Beautiful Australia. The land of crocodiles, kangaroos, backwards spinning toilet water and of course the 2005 Main Event champion, Joe Hachem. Since 2005, the chant "Aussie, Aussie Aussie! Oy, oy oy!" has at one point or another rattled the eardrums of poker players and fans across the world signaling the arrival of a new breed of competitor from down under. I can't say for sure that any of these top Aussie players have tamed a wild crocodile, like say Steve Irwin, however I think their ferocious nature at the tables would garner the respect of The Crodile Hunter nonetheless. Without further ado, here are the top five players from Australia.

Holding the top spot in all of Australia is steveL from South Yarra, Victoria. At the young age of 21, steve has already won 15 tournaments online. Thus far, the largest single injection to his bankroll came last August when he finished 2nd in the PokerStars Nightly Hundred Grand for $18,191. He has also won the FullTilt $55,000 Guarantee for $15,788 and the PokerStars $20,000 Guaranteed for another $9,828. It seems this Aussie has a knack for closing the deal with countless final tables under his belt and a high percentage of wins. In fact, he has already won two tournaments this year, namely the FullTilt $16,000 Guarantee and the UltimateBet $19,000 Guaranteed for a total of $12,774. Such accomplishments place him at the very top of the down under list with 4,505 PLB points.

Biting at the heels of steveL is Triple Crown Winner Alex "garage13" Dickinson (pictured top) from Melbourne, Victoria. At only 23, Alex puts in a hefty amount of volume across multiple sites. Since he captured his Triple Crown at the beginning of 2007 he has won upwards of 20 tournaments including six already in 2008. Just a few weeks ago he won the FullTilt $55,000 Guarantee for $20,363 and he also won the PartyPoker $20,000 Guaranteed on the same day. His propensity to final table and ultimately close so many tournaments is as inspiring as it is deserving of respect. At the moment he has 4093 PLB points, but don't expect his score to stay still for long.

Coming in at 3rd is 25 year old Jason "Aussie_JaY" Mellross from Geelong, Victoria (AUSSIE_JASE on PokerStars and 20KJAY on FullTilt). Last year he cashed in on three 5-figure scores, the most impressive of which was a 2nd place finish in the FTOPS Event #5 for $66,668 and a 4th place finish in the PokerStars Sunday Million for $73,440. In addition to his online achievements, Jason has also made over $122k in the live arena. Most notably he took 2nd in the $1000 No Limit Hold'em event at the Bellagio Cup II in 2006 for $51,005 and finished 280th in the last WSOP Main Event for $45,422. As of this writing, he has 3659 PLB points and an enviable poker resume.

#4 in Australia is student/poker player Bond18 (pictured left) from Melbourne, Victoria (milwkid on PokerStars, muckthenuts on FullTilt). Bond18 attained a Triple Crown of his own in 2007. His most juicy score was an outright win in the FullTilt Sunday Mulligan for $27,150. He also won the FullTilt $40,000 Guarantee for $15,488 and the FullTilt Fifty-Fifty for $9,555. He has been labeled a rising star and for good reason. The volume he puts in could be considered substantially less than some of the other players, however he makes it work and is definitely a player to watch in 2008 (and you should also watch for his rare but hilarious posts). Currently Bond18 has 3678 PLB.

The last Aussie to make the cut is Daniel "Kochan" Kochan from Sydney, New South Wales (puntnko on PokerStars). He won eight tournaments in 2007 including a nice win in a PokerStars $109 Rebuy for $29,865. On top of that he has also won the FullTilt $25,000 Guarantee, the FullTilt Fifty-Fifty, and the FullTilt $20,000 Guarantee Turbo for a total of $27,805. Like Bond18, Kochan plays less volume but still manages to make an impact whenever he sits down at the felt. As a result he has 2846 PLB points and rounds out the top five players from Australia.

Until next time, check out how you rank amongst your city, state, country and more at P5s Sortable Rankings.