Comeback at the Crown Earns Malcom Trayner Aussie Millions Main Event Title

The Australian poker pro Malcom Trayner won arguably the biggest title of his poker career last night in Melbourne as he conquered the 2026 Aussie Millions Main Event to add that to his Mystery Millions bracelet win back 2024. Coming back from behind heads-up, Trayner overcame Dean Blatt heads-up to write his name into poker history by winning the $10,600-entry Main Event.

Bumper Field Rewards Faith in Aussie Millions

Six years ago, the Aussie Millions Main Event looked to have disappeared from the poker calendar forever. The much-loved event, which came back just this year, roared back into the present day of poker fans’ conscious as all seven finalists hailed from the home country and legends like Joe Hachem and Michael Gathy competed for a title worth $1m.

With 770 total entries, the vast field saw 95 players work their way into profit, incluing the aforementioned Gathy (56^th) and Hachem (50^th), with both the four-time WSOP bracelet winner Gathy and the 2005 WSOP world champion – the only one to hail from Australia – winning just under $18,000.

By the time the final table was reached, it was Dejan Boskovic who led the all-Australian table to the felt to play down to a winner. It took over an hour to find the first elimination, during which time Boskovic had lost some chips but he got a chunk back when his pocket nines held against the drawing hand of Kanaan Youkhanna’s ace-jack. A flop of K-K-9 killed Youkhanna’s hopes almost stone dead, and he was drawing dead once the six landed on the turn, to depart with $153,550 in seventh spot.

Trayner Makes His Move

Malcolm Trayner came into the action far from the chip lead but as is often the case with eventual winner of major events, he made his move during the middle section of the final table. Patrick Barba was unable to do the same and busted in sixth place for $195,400 when he fell to the eventual runner-up Blatt. Barba’s last hand when super-short was nine-three and he was dominated by the king-nine of Mayer, and with his exit, just five men remained in the hunt for the seven-figure top prize.

The next player to leave was the luckless Ricky Vikas, who departed in fifth place for $251,250. Just minutes after the exit of Barba, Vikas moved all-in for five big blinds with jack-ten, and Dean Blatt called with ace-jack after Malcolm Trayner had folded pocket tens. Amazingly, Vikas hit his one-outer ten, but not until after Blatt had turned a full house on a board of A-J-7-A-T.

Down to four, it was the turn of Mayer to make do with $338,350 as he missed out on the podium places. On a board of J-7-5-5-3, Trayner shoved with five-four for turned trips. Mayers was pushed to the test but eventually called it off with queen-jack, leaving just when he might have had a chance of recovery if he had been correct in calling.

Trayner Takes Title After Treble Deal

“I’ve dedicated my life to poker the last eight years.”

Down to three players, all of the men left in the hunt were happy to smooth out the final three payments, and it was the chip leader at the start of the final who busted next. Dejan Boskovic (pictured above) shoved with king-jack only to run into Trayner’s king-queen and a king-high board with no added paint meant Boskovic was bumped to the rail for a score of $667,850 as Trayner took control.

Holding a 4:1 chip lead, the title looked a cert for Trayner but the 2024 Mystery Millions champion instead lost his lead and then lost even more. After losing several pots without going to showdown, ace-ten beat ace-jack to propel Blatt among Trayner into a similar 4:1 chip lead. Trayner was all-in and at-risk soon after, but this time his dominating hand held and he retook the lead when he hit to overtake Blatt’s pocket threes.

Soon, Trayner had all the chips and the second seven-figure top score of his career. Moving all-in with the bigger stack holding pocket sevens, Trayner was flipping for the tournament against the ace-ten of Dean Blatt. The latter was drawing to both straights and flushes to the river but missed them all which gave Trayner the victory and a massive $1,002,250 top prize, Blatt claiming $725,150 as the runner-up.

“I thought I was going to lose heads up,” Trayner said to PokerNews after his win. “It was such a rollercoaster ride. I’ve dedicated my life to poker the last eight years. People often see the wins, but they don’t see the grind and they don’t see the losing months.”

The victory was huge for Trayner (below), and he described his pride at winning in such an iconic series in his home country.

“Winning something like this just means an unbelievable amount to me. I can’t express how much it means to me to win the most prestigious tournament in Australia.”

With this year’s Aussie Millions Main Event the fifth largest for entries in the tournament’s long and glorious history, the Crown Casino in Melbourne will already be planning for what will doubtless be a returning series in 2027.