Following a six-year hiatus, the Aussie Millions has made a triumphant return to the Crown Melbourne in the land down under – and the poker community turned up in a big way to support its revival.
Across the three Day 1 starting flights, more than 700 players ponied up the A$10,600 buy-in. With registration open through the first three levels of Day 2, an additional 63 entrants drove the total to 770 and brought the prize pool to a whopping A$7,700,000. For reference, the 2026 Aussie Millions Main Event numbers position the event as the fifth-largest in the series' history – only 52 entrants shy of the record-holding 2019 Aussie Millions Main Event, won by none other than Bryn Kenney.
With Day 2 now in the books, 176 hopefuls remain in the hunt for the coveted title and the A$1,667,050 first-place prize. Liu Yang leads the pack with a stack of more than 200 big blinds.
When Day 3 kicks off tomorrow at 12:30pm local time, players will return to the 2,500/5,000 (5,000 big blind ante) blind level and play through seven levels.
Aussie Millions lives on
The return of the Aussie Millions brings about an end to the series' six-year absence from the calendars of poker players around the world.
In 2020, the festival concluded just before the COVID pandemic put the kibosh on international travel and, with it, live poker stops. Crown Melbourne, the host venue for the Aussie Millions series, then endured a multi-year investigation by state regulators into regulatory issues including allegations of money laundering and lack of protections in place for those with gambling problems.
In 2024, the venue ran its first live poker festival in more than four years. The five-day Crown Poker Series was a promising signal to the community that live poker was on the rise once again in Australia and many expected news of the return of the Aussie Millions to follow imminently. In July of 2025, the good news arrived as Crown Melbourne announced the festival's revival.
Aussie Millions Main Event - End of Day 2 Top 10 Chip Counts
| Place |
Player |
Chip Count |
| 1 |
Liu Yang |
1,028,000 (206 BBs) |
| 2 |
Tom McMahon |
986,000 (197 BBs) |
| 3 |
Scot Malseed |
737,000 (147 BBs)
|
| 4 |
Sooriya Rajeswaran |
638,500 (128 BBs)
|
| 5 |
Didier Guerin |
637,500 (128 BBs)
|
| 6 |
Aamir Choudry |
624,000 (125 BBs) |
| 7 |
Scott Stewart |
609,500 (122 BBs) |
| 8 |
Jason Lefevre |
560,500 (112 BBs) |
| 9 |
Anthony Xu |
555,500 (111 BBs) |
| 10 |
Denis Jankovic |
539,500 (108 BBs) |
