2009 Aussie Millions: Dispatch from Melbourne

Week One at the Aussie Millions was capped last night by the official welcome party and the induction of the first class into the Australian Poker Hall of Fame. The ceremony was tastefully done and not performed before a captive audience (unlike the overblown Poker Hall of Fame induction carried out during after a break in play at this year's World Series of Poker Main Event Final Table). The Crown Director of Poker Operations, Jonno Pittock, called each inductee to a stage in front of the crowd. Once the inductee had mounted the stage to the applause of the assemblage, Pittock presented him with an induction certificate and said a few words about him. The inductees -- Billy Argyros, Gary Benson, Tony G, Joe Hachem, Mel Judah, Jeff Lisandro, Lee Nelson and Maurie Pears -- represent players who have striven long and hard for the advancement of the game of poker in Australia and the assumption of Australia's place on the world poker stage. The Aussie pride that was on display was truly touching. Even for this Yank.

Once all eight inductees had been introduced, Pittock announced the selection of the first "Australian Poker Legend". That honor went to Joe Hachem. Many people privately grumbled that Hachem didn't truly represent a legend. Certainly winning the Main Event was a huge shot in the arm for Australian poker, but did it rise to the status of a legend?

Hachem gave a brief speech about how, earlier in the day, he had thought about what he might say if he were selected. He opted to stress how he was just a guy "in the right place at the right time". There's lots of truth to that statement and it was certainly refreshing to hear Hachem acknowledge it. Unfortunately, that was both how Hachem started and ended his speech. If he was going to truly and humbly deflect attention from himself as being "in the right place at the right time", then it seemed only natural that he could have offered something -- anything! -- about the class of inductees standing behind him. He didn't do it, and as a result his words rang a bit hollow for me.

So I did what any good writer does at a party with an open bar; I hammered the free drinks as fast and as hard as I could before I had to go back and cover the rest of Day 1 of the AU$1,100 H.O.R.S.E. tournament. That's what hanging out with Aussies does to a guy.