Russian 21-year-old Alexander 'The Great' Kostritsyn won the No-Limit Texas Holdem ‘Main Event’ at the 2008 Aussie Millions Poker Championship held at Melbourne’s Crown Casino recently.

He had to beat one of the toughest fields in the world, and was up against US veteran pro Erik Seidel in the heads-up finale. Seidel walked away in second place with a cool AUD$1 Million.

Kostritsyn, the youngest player and only European at the final table, took home AUD$1.65 Million, the largest prize ever awarded in a live poker tournament in the Southern Hemisphere.

His previous best tournament cash was third in the 2007 Russian Summer Poker Tournament (worth $8,900). He bought in directly to the Aussie Millions ‘Main Event’, outlasting a record field of 780 players who anted up the AUD$10,000 buy-in for the ‘Main Event’, creating an unprecedented prize pool of AUD$7.80 Million.

The Main Event at Melbourne’s Crown Casino was the culmination of the 16 individual events, which this year generated more than AUD$10 Million in total prize money.

‘We congratulate Alexander Kostritsyn on his tremendous accomplishment,’ said Peter Mim, Executive General Manager of Table Games at Crown. ‘He played superb poker over a prolonged period against a record field that included virtually every top professional and hundreds of talented amateurs from Australia and around the world.’

Finishing third and collecting AUD$700,000 was Michael 'Mick the Greek' Chrisanthopoulos. Hailing from ‘Hachem territory’ in Melbourne’s northern suburbs, the 26-year-old brought a massive chip stack to the Final Table. Michael has been playing poker for three years, and recently won a qualified via a Crown $120 Satellite to enter into the Aussie Millions ‘Main Event’.

Final results:
1st Alexander Kostritsyn, AUD$1,650,000 Million
2nd Erik Seidel, $1,000,000
3rd Michael Chrisanthopoulos, $700,000
4th Peter Ling, $500,000
5th Nino Marotta, $400,000
6th Antonio Casale, $300,000
7th Peter Mobbs, $225,000