In celebration of the 10th anniversary of the Crown Casino hosting the Aussie Million tournament series the casino decided to honor the previous nine winners of the Aussie Millions over that time period with an invitation to play in the Aussie Millions Tournament of Champions.

The Tournament of Champions winner would receive a very lucrative prize, as they would be the recipient of free entry into the Aussie Millions Main Event for the rest of their life! Assuming the Aussie Millions goes on indefinitely this could amount to some $500k in buy-ins for some of the players!

Eight of the previous nine champions played in the tournament, 2008 Aussie Millions Champion Alexander Kostritsyn was unable to attend but had a very good excuse, considering his wife will be giving birth to a son any day now, including perhaps the most high-profile and elusive champion in Aussie Millions history Gus Hansen, who normally only participates in events with $10k and higher buy-ins.

Here is a look at the seating assignments for the eight former champions:

* Seat 1: Tyron Krost 2010 Aussie Millions Champion

* Seat 2: Peter Costa 2003 Aussie Millions Champion

* Seat 3: Gus Hansen 2007 Aussie Millions Champion

* Seat 4: Stewart Scott 2009 Aussie Millions Champion

* Seat 5: Jamil Dia 2005 Aussie Millions Champion

* Seat 6: Lee Nelson 2006 Aussie Millions Champion

* Seat 7: Tony Bloom 2004 Aussie Millions Champion

* Seat 8: David Gorr 2011 Aussie Millions Champion

The winner of “The Golden Ticket” was 2010 Aussie Millions winner Tyron Krost, who as the youngest player at the table and an Australian native will make very good use of the lifetime of buy-ins. Krost defeated the UK’s Tony Bloom in heads-up action to claim the victory after the two players found themselves all-in, in a race situation: Bloom holding Pocket 9’s and Krost holding A/J. It took the River Ace of Hearts to give Krost the win considering Bloom not only had the Pair of 9’s but also a 4-flush.

Here is a look at how each of the players finished in the event:

1. Tyron Krost

2. Tony Bloom

3. Lee Nelson

4. Gus Hansen

5. Peter Costa

6. David Gorr

7. Jamil Dia

8. Stewart Scott

The tournament was an excellent idea; not only did it bring all of the former champions to Australia for the Aussie Millions, but it also awarded a very intriguing prize, unlike the recent EPT Tournament of Champions that saw the top 3 finishers receive varying EPT tournament prize-packages for the upcoming season. Overall, I think everyone from the WSOP, to the WPT, to the EPT should take a cue from the Crown Casino staff and Aussie Millions organizers should they run a Tournament of Champions in the future.

Tags: 10th Anniversary, 2007 Aussie Millions, 500k, Ace Of Hearts, Bloom, Champion, Crown Casino, Giving Birth, Golden Ticket, Gus, Gus Hansen, High Profile, Ins, Jamil, Lee Nelson, main event, Seat 6, Seating Assignments, Time Period, Tournament of Champions

This entry was posted on Sunday, January 22nd, 2012 at 11:15 am and is filed under Poker News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.