Home Boy Takes Aussie Millions Title and $1.6 Million in Cash

Oliver Speidel, a 26-year-old poker pro from Melbourne took the Aussie Millions title and the hefty AUD 1.6 million that goes with it.

The winner already has over 3 years of professional poker experience under his belt, traveling the world and slowly building up his career winnings. He is rumored to receive his extensive training at online poker sites in Australia.

This year’s Aussie Millions live poker tournament was held in full compliance with Australian gambling laws. The 5-day event saw 658 poker fans gather under one roof and trying to show off their poker skills.

The tourney reached its peak with an 8-hour epic final table battle, where Speidel faced a poker ace from Canada Kenneth Wong, as well as other talented contenders including Patrick Healy, Yann Dion, Mike Krstanoski, Bjorn Li and Mohamad Kowssarie. After Krstanoski busted out in 3rd place with AUD 610,000, Speidel and Wong had to battle it out in heads up.

The final hand saw a classic line-up: Speidel’s pocket aces were too good for Wong’s nines. The Canadian settled for 2nd spot and a hefty cheque for AUD 1 million paving way for home success of Oliver Speidel.

The winner later told Australia gambling news that he was experiencing ”exhilaration and disbelief” right after the end of the tourney. Before he went pro he worked as a risk management manager at the Australian Reserve Bank. This experience will undoubtedly help him to take a safe approach to his newfound riches.

Speidel had the following words of wisdom to all poker fans hoping one day to repeat his success: ”When I first started playing poker I would get really upset when I lost, really happy when I won. The emotional swings were crazy and that’s not optimal. If you want to play your best all the time you need to keep your emotions under control and not let the losing streaks get to you.”