By JAMES PUGSLEY, January 5th, 2011.
While obviously known more for cricket, Shane Warne has recently become quite involved with poker and charity.
Just one week from now marks the beginning of one of the year’s biggest tournament’s, the 2012 Aussie Millions. Based at Crown Casino in Melbourne — Aussie Millions features not only a prestigious $10,000 buy-in Main Event, but a multitude of compelling side events. Action kicks off on Thursday the 12th, with opening event offering a $1,100 deep stack tournament, with three available “flights” on separate days. The tournament plays like a “3x-chance” in the sense that it offers players three chances or “bullets”, enabling them the ability to re-register each new day independently regardless of whether they busted a previous day. With a structure that features longer levels as day 2 begins, and a more workable buy-in, this is a great opportunity for many up and comers to make their mark in the live scene.
The next event on offer at Crown is the 5th annual “Joe Hachem and Shane Warne Charity Poker Tournament”, which features a $1,150 buy-in. Presented by the Shane Warne Foundation, the tournaments primary goal will be to raise funds for ill and underprivileged children all across Australia, and will feature an impressive array of both pro’s and well-known celebrities. There will also be live music, and an auction with major items available, with some of the proceedings also going to the charity. Continuing on, the following Monday — the 16th, introduces even more events. These include mostly buy-ins around $1,000, with Pot Limit Omaha, a NLH Shootout and a 6-handed no limit event available. Since side events occur in a similar fashion throughout the event, if you need specifics, the best place to look is at the Aussie Millions website, where a schedule can be found here.
The 2011 final table of Aussie Millions Main Event
Outside of the smaller side events, what many would call the ‘real action’ begins on Sunday the 22nd with the first of 3 flights involved in the $10,000 Main Event. The attraction of the Main Event has grown from year to year, with 2011 putting forward 721 entrants, and offering up a $2,000,000 first prize. To make matters more interesting, the final table in 2011 was shot inside a film set called “Studio 3″, which offered seating for more than 500 spectators, and a delayed live stream on the internet for those at home to watch the action. It seems that in this regard, Aussie Millions is following suit with the World Series of Poker, which was ablaze with discussion this year after live streams were made available online. Whatever the case, you can be sure that the action available this year will be top notch, and we’ll be sure to follow the progress of any kiwi players.
Like many other series of its like, Aussie Millions also offers a High Roller and Super High Roller tournament; catering to those who love high stakes action. The first of such events offered begins shortly after the first flight of the main event, with the “$100,000 challenge” scheduled for 2 p.m. on the 22nd. Following roughly a week later the series rounds off with the $250,000 challenge on the 27th of January, which sets players out with 250,000 chips, and blinds which start at 500/1000.
All in all, January is going to be a huge month to kick off poker in 2012. Whether it’s the Pokerstars Caribbean Adventure or the Aussie Millions, or perhaps the resurgence of the online poker market, there is something on offer for everyone. Stay tuned to PokerNZ as we bring you the best of kiwi progresses in the coming months.
It was about 4pm and the cash games were filling up around me as the mood changed in the poker room at Crown Casino.
