Other Events
Aussie Millions
If you want to join the 2008 winner, 21 year old Alexander
Kostritsyn, then contact us and we will ensure all your players
have "a fair dinkum" of a time down under.
21-Year-Old Russian Young Gun Alexander Kostritsyn was Crowned
2008 Aussie Millions Champion Melbourne, Australia on 20th January
2008
The new king of poker was crowned when Alexander 'The
Great' Kostritsyn won the No-Limit Texas Hold'em 'Main Event' at
the 2008 Aussie Millions Poker Championship held at Melbourne's
Crown Casino. He had to beat one of the toughest NL Hold'em
tournament players in the world in Erik Seidel for the
victory. Seidel walked away in second place with a cool AUD$1
million.
Kostritsyn took home AUD$1.65 million, the largest prize ever
awarded in a live poker tournament in the Southern
Hemisphere. 21-year-old Alexander Kostritsyn from Moscow,
Russia was the youngest player and only European at the final table
at 21, this Muscovite turned his attention to playing poker
full-time as soon as he turned 18. His best tournament cash was
third in the 2007 Russian Summer Poker Tournament (worth $8,900).
He bought in directly to the Aussie Millions 'Main Event'. He
outlasted a record field of 780 players who anted up the AUD$10,000
buy-in for the 'Main Event', creating an unprecedented prize pool
of AUD$7.80 million.
The Main Event at Melbourne's Crown Casino was the culmination
of the 16 individual events, which generated more than AUD$10
million in total prize money.
'We congratulate Alexander Kostritsyn on his tremendous
accomplishment,' said Peter Mim, Executive General Manager of Table
Games at Crown. 'He played superb poker over a prolonged period
against a record field that included virtually every top
professional and hundreds of talented amateurs from Australia and
around the world'.
Finishing third and collecting AUD$700,000 was Michael 'Mick the
Greek' Chrisanthopoulos. Hailing from 'Hachem territory' in
Melbourne's northern suburbs, the 26-year-old brought a massive
chip stack to the Final Table. Michael has been playing poker for
three years, and recently won a qualified via a Crown $120
Satellite to enter into the Aussie Millions 'Main Event'.
The remaining players at the final table were:
4th place: Peter Ling - $500,000
5th place: Nino Marotta - $400,000
6th place: Antonio Casale - $300,000
7th place: Peter Mobbs - $225,000
Following on from the enormous ratings success of the US
screening of the 2007 Aussie Millions Main Event, Crown and Fox
Sports Net (FSN) partnered up for another year that saw the Aussie
Millions filmed for broadcast internationally from March 2007 as a
10 episode series with a reach of over 81 million homes. A coup for
Australian Poker, Crown's collaboration with FSN further
consolidating the prestige, recognition and credibility of the
Aussie Millions, particularly in America, the home of Texas Hold'em
and a country that widely considers poker its national game.
WSOP Europe
The WSOP Europe (WSOPE) is the biggest poker series, with the
biggest single event prize pool on offer in the whole of Europe. It
is also the only poker series outside of the US where WSOP
bracelets are up for grabs and attracts the very best players in
the world. In 2007 there was barely a single name from the "who's
who of poker" missing from the registration list and 2008 was no
different.
The WSOPE arrived in Europe for the very first time in September
2007, with London, England chosen as it's first location. The
series was made up of three bracelet events, including the 362
runner £10,000 Main Event. Internet superstar, Annette Obrestad was
the talk of the event, eventually walking off with the £1 million
first prize - the biggest ever sum of money won by a woman in a
sporting event.