We take a closer look at Australia’s Crown Casino, home to the largest poker room outside North America
The Crown Casino opened its doors in 1994 at Melbourne’s World Trade Centre. In 1997, it relocated to the South Bank of the Yarra River as part of a $2bn development. Crown is the largest entertainment complex in the southern hemisphere, attracting up to 16m visitors each year.
Dubbed a ‘World of Entertainment’, Crown lives up to this grand claim with its excellent restaurants (including players’ favourite Nobu), a 14-screen cinema, bowling alley, tennis courts and award-winning spa. A third tower – Crown Metropol – opens in May 2010, taking the total number of bedrooms in the complex to over 1,600, and comes with its own über-restaurant when Gordon Ramsay spreads his Maze chain to Melbourne.
The Poker Room
The poker room launched with just 21 tables in 1997, three years after the casino opened. But the combination of the rise of televised poker and local hero Joe Hachem winning the WSOP in 2005 has seen the poker room swell to 72 tables, with a recent licence awarded to take the total to 150. It’s the largest poker room outside North America and, unlike many others, if you’d rather avoid the temptation of the casino floor, it’s possible to access via an alternative entrance.
The Mahogany Room
When Phil Ivey’s in town, he doesn’t want to roll the craps dice with the riff-raff on the casino floor, so he heads to the Crown’s infamous salon privé, the Mahogany Room. The Crown’s Signature Club programme offers points for purchases throughout the entire entertainment complex, so mere mortals can gain entry to the most exclusive room in town simply by shopping for their favourite items.
Joe Hachem – Crown Ambassador
Long before he contemplated even entering the WSOP, Joe Hachem honed his game at the Crown. But after becoming world champion, Hachem was named Crown Casino Ambassador and now hosts his eponymous Deep Stack tournament twice a year. Whenever there’s a poker-playing celebrity in town, such as Matt Damon, Zac Efron or the Kings of Leon, Hachem is on hand to give some one-on-one tutelage.
Aussie Millions
The first big tournament – the Crown Australian Poker Championship – was held in 1998. These days the championship is known worldwide as the ‘Aussie Millions’ and has subsequently made its mark as one of the top five leading international events on the poker calendar. The Aussie Millions began in 1998 with a respectable 74 entrants each putting up $1,000 for a chance to win the title.
By 2001, the entry fee had increased to $5,000, attracting 40 players and a prize pool of up to $200,000. Then, pre-empting Chris Moneymaker’s WSOP victory in 2003, the Crown made the decision to match the Main Event buy-in, raising the stakes to AU$10,000. The increase paid off and a more international clientele flocked to Melbourne, including Erik Seidel, the Hendon Mob and the 2003 tournament winner, Peter Costa, who won $394,000. In 2010, 746 players contributed to the AU$7.46m prize pool and AU$2m first prize.
Home of the ‘World’s Most Expensive Tournament’
Since 2006, the Crown has run the $100,000 Challenge. At the 2010 Aussie Millions, 24 of the richest international players sat down to battle it out for the $1.2m first prize and ultimate bragging rights. The structure is unique to this event – players start with 100,000 chips and are on a 30-second clock for every decision, with three chances of a 30-second extension. Preflop the game plays pot-limit, before reverting to no-limit postflop. This year Dan Shak defeated Phil Ivey heads-up to take the 2010 title.
