Aussie Millions: The Poker World Gets Ready to go Down Under

Many in the poker world are getting ready to wrap up another stellar year. With the 2006 tournament circuit coming to an end, people are assessing the year they had, and looking forward to getting off to a good start in 2007.

The tournament that stands out of the crowded January tournament calendar is the Aussie Millions. Players are set to assemble in beautiful Melbourne Australia right after the first of the year, and from the look of it – this will be easily the biggest Aussie Millions ever.

With many online rooms like Full Tilt, Poker Stars, Mansion (we even have our own PokerNews satellite

exclusive to our readers this coming Friday on Mansion) and many others holding online super satellites to the Aussie Millions Main Event, the number of players this year will easily surpass that of last year. In fact, the number 700 is being bandied around as the possible number of players in the main event. To show how much the tournament has grown, last years Aussie Millions Main Event had 418 players entered.

Title Sponsor Full Tilt is sending dozens of its name pros down under, and many other pros have confirmed {at press time – subject to change} including Daniel Negreanu, The last three world champions - Jamie Gold, Greg Raymer and Joe Hachem, Scott Fischman, defending champ Lee Nelson, Patrik Antonius, Kenna James, and many more.

The Aussie Millions is much more than just a few preliminary No Limit Hold Em events leading up to a $10,500 (Australian Dollars) Main Event. The Crown in Melbourne, host casino for the event, do everything they can to keep the schedule as varied and interesting as possible. In addition to the Main Event, the Aussie Millions features a $5,000 buy in heads up championship, and a $100,000 buy in tournament, which kicks off January 12th. Super Satellites run at the clip of around one a day, so many of the field will win their way into the Main Event during the prelims. You can see the tournament schedule here.

The $10,500 buy in No Limit Hold Em event will be the main focus, and players will come from all over the world to capture this prestigious title. New Zealand's Lee Nelson outlasted 417 players last year in a final table that included Kenna James, 2006 bracelet winner Mark Vos, and Shannon Shorr. The $3.2 million dollar prize pool for last years event will be far surpassed, and we will see our first $1 million dollar top prize in the history of this event.

FSN is sending some of their top people down to Australia. The tournament and surrounding events are being filmed for broadcast on FSN in the states, and other outlets worldwide.

PokerNews.com will be on hand to bring you all the action from the Crown