1,192,919 | 747 | 80 | Jimmy Fricke |
| 2008 | Alexander Kostritsyn | $1,450,396 | 780 | 80 | Erik Seidel |
| 2009 | Stewart Scott | $1,420,737 | 681 | 64 | Peter Rho |
| 2010 | Tyron Krost | $1,845,921 | 746 | 72 | Frederik Jensen |
| 2011 | David Gorr | $1,978,044 | 721 | 72 | James Keys |
| 2012 | Oliver Speidel | $1,647,158 | 659 | 72 | Kenneth Wong |
| 2013 | Mervin Chan | $1,689,118 | 629 | 64 | Joseph Cabret |
| 2014 | Ami Barer | $1,399,739 | 668 | 72 | Sorel Mizzi |
| 2015 | Manny Stavropoulos | $1,264,222 | 648 | 72 | Lennart Uphoff |
| 2016 | Ari Engel | $1,120,110 | 732 | 80 | Tony Dunst |
| 2017 | Shurane Vijayaram | $1,208,368 | 725 | 80 | Ben Heath |
| 2018 | Toby Lewis | $1,156,205 | 800 | 88 | Stefan Huber |
| 2019 | Bryn Kenney | $916,271 | 822 | 88 | Michael Del Vecchio |
Notes:
- An Australian has won the title 11 times: the first five from 1998 to 2002, four in a row from 2009 to 2012, 2015, and 2017.
- No other country has won more than twice (England in 2003 and 2004; New Zealand 2005 and 2006). The remaining title have been captured by Denmark (2007), Russia (2008), Malaysia (2013), and Canada (2014).
- An American was the runner-up every year from 2004 to 2009 before Ari Engel finally broke through and won it all in 2016.
- The event was originally known as the [Crown] Australian Poker Championships, has also been referred to as the Australasian Poker Championships, and has officially been the Aussie Millions Poker Championship since 2003.
- The events took place in the winter (July and August) the first four years before moving to the summer (January then late January to early February) in 2002.
- The Main Event was contested in Limit Hold ‘Em in 1998 and Pot Limit Hold ‘Em in 1999 but has been No Limit ever since 2000.
- The buy-in increased from $1,000 Australian dollars in 1998 to $1,500 in 2000 to $5,000 in 2002 to $10,000 since 2003.”
[SS] “Unfortunately, many of the final hands from the early years have been lost, at least as far as the Internet is concerned, but here’s what I could find:
Aussie Millions Final Hands3
| Year | Winner | Hand | Value | Runner Up | Hand | Value | Board |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1998 | Alex Horowitz | ?×?× | unknown | Ken Eastwood | ?×?× | unknown | ?×?×?×?×?× |
| 1999 | Milo Nadalin | 5×5× | Two Pairs, 6s and 5s |
Adam Haman | A♣7♥ | Pair of 6s | 6♣6♥4♠K♠T× |
| 2000 | Leo Boxell | A×6× | Three 6s | Gerry Fitt | Q×8× | Pair of 6s | 6×5×9×6×2× |
| 2001 | Sam Korman | Q♣4♦ | Flush, Ace-high |
Eric Sclavos | 8♦7♦ | Straight, 9-high |
9♠5♣6♣9♣A♣ |
| 2002 | John Maver | ?×?× | unknown | John Homann | ?×?× | unknown | ?×?×?×?×?× |
| 2003 | Peter Costa | ?×?× | unknown | Leo Boxell | ?×?× | unknown | ?×?×?×?×?× |
| 2004 | Tony Bloom | K×3× | Three 3s | Jesse Jones | K×K× | Two Pairs, Kings and 3s |
3♠3♥7♦?×?× |
| 2005 | Jamil Dia | ?×?× | unknown | Mike Simkin | ?×?× | unknown | ?×?×?×?×?× |
| 2006 | Lee Nelson | J♣5♣ | Flush, Ace King Queen Jack-high |
Robert Neary | 4♣2♣ | Flush, Ace King Queen 4-high |
A♣6♥Q♣K♣K♠ |
| 2007 | Gus Hansen | A♥A♣ | Pair of Aces | Jimmy Fricke | 9♣7♣ | Pair of 9s | Q♦8♦6♣2♣9♠ |
| 2008 | Alexander Kostritsyn | J♥9♥ | Pair of Jacks | Erik Seidel | A♠Q♣ | Ace-high | J♦8♠7♠3♥K♥ |
| 2009 | Stewart Scott | A♠A♦ | Two Pairs, Aces and 9s |
Peter Rho | A♥J♣ | Pair of 9s | 2♠9♦8♥4♦9♠ |
| 2010 | Tyron Krost | K♠9♦ | Two Pairs, Kings and 2s, 9 kicker |
Frederik Jensen | K♦6♠ | Two Pairs, Kings and 2s, 7 kicker |
K♣3♥2♦7♥2♣ |
| 2011 | David Gorr | K♣4♣ | Pair of 4s | James Keys | 7♣3♣ | Pair of 3s | 7♠6♣3♥K♥4♠ |
| 2012 | Oliver Speidel | A♠A♣ | Pair of Aces | Kenneth Wong | 9♣9♥ | Pair of 9s | K♠T♠8♥4♣7♥ |
| 2013 | Mervin Chan | 8♠6♠ | Three 8s | Joseph Cabret | A♦3♦ | Two Pairs, 8s and 3s |
8♣7♦3♣8♦K♥ |
| 2014 | Ami Barer | A♥A♠ | Full House, Aces over 2s |
Sorel Mizzi | Q♦8♦ | Pair of 2s | 2♣K♠2♥3♥A♦ |
| 2015 | Manny Stavropoulos | J♦T♠ | Straight, Jack-high |
Lennart Uphoff | T♦6♦ | Straight, Ten-high |
A♦9♠8♦7♥8♥ |
| 2016 | Ari Engel | J♠7♣ | Pair of Jacks | Tony Dunst | A♣4♣ | Pair of 4s | T♠4♦2♥J♣9♠ |
| 2017 | Shurane Vijayaram | 5♥5♦ | Pair of 5s | Ben Heath | K♠8♣ | King high | 9♣7♠6♥3♥Q♠ |
| 2018 | Toby Lewis | Q♦T♦ | Three Queens | Stefan Huber | A♠8♦ | Pair of Queens | Q♠Q♥8♥7♠5♠ |
Notes:
- There was no deciding hand in 2019 as an ICM deal was struck three-way.
- Pocket Aces won on the final hand four times from 2007 to 2014.
- Stacks are still reasonably deep heads up. The chips went all-in preflop 4 times (1999, 2009, 2012, and 2014), on the flop 4 times (2004, 2007, 2008, and 2010), on the turn 3 times (2000, 2011, and 2013), and on the river 6 times (2001, 2006, and 2015-2018) [unknown the remaining 4 years (1998, 2002, 2003, and 2005)4].”
[SS] “Lastly, two players have reached three final tables,5 and nine have reached two.”
- 3: Leo Boxell (1998 [4th], 2000 [1st], and 2003 [2nd]) and Martin Comer (2000 [5th], 2003 [7th], and 2005 [4th]).
- 2: David Gorr (1998 [3rd] and 2011 [1st]), Gerry Fitt (2000 [2nd] and 2001 [7th]; the first back-to-back final tablist), Jamil Dia (2001 [6th] and 2005 [1st]), Jason Gray (1998 [6th] and 2000 [4th]), Lee Nelson (2002 [4th] and 2006 [1st]; also 8th in 2001), Mike Ivin (1998 [5th] and 2004 [7th]), Sam Khouiss (1999 [4th] and 2003 [4th]), Sorel Mizzi (2010 [3rd] and 2014 [2nd]), and Toby Atroshenko (2001 [4th] and 2002 [6th]; the second back-to-back final tablist).
- Honorable Mention: Gary Benson (2000 [3rd] and 2005 [8th]) and Patrik Antonius (2011 [8th] and 2013 [3rd]).
Footnotes:
- Ivey’s career tournament earnings are now just over $22 million, of which $7.3 million have come from the Aussie Millions Super High Roller (in 2015, officially called The LK Boutique Challenge as it was sponsored by LK Jewellery).
- Amazingly, Gus Hansen planned to write a book about his 2007 Aussie Millions run and then went on to win the event! That certainly gave a huge boost to the sales of Every Hand Revealed in which Hansen shares his thoughts on every important hand he played.
- { Updates: } 2019 data added Feburary 27, 2019. 2018 data added February 8, 2018. 2017 data added February 3, 2017. 2016 data added March 16, 2016.
- Any information about the missing final hands would be most appreciated!
- Play starts eight-handed and drops to six-handed at 36 players, but the official final table is seven players according to Wikipedia’s Aussie Millions article.
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