Aussie Millions "Golden Ticket" Winner Krost Back Year After Year
It's no exaggeration that Tyron Krost is the Charlie Bucket of the poker world. Back in 2012, he defeated seven of the eight former Aussie Millions Main Event winners to win the Aussie Millions Tournament of Champions.
The prize for this feat? Not a chocolate factor à la Willy Wonka, but a "Golden Ticket" nevertheless that would grant him a lifetime of buy-ins to the $10,000 Aussie Millions Main Event.
"I definitely look forward to it every year," said Krost. "I've got the Golden Ticket so it brings me back every year! It always makes me feel young coming back. It's good to play poker because I feel really young when I play it!"
Now ten years after his victory, Krost runs a family-owned office furniture business, with offices in Melbourne and Sydney. However, we spotted him in the Opening Event, and told PokerNews it was an "absolute pleasure" to be back.
"I think Crown run a really great event. There's a good range of buy-ins, from the very, very big ones to the smaller ones and there's something to play every day. There are a great selection of satellites too. It's one of those events that you go to and are busy on a lot of the days. What they offer is really good."
With not just the poker community, but the entire world looking back at the last decade, Krost says that there are a lot more similarities than differences between now and when he won the Aussie Millions Main Event back in 2010.
"I'm surprised at how little has changed over the years. The field sizes are a bit bigger, which is great, so there's a lot of growth despite everything that's happened in the last ten years. The poker room looks pretty much the same if I remember correctly! The structures are probably a little bit better, and the field strength is probably marginally better - but not hugely."
Krost believes that the lack of differences may be down to Australia's location and the insulation it has from the rest of the poker world, thereby reducing the effect changes in the European or North American poker world has on it.
"It's a bit far away(!)," he said. "It's not like you can hope across and play something for the weekend, and therefore you've got a lot of the same people who play here every year, so there's definitely a bit of insulation. But the tournaments are pretty good here throughout the year.
"I mean, I don't play as much as I did ten years ago, but it's still really good."