Online Poker Rooms Ready for APT Macau Event

MANILA, Philippines -- The Asian Poker Tour, Asia's original poker tour, is delighted to announce that a number of leading online poker rooms have already signed up to provide online qualifiers
  for its popular Macau event. Last year's six day event will be transformed into a record breaking 12 day extravaganza, creating Asia's first festival of poker. The Asian Poker Tour Macau Festival will run from August 12–23, 2009 at the Galaxy StarWorld Hotel and Casino in Macau. The success of the Asian Poker Tour sponsored poker room at the Starworld has led organizers to lay out these ambitious plans that represent another huge leap forward for poker in the region.

Amongst the online poker rooms and networks already committed to sending players are the iPoker Network, PartyPoker and Ongame Network, the third, fourth and fifth largest online poker networks respectively. In addition, online rooms Bwin, PKR, Dafa Poker, JBET Poker, Betfriends and 32Red will also be in on the action guaranteeing a significant online qualifier contingent. More online poker rooms are expected to sign up for the landmark event shortly.

Asian Poker Tour CEO Chris Parker said: "We are very encouraged by the enthusiasm of our partners to send players and we look forward to welcoming more online poker rooms on board. This year's Asian Poker Tour Macau Festival will be bigger and better with 12 days of non-stop poker action and fun. The Main Event has been extended, with the first of three day ones getting underway on August 19 and the televised final table scheduled for August 23. The Asian Poker Tour Macau Festival will feature a side event schedule never seen in Asia before, including several new formats that will stir the curiosity of poker enthusiasts at all levels."

"We are currently witnessing record numbers in our Asian Poker Tour sponsored room at the Starworld and six figure $US pots are now a regular occurrence. We believe Asia is ready for its first festival of poker and that it will establish Macau as an essential stop on the international circuit."

Last year, the event attracted some of the most famous names in the game including Doyle Brunson, Jack Binion, Johnny Chan, John Juanda, Huck Seed, Liz Lieu, Todd Brunson, Kenny Tran and Poker Pack members Nam Le, Quinn Do, JC Tran, Steve Sung, David "Chino" Rheem, and Kwang Soo Lee. The 2008 Asian Poker Tour Macau Main Event was won by 20-year-old US hotshot Yevgeniy Timoshenko, who scooped US$500,000 after emerging triumphant from the star-studded field that featured players from over 40 countries.

Organizers and leading tournament director Matt Savage, fresh from a successful revamp of the LA Poker Classic, promise a lengthy and varied side event schedule that will appeal to all tastes, details of which will be confirmed in the near future. The buy-in for the Main Event is set at US$4,300 (US$4000+$300) while high-limit games and sit-n-go tables will run throughout the duration of the festival. Last year's event hosted a HK$1,000,000 (US$129,000) high rollers game and this will be repeated but with the Asian Poker Tour sponsored poker room at the Starworld now experiencing six figure $US pots regularly, the stakes are expected to be significantly higher this year! As well as the action on the felt, the play off the felt promises to be extremely lively too with The Asian Poker Tour looking to top the legendary and award winning party held in Macau last year.

The last Asian Poker Tour event was held in the Philippines in January 2009 and was won by Manila rounder Neil Arce, who scooped US$185,000 for first prize after overcoming a field of 262 players from over 40 countries. The runner-up was the Republic of Korea's Steve Yea, who repeated his second place in the Asian Poker Tour Macau 2008. Full details can be found at www.asianpt.com/.