The event was preceded by Poker At Crown in the year before the Aussie Millions was founded, in June 1997, with the final event taking place a year later, in July of 1998. This time of the year was used until the year 2001, when the event was moved from the winter months to the warmer month of January. At the time, they already had 40 entrants and a $5,000 buy-in, and they were gaining popularity with the poker crowd already. Two years later, the tournament went international at last, with the prize pool reaching $1.2 million because of the 122 entrants that were part of the tournament. Most players came from overseas, but those players from New Zealand that have dominated the tournament when it first began still participated, gaining international fame as well. The game begins with nine players in each table, until there are only thirty-six players left, at which point the players play in tables of six. In the year 2009, the prize pool already reached $6.81 million, with the first prize amounting to $2 million. Today, the Aussie Millions is the biggest tournament in the Southern hemisphere, and it is the sixth largest tournament in the world.

Part of the EPT’s initial drawing power came from the fact that it is a lot more open to the public than both the World Series of Poker and the World Poker Tour are in terms of who can join. The WSOP is joined by the poker elites, and the WPT requires a buy-in of $2,500 to $25,000 for people to participate (most events fall at the $10,000 line though, about the same as the World Series of Poker), and additional regulations added by the government later on made it tougher for people to join. At the EPT, however, they kept the buy-in to a minimum, giving a buy-in amount half of that of the WPT. This made people flock to the EPT to participate. However, because they had limited resources and limited space, EPT officials raised the limit later on, also adopting the $10,000 buy-in that other tournaments required. Also, this tournament has has eight people at the final table instead of six, and so the competition is fiercer when it comes to the end of the tournament.

The tournament is the creation of television director John Duthie. Some of the best poker players in the world join the tournament every year to tour around major cities in Europe for a series of tournaments that are televised. The countries that are part of the tour are the following: the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Denmark, Spain and Ireland. The finals always takes place in one of the gambling meccas of the world – Monte Carlo, in the beautiful nation of Monacco. As of 2009, the EPT has had six seasons, with season 6 finishing in early 2010.

Gavin Griffin started out on the way to becoming a professional baseball player. He excelled in the game so much that he was offered several baseball scholarships in a number of schools, but he ended up choosing to study Speech Pathology instead. It was at this point in his life that he started playing poker, and little did he know that just a few years later, at the age of twenty-two, he would be the youngest World Series of Poker champion to win as of the year that he won. While this record was broken easily the following year, his desire to play poker remains as fervid as ever.

He made his debut at the WSOP in 2004, and this was the tournament that he won as the youngest WSOP winner. Right off the bat he had a bracelet to his name, as well as a hefty $270,420 in his bank account, to declare his arrival at the professional poker industry. He followed this with many tournament appearances, where he would place significantly high enough to make big money finishes. It was three years after this glorious victory, however, that he made his biggest win in his career so far – he won the EPT Grand Final in Monte Carlo, taking home $2,391,895 for the event. This was followed by another big win at the Borgata Winter Open, where he finished first as well, taking home $1,375,609. He continues to play professionally to this day as he also continues to raise the public’s awareness on breast cancer.

Chad Brown is a native New Yorker, having been born in Manhattan in 1961 and raised in the Bronx for the most part of his life. His first dream was not to be a professional poker player, but rather, he wanted to be an actor who will make it to Hollywood, and so in the early nineties, when he was already in his thirties, he moved to Los Angeles to pursue this dream. He had a tough time building a career in Hollywood, and so what he did to make ends meet was to play poker in various casinos in order to make money. It was not long before he realized how good he was at the game, and so he started taking poker more seriously.

He entered the professional poker tournament scene in 1993, when he joined the 24^th Annual World Series of Poker. He finished quite well at eleventh place, taking home $6,624 and pretty much announcing his arrival at the poker scene. His first big win came after he appeared in some films and television shows though, when in 2002, he finished third at the World Series Of Poker’s Limit Omaha Hi/Lo event. He took home $45,400 for that said event. Two years later, he finished one place higher, finishing second at the same tournament, taking home more than $62,000. The biggest amount he has won for a single tournament is at $324,777, which he achieved at the 38^th Annual World Series of Poker in 2007. He has had five first-place finishes and sixty-two money finishes, all amounting to over $2.8 million in winnings. You’d be lucky to be Chad Brown, surely.

Greenstein is one of those poker players who picked up the game at a young age, and within the family. It was his father that introduced him to the game, and he continued playing as he had adopted a fondness for the game. He went to college at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign and earned a bachelor’s degree in computer science there. He continued to study, going to graduate school to earn a PhD in mathematics, but although he finished his dissertation, he did not defend this to a panel to earn the degree. He played poker all throughout this time, but he wanted to adopt children and so he took a regular job at Symantec, playing poker on the side. It was not until later, when he was thirty-six years old, that he was able to retire from his day job altogether to play poker full-time.

He debuted in the professional poker tournament scene in 1992, when he joined the 23^rd Annual World Series of Poker. He finished quite remarkably well at 22^nd place, taking home $8,080. This was followed by a few more places in different tournaments, until he achieved his first-place win in 1997, when he won the California State Poker Championship’s Limit Hold’em event. He took home $29,000 for that event. He returned to the WSOP and the California State Poker Championship several times throughout his career. His biggest win so far, however, came in 2004, when he joined the Jack Binion World Open, a World Poker Tour event, and he finished first, taking home more than $1.2 million. As of 2009, he has made more than $6.9 million, and he has obtained three WSOP bracelets. Majority of his huge winnings went to charity though, and his biggest recipient is Children Incorporated, which sponsors childrens’ needs around the world.

He began playing poker in casinos in 1999, when he moved from his home in Missouri to Stonington, Connecticut. At the time he was a patent lawyer for Pfizer. His experience with poker goes back to his college days though, when he played “nickle-dime” poker with friends from college. He worked his way up to different amounts until he made his way to the Foxwoods Casino in Connecticut. The year after he began playing in Foxwoods, he made his debut in the professional live poker tournament scene by joining the World Poker Finals. He made it all the way to third place, taking home $48,960. The win that made him famous came several tournaments and four years later, when he joined the 35^th Annual World Series of Poker in 2004. He won the tournament, bagging the $5 million cash prize for their No-Limit Hold’em Championship. Throughout his career  so far as a professional poker player, he has won one WSOP bracelet, he has had three first-place finishes and twenty-five money wins, and he has one of the highest bankrolls a person can make in just a few years in the industry – over $6.6 million in cash prizes from different tournaments, majority of which came from the WSOP tournaments he participates in every year. This is one player you should be scared of, no matter how goofy his glasses may be.

She never was just another pretty face, both in the poker world and out. She started her life as an overachiever, an honor student who was also busy with many sports activities as well as social and leadership activities under her belt. She was also a musician, playing the violin in her younger years, as well as an activist, volunteering in the movement of Mothers Against Drunk Drivers. She was very active in the honor society as well as in the French society. She was a dean’s lister in college when she went to the Ivy-League school Duke University, and she graduated with a major in economics in 2003. She then went to law school at  the University of Miami, but she did not finish pursuing her JD in law. Instead, she became a professional poker player.

She began playing poker during her stay in Duke, and she studied game theory to be able to improve her game significantly. She would paritcipate in online poker games, wherein her age would not be so much of an issue, and she practised her techniques and her skills there. She entered the professional poker tournament scene in 2005,  when she joined a World Series of Poker Circuit Event and finished 7^th, taking home $6,465. Her first big win came the year after though, at the Five-Star World Poker Classic, which was part of the fourth season of the World Poker Tour Championship. She took home over $260,000 for finishing seventh as well. Her biggest win so far was at the European Poker Tour Monte Carlo Grand Final in May 2009, where she took home over a million dollars for finishing first. She has a long way to go in her career, and more money to win.

David had a very successful year in 2000. He earned lots of money during that year in various tournaments. It was also in 2000 when he participated in his first ever World Series of Poker tournament. He was able to make it to two final tables in the tournament. He collected an amount of $65,000. Consequently, he was hailed as CardPlayer’s 2000 “Player of the Year”. In the succeeding year, David continued to shine in the 2001 World Series of Poker. He competed in the $2,000 SHOE event and obtained his first ever World Series of Poker bracelet. Later in 2006, he participated in the World Series of Poker and did not fail to impress again. He competed in the $2,000 No-Limit Hold’em Shootout and won his second World Series of Poker bracelet. He continued to play in other tournaments such as the World Poker Tour LA Classic and Five Diamond Poker Classic in Las Vegas. David continued to appear in final tables of tournaments in the succeeding year. He was also able to earn an amount that exceeded $1.8 million. He is also hailed as CardPlayer’s 2007 “Player of The Year”. David has continues to maximize his potential in the game of poker, and always puts his best foot forward in every tournament. He still plays the game as much as he can. In fact he is a regular face in many major tournaments.

Greg retired from his long-time hobby and began indulging in poker. He first played limit cash games and as he gained experience, he slowly played no-limit poker games. In no time, Greg participated in live tournaments and created a great reputation for himself.

Greg joined the World Series of Poker in 2005 and did not fail to disappoint. Greg surprisingly made it to the final table of the $5K No-limit Holdem. Later, Greg joined the World Poker Tour where he made a pleasing performance as well. He was able to make it to the final table of the $5K No-limit Holdem event and secured a satisfying 4^th place. He was able to grab an amount exceeding $142K. Greg joined the World Series of Poker in 2007 and continued his successful run. He made a great finish of 2^nd place in the $5K World Championship Mixed Holdem Limit/No-limit event. He grabbed an amount of $330K. In the following year, Greg joined the World Series of Poker $5K No-limit Holdem Shootout event and grabbed an amount of $298K. Greg made it to the final table of the World Series of Poker $10K World Championship Seven Card Stud and grabbed $50K. Then he won the World Series of Poker bracelet twice, in the $10K World Championship Limit Holdem, and the $1.5K Limit Holdem events. He was able to grab $460K in the former event, and an amount exceeding $190K in the latter event. Greg has transitioned into poker, and has reaped the benefits.

Before Jordan’s successful journey in poker, he used to be a physics student from Oklahoma University. While he was studying, his passion for poker grew and began to learn more about the game. He gained experience in playing low-limit games online. Many noticed this young man’s talent and soon he was able to establish himself in poker. Jordan kep on improving his game and soon he also started playing in live tournaments. He was recognized and respected by a lot of players. Jordan’s poker skills are solid and steady. When he plays the game, he always makes use of strategy. They say that in strategy, luck follows, which is true in Jordan’s case.

After Jordan engaged in low-limit games, he started to participate in bigger tournaments. He was able to participate in the 2006 United States Poker Championship and made a strong 2^nd place finish He also joined the World Series of Poker Championships $5K No-limit Holdem event which was held in Tunica on September 2007. The young lad was able to earn impressive winnings in several events of the tournament.  He was able to participate and win the Full Tilt Poker’s weekly $750K event as well.

Outside poker, Jordan is a simple person with a simple lifestyle. He is very passionate about golf and gets the chance to swing a few balls when he has the time. He also spends time with his wife together with their two English Bulldogs in their hometown in Norman, Oklahoma. Jordan is a great person we all look up to.