The Star Sydney Championships is back for its ninth year

It has been a tough couple of months for Australian poker players but the Star Sydney Championships hopes to turn things around.

The 2017 annual poker Championships is in its ninth year and will take place from July 18 until August 7 at the Star Sydney in the freshly renovated 40-table poker room.

Hundreds of poker players will bluff, fold and raise for a chance to win $2 million in guaranteed prize money – up from $1.25 million on offer at last year’s event.

The event is also longer than usual, with an extra week added to the recently released schedule. Three new events have been added including a $330 buy-in Masters Event specifically for players aged 50 and above. There’s also a $1100 Monster Stack where players start off with a whopping 50,000 in chips. Finally, there’s the $20,000 High Roller event which will no doubt attract some of the biggest poker players from around the world.

Chief Operating Officer at The Star, Damian Quayle, has said the event continues on their “long-term goal of growing Poker at The Star, to offer players from all over the globe a world class tournament series in Sydney’s only fully integrated gaming resort.”

“For the first time, we’ll truly cater to poker’s High Rollers market with the new $20,000 event while at the same offering a range of tournaments to suit every budget,” Mr Quayle said.

“The Sydney Championships has become one of the most popular tournament series for players in the region and we look forward to building on that success.”

The $3000 Main Event will be back and will perhaps be the highlight of the event. It will begin on August 4 with $1 million guaranteed in prize money.

There’s also the $5000 Challenge which offers a $500,000 prize pool guarantee, the $1100 6-max with one re-entry and a $100,000 prize pool guarantee, and the popular $440 Opening Event which has a $400,000 prize pool guarantee.

The Sydney Championship was established in 2009 and has drawn some of the biggest names in poker including Tony Hachem, Joe Hachem’s brother. Winners of the Main Event have included World Series of Poker bracelet winner, Jarred Graham, alongside Andrew Capelin, Errolyn Strang, Dean Yuen, Daniel Laidlaw, Martin Kozlov, Ben Jee and Kahle Burns.

Satellites to qualify for the 2017 Sydney Championships will commence on June 18.

If you can’t wait until then, you can prove yourself in the Star Sydney Championships Pre-Season Satellites running between May 1-6. Six seats are available with one seat available for the $20,000 High Roller event with a $440 buy-in, one seat available for the $5000 Challenge with a $330 buy-in, and four seats available for the Main Event with a $330 buy-in.

The events are a reprieve for Australian poker players who have been enduring the impending doom of the Interactive Gambling Amendment Act 2016 which will make playing the game online illegal. 888Poker has already exited the Australian market as a result, while PokerStars is waiting until the legislation is approved by the lower house when it will ultimately be enforced.

Senator David Leyonhjelm has told poker players to “screw the government” and get a virtual private network (VPN) to continue to play the online game which provides a source of income for many due to its skilful nature.