Aussie Wins Aussie Millions, Finally
Australian Stewart Scott has won the 2009 Aussie Millions Poker Championship Main Event with the 2 million AUD first prize. The tournament, held at Melbourneв's Crown Casino will go down in Australian poker and sporting folk law as Australia's own Scott outlasted 680 other poker players to win the title. This is the first main event title that has been won by an Australian since it has become an event with a buy-in of 10,000 AUD.
This year's Aussie Millions attracted some top quality names in the poker world including Chris Ferguson, Joe Hashem and Patrik Antonius amongst others. Additionally some big names in the sporting world graced the event including cricket superstar Shane Warne and tennis professional Mark Philippoussis, both playing in their hometown event.
The numbers of entries into this event remains high despite the tough economic times and attracted 680 poker players from around Australia and the world. This made the tournament as competitive as ever as players toughed it out over the 5 day tournament.
Prior to the tournament, there had been many calls and a general feeling that the time was right for an Australian to rightly claim the biggest and most prestigious prize in Australian poker. This call has now been answered by Scott as he made his may through the multi-day event and through the 12 hour final table as he survived the entire field to brought much joy to all Australia's poker community.
Going into heads up play, Scott had a huge chip lead over his opponent Peter Rho. When he finally collected all the chips, Australia's number one tournament was finally taken down by one of their own.
Final Placings - Aussie Millions 2009
1 2,000,000 AUD Stewart Scott (AUS)
2 1,000,000 AUD Peter Rho (USA)
3 700,000 AUD Elliot Smith (Can)
4 400,000 AUD Rajkumar Ramakrishnan (AUS)
5 300,000 AUD Sam Capra (AUS)
6 210,000 AUD Zach Gruneberg (USA)
7 150,000 AUD Richard Ashby (ENG)
8 100,000 AUD Barny Boatman (ENG)
Other Notable Finishes
13 65,000 AUD Grant Levy (AUS)
21 50,000 AUD Annette Obrestad (NOR)
22 50,000 AUD Kelly Kim (USA)
32 30,000 AUD Clonie Gowen (USA)
36 30,000 AUD Raymond Rahme (RSA)
41 20,000 AUD Patrik Antonius (FIN)
50 15,000 AUD Scotty Nguyen (USA)