Poker is alive and well in Australia, with the return of the iconic Aussie Millions announced for April, and the newly minted Melbourne Millions series smashing guarantees at PlayLive, a new poker room co-owned by Alex and Kristen Foxen, Jeremy Ausmus, Eric Baldwin, and Abby Merk.

The new poker room was launched in April 2025, with co-founders Josh Abady and Bridges Robinson Roe announcing they were partnering up with the popular poker personalities to create a poker room “by the players, and for the players.”

It appears the mission was successful, as PlayLive is quickly becoming the go-to destination for poker players in Melbourne, and the Melbourne Millions is just the first of many tournament series in the plans for 2026.

Melbourne Millions Is Surpassing Expectations

When they first opened the doors of PlayLive back in April, the owners could hardly have hoped for the incredible success the new Melbourne poker room would become in such a short span of time.

The first-ever Melbourne Millions series has attracted hundreds of players, many of them hoping to meet some of their poker heroes, and others attracted by the idea of a major poker series in the prime January time slot, which has been missing in Melbourne for several years.

The turnout for Melbourne Millions events has been exceptional, with many of the events doubling or tripling the guaranteed prize pools, and even the $1,500 Main Event ending up with a prize pool of over $1,000,000, smashing the $500,000 guarantee.

PlayLive offered players a variety of valuable packages, providing extra incentives to play in the series and proving that the new poker room truly was a place “by the players, and for the players.”

The Melbourne Millions enters its final week, with several exciting tournaments like the $50,000 Berserker event with a $400 buy-in still on the schedule. The owners have teased an upcoming schedule for the rest of 2026, which should include similar tournament series.

PlayLive Launches Its Live Poker Stream

Melbourne Millions was the perfect time for PlayLive to launch its long-anticipated live stream, which will presumably serve as one of the main marketing tools for the poker room in the coming years.

The live stream launched on PlayLive’s new YouTube channel, and we have already seen both cash game and tournament action from the poker room in real time.

Features like a four-color deck and multiple camera angles have made the streams a resounding success thus far, and the presence of poker personalities like Merk and Baldwin in the shows gives them lots of potential for future success.

So far, we have seen streams of Melbourne Millions action and some low-stakes $2/$5 cash games on the streams, but we can expect to see bigger games with more familiar faces on the PlayLive streams in the near future.

Aussie Millions Is Back in 2026

Aussie Millions is by far the most iconic poker tournament series ever played in Australia, and in 2026, it’s coming back following a 6-year hiatus.

Just a 15-minute walk away from PlayLive, at the Crown Melbourne Plaza, Aussie Millions will play out this April for the first time since 2020.

The poker series that saw the likes of Ari Engel and Bryn Kenney triumph in the Main Event and Phil Ivey absolutely dominate the Super High Rollers will be back on the schedule this year, proving that live poker in Australia is booming once again.

While the series has moved away from its January time slot, which poker fans were used to for years, the 2026 Aussie Millions should still be a huge success, with the AUD 10,600 Main Event likely to attract many of the world’s most recognizable poker names.

Stay tuned for more updates on the 2026 Aussie Millions festival as it draws closer, and keep an eye out on PlayLive’s YouTube channel for more live poker action brought to you directly from Melbourne, Australia.