Aussie Millions Winner Turns $130 Into $1.2million

(Photo: Cardplayer.com)

It’s one of those stories which fire the imagination of poker players everywhere – entering a $130 satellite at the last minute, winning the thing and then parlaying that unexpected seat with the big boys into a $million+ scoop of the Main Event!

For Shurane Vijayaram, that dream became reality this week as he took down the Aussie Millions title to land his first-ever cash in a tournament, and for the Melbourne man that was a mighty $1.2million which launched him instantly into the top 30 of Australia’s all-time money-winner list.

His decision to play the $130 re-buy event at the Crown Casino wasn’t part of his plans, but as he told reporters after his historic final table win against the likes of Fedor Holz and Jeff Rossiter:

"Honestly, I was just getting back into pub poker about four months ago. One of the guys at pub poker, and he's here tonight, asked me if had played any Aussie Millions satellites. I was like 'No, I don't really play that often.' But then I thought about it and thought ‘Maybe I will play.’ I went down last Sunday, played it, won it and now I'm here."

The 725-player Main Event field had each paid AUD$10,000 to take part in the crowning glory of the Aussie Million series, and Vijayaram’s described his win as,

"Absolutely amazing, it's like a dream!” He explained, “I've played poker for a long time but I'm more a cash game player than a tournament player. I'm just getting back into tournaments now.”

Despite his relative inexperience, he entered the 7-player final table as chip-leader and eventually saw off the challenge of Ben Heath heads-up, the final hand being the stuff of legends as his hero-call with a pair of fives caught the Englishman with his hand in the cookie jar – a king high bluff shove which the Aussie worked through in his head while tanking for five minutes.

“That call on the river in the last hand, that was a tough call and I had to really analyze the hand and think about what he was representing,” said Vijayram – the hand even making it to Doug Polk’s Twitter feed, and hopefully onto one of his upcoming podcasts.

The concluding hand in the Aussie Millions main event is pretty nuts.

— gN Coach Doug (@DougPolkPoker) January 29, 2017

The win may not quite be in the Moneymaker league, but it’s not far off and will likely afford the new champion a lot of extra opportunities as he considers a career as a tournament pro.

The full final table results were as follows, winnings in Australian dollars: