Poker in Australia has really taken off, much the same as it has in the US and all over the world. While we have been caught up in this latest Poker Boom the fact is, aussie poker has been alive and well for years and we have produced a number of world class Australian poker players.

Joe Hachem

Of course the poker craze has been helped along down under by Joe Hachem's World Series of Poker win. Aussie poker has a new idol of its own. Every poker player in Australia wants to emulate Hachem's win and who can blame them? It was a massive field and a monster effort, Joe deserves to be congratulated and respected for his win. Well done from all of us here at All Aussie Poker. Hachem has been playing for over 10 years and has gone on from his WSOP Main event win to perform well in many other major tournaments around the world. Many questioned whether or not he was just a lucky "average Joe" or the real deal. It didn't take long before the poker world knew Joe Hachem to be real force to be reckoned with at the tables. He followed up his Championship win with a narrow bracelet miss, 2nd place final table at one of the smaller WSOP events and a big win in the WPT $ 15,000 WPT Doyle Brunson North American Poker Classic. His tournament winnings as of 2007 are in excess of $10.4 million USD.

 
Now some of you may not be aware of some of the other Aussie poker pro's that have been playing for years, as well as some of the new young guns coming through. Below we will acknowledge some of these players.

Mel Judah

A name some of you will know, and a name you all should, Mel Judah. Mel has been playing poker since he was 14 years of age. He was born in Calcutta, India and now lives in London, but still calls Australia home. Judah is probably one of the most successful Aussie poker players ever. His tournament winnings to date exceed $2.9 million. He has won 2 WSOP bracelets in 7 Card Stud and has also holds a WPT NL Hold'em title. The "Silver Fox" as he is known, made the final table of the WSOP Championship Event in 1997. A great Australian poker player as well as a great ambassador of the game.

 
Tony G

Next we come to Antanas Guoga. Tony G was born in Lithuania and moved to Melbourne when he was 11 years of age. He started playing poker at the age of 18 and has gone on to have much success. He has placed in numerous major events including many money finishes at the WSOP and a WPT title to his name. In 2005 he won the European Poker Championships $5000 NL Hold'em Main event netting around $450,000. In 2006 Tony G also won the WPT Bad Boys of Poker 2 event. Recently, in November 2006, he won the inaugural Betfair Asian Poker Tour in Singapore taking home again, over $450,000. To which he donated the whole amount to local Singapore Charities. He also gave the winning trophy to runner-up of the event, a Singaporean man, so that the trophy would stay local. He has won in excess of $2.1 million in tournament play. His aggressive style and stiff table talk have led to him being dubbed "The Mouth from Down Under". A technique of being the table captain and changing his opponents games, which he is notorious for. He is a successful and skillful Aussie poker player who has many more hands to play. Good on you Tony, keep that talk coming.


 

Jeff Lisandro

Jeff Lisandro is a Aussie poker pro hailing from Perth, although he now lives in Italy. Lisandro first learned to play poker at the age of 5. He is renown as a High stakes cash game player but has performed well in tournaments around the world. He has made several WSOP final tables and has finished in the money in a WPT event. He won a $10,000 WSOP event, beating Phil Ivey in heads up play. He has also triumphed over Howard Lederer in heads up play. His tournament winnings to date exceed $2.6 million. In 2006, he was the last of the Aussie hopefuls, finishing proud in 14th place from a monster record breaking field. In 2007, he came all so close to his first bracelet, after his pocket Queens were outdrawn by Allen Cunningham's K9 (read more), sending him to the rail in 2nd place in the $5000 World Championship No limit Hold'em event. Despite the 2nd place finished earlier in the Championships, Jeff backed up 11 days later to take his first WSOP bracelet in the $2000 Seven card stud event. Jeff is also a world class player and another Aussie poker player we can all look up to.

 
Mark Vos

Mark Vos (pronounced foss) is one of the rising stars of stars of the poker world, let alone Australian poker. Pictured with members of team allaussiepoker.com (centre). He won his first bracelet running through a massive field in 2006, which was also his first cash at the WSOP and the only Australian to get a bracelet during 2006. He followed that up with a very decent finish in the Main event, cashing there also. Look out for Mark in the future, he is set to make some big waves in the poker world.
Play with Mark Vos at Fulltiltpoker.com

 

Apart from the well established Aussie Poker pro's there is an uncountable amount of new players flocking to the game. In particular there is a huge contingent of young Australian poker players on their way up. With the quality poker literature that is available today and the ability to play poker from home on the Internet, we will be sure to see many more talented Aussie poker players in the near future.

 As well as having some great poker players who reign from the Land Down Under, we have a budding local poker scene. Crown Casino in Melbourne has a world class card room and run regular tournaments, ring games and of course the major Aussie Millions Championship Event. The other casino's in Australia are following Crown's lead in implementing poker games into their mainstream gaming line up. Star City in Sydney now has a poker pit, offering a numerous variants of the game. It won't be long before all the Casino's are running regular tournaments and expanding their card rooms.

Recently we have also seen the rise of a number of Australian Poker Leagues being played at pubs and clubs around Australia. These have been received with great enthusiasm and membership numbers grow each week. There is now plenty of opportunity for any poker addict to get their poker fix any night of the week. Its all free poker, and anyone can win big prizes.

Its great to watch poker continue to grow in Australia. Who knows how long it will be before we see Aussie poker players consistently making big poker tournament final tables or even another Australian poker World Champion. My senses tell me not long.