The Poker Season for the New Year has started with a bang as the 2014 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure is currently underway at the Atlantis Resort in the Bahamas. As soon as the tournament is over, a number of well known poker players will head down under to take part in the prestigious 2014 Aussie Millions which is scheduled to take place at the Crown Melbourne.
This event made headlines towards the end of 2013 when the Crown Melbourne confirmed that it had entered into an agreement for the 2014 Aussie Millions Main Event to be a part of the PokerStars.net Asia-Pacific Poker Tour (APPT).
This year’s event will take place between the 23rd of Jan to the 2nd of Feb and will feature a A$250,000 Challenge which Sam Trickett won last year, A$100,000 Challenge, and a A$25,000 Challenge.
In a interview, Jim Preston, Director of Poker at Crown Melbourne recently spoke about Crown’s decision to partner with the APPT. Preston said
Aligning the largest single event in the Southern Hemisphere with the region’s biggest poker tour just makes perfect sense. It will be relationship that’s works well for both parties. The APPT has revolutionized tournament poker in both Asia and the South Pacific by introducing tournament poker to Macau, along with hosting the first televised poker tournament in Asia. Combine this with the Southern Hemisphere’s largest poker festival, Crown’s Aussie Millions Poker Championship and we are confident that the partnership will be mutually beneficial.
This year’s Aussie Millions will feature just 20 events rather instead of the usual 26, however the field sizes will most probably be a lot bigger, while the main event should surpass all of the previous years. The tournament will most likely be attended by some of the biggest names in the poker community. Players that will most likely make a trip down under include the likes of Patrik Antonius, Antonio Esfandiari, Erik Seidel, Phil Ivey, Gus Hansen and Daniel Negreanu.
Last year, a car was given as part of the main event prize but Preston confirmed that no car will be given this year. There will also be a special guest appearing at this year’s 2014 Aussie Millions but confirmed that it would be released at a later date. Those poker players who are interested in tennis, might want to visit a few days earlier as the Australia Open is currently taking place in Melbourne with the women’s finals scheduled for 25th Jan and the men’s finals for the 26th of Jan.
