The 2012 Aussie Millions Main Event has come to an end and once again the title will remain on home soil with Australia’s Oliver Speidel capturing the title and $1.6 million in prize money.

Oliver Speidel has been a force throughout the entire 2012 Aussie Millions championships, with a second place in the $1,100 No Limit Limit Shootout event and a sixth place finish in the $1,650 No Limit Holdem Bounty Feature event. He carried that form all the way through the Aussie Millions Main Event throughout the past five days, to enter the final table this afternoon with the second biggest stack in the room.

It would be the only time that Speidel would trail as he took control of the final table and dominated proceedings from the get go.

It started with the early elimination of Yann Dion in 7th place. The talented Canadian got his last chips in preflop with 7♠7♥ but ran into Speidel’s Q♥Q♦ to become the first casualty of the day.

Bjorn Li went from overnight chip leader to 6th place finisher as his aggressive game was ultimately his undoing. Li’s A♣Q♦ couldn’t get past the 3♦3♠ of Mohamad Kowssarie as we were quickly down to five.

Speidel was in control and eventually someone had to make a move to regain some momentum. West Australian Patrick Healy tried with A♠K♦ on a 9♣8♣4♥ flop, but his timing was awry as Speidel had flopped two pair with his 9♥8♠. Healy was almost drawing dead, as the turn and river bricked to eliminate him in 5th place.

Speidel’s stack continued to climb, as did the payouts, as the players started to reach life changing sums of money. It didn’t deter Speidel who continued to apply well-timed aggression with some equally well-timed cards. He picked up K♥K♦ at the right time as Kowssarie played back at him with A♠2♥. Again Speidel’s hand held and with Kowssarie’s elimination in 4th place, Speidel was surging towards the title.

Another Aussie, Mile Krstanoski fought valiantly and was unlucky to be eliminated next. Speidel moved all in from the small blind with 9♠8♣ as Krstanoski made a great call in the big blind with a dominant K♥8♥. Krstanoski was looking good to double up but Speidel spiked a nine on the flop which was enough to take it down and leave Krstanoski on the rail in 3rd place.

Speidel held a commanding chip lead over Kenneth Wong and, as was the nature of the entire final table, he didn’t take long to wrap things up.

In a hand that was six-bet preflop, Wong was unfortunate to see his 9♣9♥ had run smack bang into the A♠A♣ of Speidel. Incredibly another big pair for Speidel, and once again, everything fell his way as the board ran out 8♥K♠10♠4♣7♥. Wong was gallant in defeat with a cool one million dollars in prize money as consolation.

For Oliver Speidel it was a perfect day of poker that we all dream of. He played well, caught good cards and ran well. He has also proven himself to be a player of enormous talent, picking up his first Aussie Millions gold ring and an APT title last year. He now adds the most coveted title in Australasian poker and will go down forever in history as an Aussie Millions champion.

Final table payouts
1st Oliver Speidel (Australia) – $1,600,000
2nd Kenneth Wong (Hong Kong) – $1,000,000
3rd Mile Krstanoski (Australia) – $610,000
4th Mohamad Kowssarie (Sweden) – $405,000
5th Patrick Healy (Australa) – $300,000
6th Bjorn Li (Hong Kong) – $230,000
7th Yann Dion (Canada) – $170,000

By Poker Asia Pacific

The Crown Players party at Analdo and Sons was filled to capacity on the evening of the 19th January with VIPs and players to celebrate the 10th Anniversary of the Aussie Millions and to induct the four new members of the Australian Poker Hall of Fame.
The formal induction was graciously received by the massed spectators who were pleased to see four outstanding players accepted into the Hall of Fame.

2010/11
Leo Boxell
Poker patriarch and skilled champion for decades, Leo recently won the APPT Melbourne for the 4th six figure payday of his impressive tournament career which totals over $1,100,000 in winnings. Leo and his wife Bev have been familiar faces in Australian Poker rooms and he has found big success in the Crown Casino where he won the Crown championship in 2000 then continued his success once the event became the Aussie Millions with almost $500,000 in winnings.

Danny McDonagh
Be it as a planner, promoter or Director of major tournaments Danny has played an integral role in the growth of poker in the Asia Pacific region. At the helm of every major tournament at the Crown Casino from opening day through the 2007 Aussie Millions this Hall of Fame nominee moved on to become APPT Tournament Director and is now the Director of PokerStars’ extensive live poker operations for Asia Pacific. Danny was a founding partner of pokernetwork.com.

2011/12
David Gorr
In 2011, David bested a field of 721 players to take down the Aussie Millions main event title and $2 million in prize money. David has been a staple player in the Australian poker scene for decades and has been a great ambassador for the game in Australia. He currently sits in 4th place on the Australian all-time money list.

Jason Gray
Throughout Jason gray’s impressive poker career, he has accumulated over $1 million in career tournament cashes including a win at the 2007 Victorian Poker Championships and a second place showing at the 2008 APPT Sydney. Jason is not only a force to be reckoned with at the tournament tables, he is also very comfortable at the BB cash tables as well.

The Chairman of Australian Poker Hall of Fame Maurie Pears thanked Crown, Pokernetwork and all players and Casino staff for their sponsorship, assistance and generosity throughout the year whilst Crown Director of Poker Jim Preston made the formal and popular presentations to an enthusiastic audience.

The APHOF will seek some expansion next year and a more prominent place in Australasian poker internationally. There will be continued inductions to those skilled players who have served the game of poker so well.

David Gorr Aussie Millions 2011 receives congratulations for induction from Maurie and Jim.

Photo Courtesy of Poker Asia Pacific 

Perth native Michael Pedley has won Event 6, the $1,100 NLH-Rebuys at the 2012 Aussie Millions. Pedley has enjoyed moderate success over the years as a recreational poker player, but his greatest successes have come here in Melbourne at the Aussie Millions. In 2008, Pedley won the same event for his first major title securing $168,320. Yesterday however, he would have to be content with only $122,670 for the same title.

The final table of event 6 was easily the most talked about Championship event of the series featuring some of the biggest and best names in modern day poker. The table featured the likes of Tyron Krost (2010 Aussie Millions Main Event Champion), Jonathan Karamalikis, Dan Kelly, Marvin Rettenmaier and Michael Benvenuti.

During the play of the final table, former Main Event Champion Krost was facing an interesting dilemma. He managed to make it down to 4 handed play in Event 6, and scheduled to start at 7pm was the special Aussie Millions 10th Anniversary Main Event Tournament of Champions. This event featured the previous Main Event winners and the winner of this tournament would receive complimentary Aussie Millions Main Event entries for the rest of their life.

In the end however, Krost was eliminated in 4th place and was able to safely take his seat at the TOC table.

Final Payouts Aussie Millions Event 6 $1,100 NLH Rebuys
1- Michael Pedley – $122,670
2- Jonathan Karamalikis – $88,830
3- Dan Kelly – $57,105
4- Tyron Krost – $40,185
5- Mike Watson – $29,610
6- Jim Collopy – $25,380
7- Tony Sama – $21,150
8- Marvin Rettenmaier – $16,920
9- Andrew Scarfe – $12,690
10- Michael Benvenuti – $8,460

By Rob Huxley of Miller’s Guide

English poker pro Tom Middleton has won Event 5 at this year’s Aussie Millions, the $1,100 NLH 6-Max event taking home $84,200 for his 1st place finish. Middleton is no stranger to final tables having a total career earnings of over $500,000 since 2008. 2011 was the breakout year for Middleton which saw him cash for $355,402, however if he continues his metaphoric rise to the top of the leader boards, this year could certainly eclipse that in earnings.

Middleton’s victory came at the expense of Sydney local pro Joel Dodds who had to be content with 2nd place and a $58,135 pay day. Dodds was looming to take down the title and the Gold Championship ring, however the Englishmans performance was nothing short of extraordinary. At the final 6 handed table, Middleton eliminated four of the five players he was facing, a truly epic steamroller effort.

Payouts Aussie Millions Event 5 $1,100 NLH 6-Max
1st- Tom Middleton – $84,200
2nd- Joel Dodds – $58,135
3rd- Peter Skouteris – $40,450
4th- Craig Cockburn – $30,800
5th- Kosta Mamaliadis – $23,100
6th- Ben Lingenfelder – $15,400

By Rob Huxley of Miller’s Guide

Aaron Lim has won the third gold ring of the Aussie Millions Poker Championships after taking down the $1,100 No Limit Holdem / Pot Limit Omaha rotation event late on Thursday.

After entering the heads-up battle with a near ten-to-one chip advantage over Ali Ghezelbash, the blinds were at 12,000-24,000 when Lim moved all in from the button during No Limit Holdem.

Ghezelbash made the call with K♣8♦ for the best hand as Lim tabled Q♠3♠. However the board of J♥3♥A♦J♠J♣ paired up Lim to take the title and $36,735 prize money.

At the start of the day it was Casey Kastle with the chip lead as Crown Poker Room regular Dean Francis was first to take a brutal hit. Francis was on the verge of moving into a strong position when he looked down at his K♠K♥ during No Limit Holdem and was shoved on by Eric Sclavos and his A♣K♣. Sometimes the poker Gods can be cruel as the 4♠A♠6♣3♣Q♠ flop rewarded Sclavos, as two other players commented that they had folded an ace. Sclavos doubled up as Francis tumbled down the leaderboard.

However Francis did manage a pay jump after Sam Vakili was first to visit the cashier in 9th place. During Pot Limit Omaha he got his chips in the middle with top pair and a gutshot straight draw against the bottom pair and nut flush draw of Aaron Lim. A third club on the turn was enough for Lim to complete his flush to end the tournament for Vakili.

With the blinds at 5,000-10,000, Francis was down to his last 40,000 chips which he committed preflop in a battle of the blinds with Casey Kastle in No Limit Holdem. Francis held 9♠7♥ and was happy to have live cards against Kastle’s K♠Q♥ , however the board ran out Q♦3♥8♠3♣4♥ to pair up Kastle and eliminate Francis in 8th place.

Kastle could manage no better than 7th, and he was soon followed by Eric Sclavos in 6th place who backed up from his final table in the Shootout event yesterday with another strong performance. Michael Benvenuti departed in 5th before the elimination of Khiem Nguyen in 4th place during the PLO orbit. Nguyen committed holding K♠K♣3♠8♣ and was called by Aaron Lim and his A♦Q♣J♣10♣ , but when the board of 8♠Q♦5♣2♠Q♥ was dropped by the dealer, Nguyen hit the rail.

Cheng Liu was next to go in 3rd place before Lim disposed of Ghezelbash to wrap up the title.

While the final table took over the feature table in the Crown Poker Room, there were just 47 players remaining at the dinner break from a starting field of 385 for today’s $1,100 No Limit Holdem 6-Max event.

Stefan Jedlicka was out in front with Brian Roberts of “Two Months, Two Million” fame and Australia’s World Champion Joe Hachem also with the chip leaders.

It was a stacked field for the 12:30pm start with the Asia-Pacific well represented by the likes of Simon Watt, Leo Boxell, Andrew Hinrichsen, Tony Hachem, David Gorr, Van Marcus, Aaron Benton, Jackson Zheng, Daniel Neilson, James Obst, Amanda De Cesare, Phil Willcocks and Jackie Glazier.

Jonathan Karamalikis, Jai Kemp, Peter Aristidou and Poker Asia Pacific blogger Matthew Wakeman were among the early casualties, with Wakeman’s pocket aces cracked by an opponent’s pocket jacks.

Michael Pedley also joined them on the ropes after he recalled to us that he got his chips in the middle with top set against two opponents who were drawing to straight and flush possibilities. Unfortunately for Pedley, an ace on the turn gave his opponent a straight to win the massive pot and send Pedley to an early exit.

Chris Moorman and Jesse “On The Mac” McKenzie were the early moves with McKenzie gaining most of his chips after turning a flush to leave his opponent drawing dead. On a multi-way flop, McKenzie called a bet of 2,100 on the flop of betting 3,100 on the 9♦ turn. His opponent check-raised to 6,200 before McKenzie moved all in. His opponent made the call with ace-queen for top pair but, without a diamond, he was without hope as McKenzie showed 7♦6♦ for the flush.

Later in the evening, the players got a chance to kick off their heels at the official player’s welcome party. The doors opened at 8pm at Giuseppe Arnaldo & Sons with some quality food and plenty of beverages enjoyed. The evening also included the official Australian Poker Hall of Fame ceremony where Danny McDonagh and Leo Boxell were inducted as part of the class of 2011, while Jason Gray and David Gorr were announced as the new inductees for 2012.

By Poker Asia Pacific

American music blogger Sandeep Pulusani has won Event three, $1,100 NLH Shootout at the 2012 Aussie Millions collecting $37,500 for his efforts.

Pulusani is a veritable legend in the music world and is the music blogger behind the website Vibe Addict. Pulusani’s has enjoyed moderate success in poker with his biggest cash to date being $13,020 at the 2011 WSOP where he finished 34th in the $1,500 NLH event.

This win represents the first major title for the American and it is safe to say that we haven’t seen the last of him in the poker world.

Local fan favourite Jackie Glazier was poised to take down her first Aussie Millions title however an ice cold deck would send the local female pro to the rail in a disappointing 6th place finish. Glazier had a horrendous run of luck when her Pocket Aces were taken down by Ace-Jack and her Ace-King was beaten by Ace-Seven sending her to the rail.

In the end, it was the final table chip leader and previous Aussie Millions Championship Ring bearer Oliver Speidel who would go head to head with Sandeep for the title. Unfortunately for Speidel there was no repeat Championship for him as Pulusani would eventually walk away with the title and the glory of being the Aussie Millions Event 3 Champion.

1st- Sandeep Pulusani – $37,500
2nd- Oliver Speidel – $24,750
3rd- Ash Gupta – $17,250
4th- Matthew Pearson – $13,500
5th- Mario Ljubicic – $11,250
6th- Jackie Glazier – $9,750
7th- Joey Lawrence – $8,250
8th- Salman Behbehani – $6,750
9th- Eric Sclavos – $5,250
10th- Mark Segal – $3,750

By Rob Huxley of Miller’s Guide

The 2012 Aussie Millions is now in full swing with two championship rings having already been awarded in the past few days. Today will see yet another Aussie Millions Championship ring awarded as play at the final table of event 3 $1,100 NLH Shootout concludes at midday inside the Crown Poker Room.

Leading the charge at today’s final table will be Oliver Speidel who carries to the table the chip lead and enough experience to take down the title. Last year Speidel won a Championship ring at the 2011 Aussie Millions in the $1,100 NLH event, and to make things even more interesting he is joined by Englishman Mark Segal who has also experienced the thrill of winning an Aussie Millions Championship event taking down the $1,100 NLH event in 2010. Mark comes to the table relatively short in chips, but what he lacks in chips he no doubt makes up for in experience.

Without doubt though, all eyes will be on local favourite and female poker sensation, Jackie Glazier who comes to the final table third in chips and looming for a major title. Jackie burst onto the poker scene in early 2010 when she made a deep run in the worlds most prestigious poker event, the $10,000 buy-in World Series Of Poker. Jackie will be railed by a large crowd today hoping she can cement her position in the poker world as one of the best players on the tour.

Seat 1- Eric Sclavos – 34,000 chips
Seat 2- Salman Behbehani – 79,500 chips
Seat 3- Mario Ljubicic – 95,500 chips
Seat 4- Joey Lawrence – 135,500 chips
Seat 5- Mark Segal – 94,500 chips
Seat 6 – Sandeep Pulusani – 128,000 chips
Seat 7- Ashish Gupta – 270,000 chips
Seat 8- Oliver Speidel – 384,500 chips
Seat 9- Matthew Pearson – 74,000 chips
Seat 10- Jackie Glazier – 204,500 chips

By Rob Huxley of Miller’s Guide

American online superstar Dan ‘djk123′ Kelly has taken down the second event at this year’s Aussie Millions, the $1,100 Buy-in Pot Limit Omaha.

While it’s widely known that No Limit holdem is the most popular card game in the world, Pot Limit Omaha is game for those seeking to play cash games at a high level. Pot Limit Omaha (Widely knows as PLO) is generally the one game that garners the largest pots, the biggest action, and without doubt the biggest names in the game. Even though the majority of the international super stars of the poker world are yet to arrive, there is still a very strong contingent of internationals here early to play out the Aussie Millions Series. Players such as Richard Ashby, Tony Bloom, JP Kelly, Vitaly Lunkin and Sam Holden are all here soaking up the Australian sun as well as taking in the early events on offer in the series.

Because Pot Limit Omaha is such a specialised game, the fields are generally smaller, but there is no question that the level of skill of the players in the fields are generally of the highest calibre.

The second event on the Aussie Millions calendar saw 129 players take their seats generating a prize pool of $129,000 with $33,400 up top for the eventual winner.

While the American Kelly may have succeeded in taking down the title of the second Aussie Millions event and the gold ring, there were several high profile Australian Omaha specialists at the final table vying for the title including Billy ‘The Croc’ Argyros, Van Marcus and ANZPT Melbourne Champion Martin Kozlov.

It was Kozlov that eventually managed to find his way into the heads up battle with the American, however in the end the yanks were simply too good on the day.

Aussie Millions Event 2 $1,100 Pot Limit Omaha Results

1st – Dan Kelly $33,400
2nd – Martin Kozlov $25,000
3rd – Van Marcus $18,050
4th – Charles Cuschieri $14,270
5th – Geoffrey Smith $10,800
6th – McLean Karr $8,250
7th – Michael Guzzardi $6,100
8th – Billy Argyros $4,190

By Rob Huxley of Miller’s Guide

Sydney local and online phenom Brendon Rubie has taken down the opening event at this year’s Aussie Millions, the $1,100 buy-in Repecharge No Limit Holdem Event. As a reward for his efforts, Brendon ships $200,000 and the first gold ring of the series.

The Opening event at Crown was a $1,100 buy-in Repecharge No Limit Holdem event. The repecharge format was first featured at Crown several years ago and creates some of the largest prize pools on the tournament calendar. A repecharge event is a type of re-buy tournament, because if you are eliminated on day 1a, then you may return on day 1b or day 1c and have a second chance at building a chip stack. Conversely, if you are not eliminated on day 1a, then you can come back on day 1b or day 1c and continue building your stack for play on day 2 where all remaining players combine their stacks from the earlier day 1′s. The event featured three day 1′s for players seeking to build a large chip stack heading into the 2nd days play. On Day 1a, the Opening event at Crown saw 274 players who attempted to build their stacks. Day 1b drew 251 players, and day 1c drew an incredible 421 players creating a prize pool of $946,000.

With such a massive field of players, Crown management made the executive decision late on day 2 to continue playing out the final table on the unscheduled day 3, a move that no doubt resonated well with players and media, as the same event last year ended up finishing at 7am in the morning.

Final table chip counts heading into the final were as follows.
Seat 1 – Tam Truong – 934,000 Chips
Seat 2 – Tamara Volkoff – 191,000 Chips
Seat 3 – Brendon Rubie – 1,625,000 Chips
Seat 4 – Sean Robey – 262,000 Chips
Seat 5 – Sherif Derias – 696,000 Chips
Seat 6 – Rob Angood – 1,384,000 Chips
Seat 7 – Scott Wilson – 2,628,000 Chips
Seat 8 – Manny Stavropoulos – 554,000 Chips
Seat 9 – John Thomson – 363,000 Chips
Seat 10 – Naz Sibaei – 849,000 Chips

Scott Wilson and Brendon Rubie sat at the top of the leader board heading into the final table, and that is exactly where they sat at the end of the event, with Rubie eventually besting Wilson for the first title of the series.

Brendon Rubie had the support of his girlfriend from the rail for the final table along with some of the cream of the crop of Australian Poker with some witnesses saying they could even spot fellow online poker phenom Jonathan “MONSTERDONG” Karamalikis railing the young Sydneysider all the way to victory.

One thing is for sure, this year’s Aussie Millions is shaping up to be one of the greatest ever in the history of the event, and the opening event has been won by what some would say is the nicest guy in poker. ‘Well done Brendon’

1- Brendon Rubie – $200,000
2- Scott Wilson – $125,000
3 – Rob Angood – $80,000
4 – John Thomson – $61,000
5 – Tam Truong – $49,000
6 – Manny Stavropoulos – $39,000
7 – Sherif Derias – $29,000
8 – Naz Sibaei – $19,000
9 – Tamara Volkoff – $14,500

By Rob Huxley of Miller’s Guide

Mingara will be hosting the inaugural Central Coast Poker Championships this weekend 14 and 15 January 2012. Players on the Coast, from several local leagues, will try to take the various championship events on offer against players fromSydneyandAustraliawide. With some attractive estimated prize pools, theCentralCoastwill be the perfect hit-up prior to the Aussie Millions Main Event inMelbourne.

With six major tournaments, over the two days, including the $10,000 Guaranteed APW Opening Event, theCentralCoastis the place to be in January. On Saturday, in addition to the Main Event, there will be an Unlimited Rebuy and Bounty game. Sunday is the Final table of the APW Main Event as well as a Ladies Event, a Teams Event and 6 Handed Tournament.

Poker Superstar Brendon Rubie is the first big name to confirm he will be attending the major event, at Mingara, on Saturday January 14^th and 15^th. Rubie hails from Glenning Valley and has earned over $2.1 million in his professional career. “The young-gun is so keen to support his hometown event that he will fly up during the Melbourne Aussie Millions, which is one of the largest poker tournaments in the world”, said Texas Holdem Poker Australia Director Rick Williams, “The first live tournament Brendon ever won was at our venue ‘Diggers at the Entrance’, which even makes his appearance even more special for our league and players locally,” said Williams. Brendon will be playing in the APW Opening Event, on Saturday. You can follow Brendon’s every move at www.brendooor.com .

With limited Seats available, pre-register at Mingara in person, by contacting the Welcome Desk on 4349 7799 or at any Texas Holdem Poker Australia weekly event. Pre-registering gets you into the draw where you have the chance to win a 84” Pro Series Suited Black Poker Table, courtesy of pokershop.com.au, which retails for $499.99