Aussies love a good gamble and after Melbourne’s own Joe Hachem won the World Series of Poker Main Event in 2005, poker’s popularity exploded all over Australia.
Hachem won $7.5 million USD, which was a record poker tournament prize at the time. His supporters were heard chanting “Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, Oi, Oi, Oi!” throughout his victory, and after the final hand, he wrapped himself in the Australian flag for photos.
He returned home a hero, poker boomed and looking back, Hachem admitted it all started with a few poker tournaments at Crown Melbourne.
Crown Melbourne had always been the gaming capital of the country since opening up on the banks of the Yarra River in 1997, but Hachem’s win and a sudden poker boom Down Under soon helped turn its basement into more than just Australia’s biggest poker room, but the largest in the Southern Hemisphere as well.
The Crown Poker Room is now without a doubt the centre of the action in Australian Poker. The room boasts 50 tables and hosts major tournaments throughout the calendar year. The cash game action is unparalleled, running 24-hours a day and seven days a week with limits ranging from $1/$2 to $20/$40. The two most popular poker games played at The Crown Poker Room are No Limit Holdem and Pot Limit Omaha.
Major tournaments abound with the flagship Aussie Millions Championship running annually at the end of January through the beginning of February. In 2017, for the second year in a row, Team PokerStars Pro Jason Somerville was found broadcasting the play from the biggest events on the Aussie Millions calendar live on Twitch, bringing the action from the The Crown Poker Room into the homes of thousands of viewers around the world.
The Crown Poker Room has also hosted major tournament series including the World Series of Poker Asia-Pacific, The Asia Pacific Poker Tour and the Australia New Zealand Poker Tour.
Australian cricket legend Shane Warne has been known to frequent the room and plays regularly in the biggest poker events held there. Plus, Hachem is still around, playing an ambassador role with Crown.
Of course, all the poker action brings in a fair amount of players, but as much as half the draw of the Crown Poker Room is what it sits beneath. Crown Melbourne is a complete entertainment complex with countless dining, gaming, shopping, hotel and spa options.
There are no less than three world-class hotels on the property, two day spas, 13 top-notch restaurants, 11 fully-stocked bars, two fabulous nightclubs and more than 20 high-end retail shops. Plus, the casino upstairs is filled with Blackjack, Craps, Pai Gow, Baccarat, Roulette tables and more than 3,500 slots and video poker machines.
The action almost never dries up inside the Crown Poker Room, but those taking a break from it all can always find themselves immersed in even more exploring the rest of the entertainment and gaming options around the complex as a whole. And as if that were not enough, Crown and its poker room sit on the edge of Melbourne’s Central Business District, acting as a bit of a gateway to the centre of one of the World’s most liveable cities.
