The November Nine haven’t even reconvened for the WSOP Main Event final table, but the forward thinking team at bwin is already looking ahead to the world’s next high profile tournament series. The annual Crown Australian Poker Championship takes place in January and satellites for the upcoming 2010 edition have just begun. As one of world poker circuit’s most important events, the “Aussie Millions” routinely draws in the highest quality players. Former champions include Gus Hansen and Tony Bloom.
bwin also makes it a priority and has made a habit of constructing a large team of players to assault the two week festival. A reputation for high quality play and after-tournament entertainment has made the bwin satellites some of the most popular Aussie Millions qualifiers around. Bwin promises that their 2010 unit will be even bigger and better, with three players already having won their way onto the squad.
The first of the Aussie Millions satellites was the Big Bounty, which took place on October 11th. This $100 buy-in event attracted hundreds of players and awarded the top three finishers with $13,500 packages. Packing their bags for Down Under are zildian, GIALORROSO, and suvakos. The tournament also featured $100,000 in guaranteed cash prizes, meaning that even unlucky bubble boy SoniClay picked up a decent reward for his efforts.
Big Bounty tournaments are not the only way to qualify for the Aussie Millions bwin team. Those looking to win a seat on a budget should check out the freeroll qualifiers. There are three daily freerolls which award the top 150 finishers a ticket to the semi-final. Once a day the top 10 semi-final players will go through the Saturday 100k Final, where the top 6 players all receive a huge $16,000 prize package, along with a portion of the $100,000 prize pool.
Those with an aggressive streak might want to win their way to Australia via the Head Hunter tournament. Once a week, this special $20 + $2 event awards one $16,000 prize package to the player who can eliminate the most opponents. Along with all the benefits of being a bwin team member, the prize package includes a buy-in to the Main Event and the 6-handed event. Travel, accommodation, and entertainment are also all handily covered.
The most straightforward and traditional way to win a bwin package is to play in the $300 + $20 Aussie Millions Online Final. Every Thursday and Sunday at 20:00 (CET) players will convene to battle it out for at least one Aussie Millions package. Don’t be turned away by the steep price point. If you failed to get win package via the freerolls, there are still cut price options available. Satellites to the Online Final start at $2 and are running all day on bwin.
The Aussie Millions is the most prestigious and well attended tournament in Australia. Pros from all around the world make the long trip Down Under every year and 2010 looks like being no exception. Since its inception in 1998 the series has gone from strength to strength, with last year’s $10k Main Event building a prize pool of $6,810,000. Bwin has an impressive record at the festival. Last year, Danish team member AmazingRiver was the victor in Event #14 – The $2,200 Short Handed Event. This tournament also saw three further team members cash. This level of success from only 255 runners demonstrates the bwin team’s high level of competence. If you think you have what it takes to join the squad, then log on to bwin now and start playing.