The 2008 edition of the Aussie Millions has been won by a young Russian player named Alexander Kostritsyn of Moscow, Russia, who was able to beat one of the best players in the world in Eric Seidel. Both players won over a million Aussie dollars; Seidel winning $1M (AUS) and Kostritsyn taking home the $1.65M (AUS) first prize. Michael Chrisanthopoulos also had a big payday, winning $700,000 for his third-place finish.

Earlier in the week, Howard “The Professor” Lederer won the $100,000 buy-in professional’s no-limit hold’em event. The event attracted numerous big-name players including Gus Hansen, Tony “G” Guoga, Chris “Jesus” Ferguson, Phil Ivey, Erik Seidel, Erick Lindgren and Masaaki Kagawa. There were 25 players in total, with the top five getting paid. Lederer won $1.25M (AUS), a sizable difference between the second-place winnings of $650,000 (AUS), which went to Mark Teltscher of London, United Kingdom.