Updated on 22 Feb 26 by
Barry Carter
Poker Expert

Phil Ivey wins 3rd Aussie Millions $250,000 Challenge

Phil Ivey has successfully defended the Super High Roller event he won last year and in 2012.

Phil Ivey
Happy New Year Phil, have another $2 million

For the third time in four years, Phil Ivey has started the year with a seven-figure title in Melbourne. 

He has just defeated Mike McDonald heads-up to win the $250,000 Challenge for a first prize of $2,205,000. 

He won the exact same event last year for $4,000,000, and previously in 2012 for $2,000,000.

Of course each time the fields for these Super High Roller events were relatively small, with just 25 entries this year. However, when you consider they featured big names like Douglas Polk, Erik Seidel, Scott Seiver, Isaac Haxton, Igor Kurganov and Ole Schemion, it was still a very tough event. 

That concludes the Aussie Millions this year, which also saw businessman Richard Yong win the $100,000 Challenge for $1,870,000 and Melbourne local Manny Stavropoulos win the $10,300 Main Event for $1,385,500

The next big event on the poker calendar has already started. EPT Deauville is underway in France and you can catch the live stream of it starting tomorrow right here at PokerStrategy.com. 

Aussie Millions $250,000 Challenge
Position Player  Prize (AUD)
1st Phil Ivey $2,205,000
2nd Mike McDonald $1,592,500
3rd Douglas Polk $1,401,500
4th Scott Seiver $735,000
5th Erik Seidel $551,000
Entries: 25

Does this win signal that Ivey is the greatest? Or do these small field Super High Rollers distort the tournament rankings, even if they are full of big names? Let us know in the comments. 

Poker Expert

Barry Carter is the editor of PokerStrategy.com and the co-author of The Mental Game of Poker 1 & 2, Poker Satellite Strategy, PKO Poker Strategy, Endgame Poker Strategy, GTO Poker Simplified, Mystery Bounty Poker Strategy and Beyond GTO. In 2025, he won the Global Poker Awards for Best Book and Twitter Personality of the Year.