Fri, 03/04/2011 – 22:54 – PokerPages Staff

#5 – Cannes
To the dismay of the WSOP Europe’s traditional hosts in London, in 2011 the new venue for the tournament will be this impressive and classy casino with its generous and plush poker room in sun-drenched Cannes.  Much bigger than the UK venue, Casino Barriere de Cannes Croisette is ideal to absorb the burgeoning success of the tour.

#4 – Dublin
Dublin is the centre of a thriving poker playing community in Ireland, and it plays host to the infamous Irish Open every year, along with several other major poker tournaments.  Players from around the world converge on the beautiful Irish capital in droves – a highly recommended destination, we think.

#3 – Melbourne
Home of the fabulous Aussie Millions poker festival, Melbourne’s magnificent Crown Casino is a glittering palace of poker-playing luxury, offering quite possible the biggest and most scintillating gaming facilities you’ll find anywhere in the Southern hemisphere.  A stunner.

#2 – Macau
This place generates more revenue than the infamous Las Vegas Strip and some would even place it ahead of Vegas as the gambling capital of the world.  The surging successes of the various Asian poker tours have helped place it there and the 53-story Grand Lisboa Hotel-Casino, with its exquisitely “oriental” architecture has become an international hub of poker activity.

#1 – Las Vegas
It’s still the most unbeatable place on earth for playing poker.  Home to the daddy of all tournaments, the WSOP, “Sin City” is bursting with fabulous casinos and cardrooms at every turn.  Open day and night, it has more tournaments and cash games on offer than any place on the face of the planet.

2011 January 13, Lynn Gilmartin

The Southern Hemisphere’s biggest tournament series has begun with the $1,100 Opening Event kick-starting the 2011 Aussie Millions on Thursday night. I absolutely love being at the Aussie Millions, not only because it’s in my home town of Melbourne, but also because there is so much hype around it, and that hype continues to linger in the Crown Poker Room once the cards are in the air. Perhaps it’s because the Australian Open is on at the same time, creating the craziest vibe in Melbourne, or because the Aussie Millions events team is run by women, so it’s got that feminine “Midas Touch,” or of course, because one of the best Tournament Directors in the world, Jonno Pittock, runs the show. Who knows, but I do know that I have an absolute ball every year and so do all the players who attend.

In celebration for the kickoff, I’m taking you on a look back at the highlights of 2010. A prime example of the hype inside the Crown Poker Room during the Aussie Millions is Day 1 of the Main Event, and the following video shows you why. No other poker tournament (that I’ve been to) puts on a concert to announce shuffle-up-and-deal!

Phil Ivey’s second place finish in the $100k Challenge saw him top the all-time money list. Despite being teased with the title that Dan Shak then won, he was obviously still in good spirits with his achievement when I caught up with him after the event. With this being my first interview with this great man, you can pretty much see my heart beating at triple speed.

Each year sees the Main Event play on Australia Day, so I escaped the confines of the Poker Room for a few hours and headed to St Kilda Beach for some sunshine with my fellow Aussies to give you a taste of a “True Blue” celebration.

While speaking of “True Blue,” the Australian’s of the PokerNews Team took the American’s for a cricket match and barbecue on our day off, so we took this opportunity to introduce our hard-working team who don’t usually show their face on the videos.

If you don’t religiously read Elaine Chaivarlis’ Nightly Turbo, then you’re losing at life. If you must be convinced, then listen to your favorite poker players instead!

The PokerNews Live Reporting Team will be in the Crown Poker Room everyday until 30th January, so stay right here on PokerNews.com for all of our live updates and videos, and while you’re railing the Aussie Millions action, get your poker fix on Full Tilt Poker.