By now we are all familiar with the "Moneymaker effect" on poker in the U.S. with the explosive growth of NL Hold'em live and especially on the internet. Well, Australia has felt the ripples of that tidal wave over the past few years, but now it is experiencing a new phenomenon: The "Hachem Corollary" we'll call it. With rabid fans in the crowd and back home screaming "Aussie,Aussie,Aussie, OY! OY! OY!" poker fever is certainly contagious in the Outback.

What does this mean for those of us back in the States or Europe? Well, not much… until recently! In only 8 years the Aussie Millions has gone from a field of 74 at $1k to 418 players at 10k! Though the scale is a bit different that's an almost more impressive growth than the World Series of Poker has experienced considering the distance to travel to Australia for most of the Poker world.

Despite, or perhaps because of it's exotic locale, Melbourne has become one of the favorite stops on the poker tour of most of the top pros over the past few years. Until recently however it was out of reach of the average player. This year it looks like most major sites will be offering some sort of satellite structures and travel packages, but the one that really caught my eye was Full Tilt Poker, which is handing out 28 $18k packages in FREEROLLS alone! The reason the Full Tilt package is so sweet is because it includes tournament buy in, roundtrip airfare for 2 plus TEN days in the five star Crown Casino Hotel, plus $3,000 in cash! Not to mention all the little perks and swag Full Tilt hands out in deals like these, including a dinner and a private tournament with the Full Tilt Pros. Not bad!

Full Tilt is running $500,000 worth of freerolls to the Aussie Millions over the next four months, awarding 7 packages each month September through December. These are distributed through a monthly MTT, which you can qualify directly for by earning 10,000 Full Tilt Points in that month or through daily free Qualifiers which filter through a weekly tournament as well. If you are playing real money satellites and coming up just a bit short of winning your seat, you get a second chance with a seat at the monthly freeroll if you end up in the top 25 of Aussie points earners among either SitnGo or MTT players.

Of course it would be a dream to coast into Melbourne on the wings of a freeroll, but if you want something with a little better odds, no worries, mate! On December 10th Full Tilt is holding a 20 seat ($380k!) guarantee with a $500 buy-in and satellites running now. In addition there are 2 weekly 1 seat guarantees at a $300 buy-in, and they are continuing the Monday night 1k mega satellite, giving you the best odds of qualifying if your bankroll can support it. All of the real money tourneys of course have multiple paths to filter up through the ranks.

Keep in mind that this tournament takes place in the middle of January. If there were ever a time to escape the northern hemisphere for a week or two, this would be it, and with ten nights at the five star Crown Casino Hotel (stay away from the mini bar),

this trip may be the most luxurious poker package anywhere!

So, when you ask yourself, come January would I rather be here:

Or here:

Is there really any doubt in your mind?

Myself, I plan to play a few freerolls and plunk down a few bucks in the satellites on Full Tilt Poker to see if I can be lounging on the beach, and maybe winning a piece of the pie in the Aussie Millions!