I recently returned from Crown’s Aussie Millions Poker Championship in Melbourne, Australia. I had a delightful time and want to toss out a few random observations about the Southern Hemisphere and poker therein. · Melbourne is one of the coolest cities I’ve visited. It has the sophistication and suaveness of a big city, but without feeling cold and impersonal. The best analogies I can think of are San Francisco and Vancouver. In particular, when I go to a large city, one thing I’m looking for is culinary diversity. Well, while sitting in a very good 24-hour Greek restaurant, I looked out the window and saw three restaurants across the street: Hawaiian, Vietnamese, and Korean side by side. Even the food court at the hotel features Indian, Mediterranean, Chinese, Japanese, and Italian. McDonald’s and KFC are upstairs (so I’m told – I never actually went near either). · The poker (at least at the Crown) is pretty expensive. They take a reasonable rake, but hit you with a time charge every hour. · On the other hand, the games are good enough that you can still beat the rake pretty comfortably. Or so seemed to be the general consensus. I didn’t get much chance ...