Macau Hosts Asian Poker Tour 12 Day Extravaganza

MANILA, The Philippines -- The Asian Poker Tour, Asia's original poker tour, is delighted to announce that it has been given approval by authorities to expand 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.

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.

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 buy-in is set at US$4,300 (US$4000+$300).

Aside from the Main Event, the Asian Poker Tour Macau Festival will feature the largest range of side events ever seen in Asia - guaranteed to make the poker fest even more exciting and appealing to players at all levels. Organizers and tournament director Matt Savage promise a lengthy and varied side event schedule that will appeal to all tastes, details of which will be confirmed in the near future.

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 witnessing six figure $US pots in games on a daily basis the stakes will be significantly raised! More details on this feature of the festival will also be confirmed in near future. 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 award winning party at the Macau event in 2008.

Asian Poker Tour CEO Chris Parker, is excited about bringing Asia's first poker festival to Macau: "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 believe Asia's first festival of poker will establish Macau as an essential stop on the international poker circuit."

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.

Like 2008, online qualifiers are also expected to flock to the StarWorld as the Asian Poker Tour continues to gain support from leading online poker networks hosting satellites to the Main Event. The Asian Poker Tour is supported by Full Tilt Poker, iPoker Network, Titan Poker, DafaPoker, PKR, PartyPoker, JBet Poker, Everest Poker, Microgaming Network, 888, 32 Red Poker, National Poker League and the Japanese Poker League. Full details can be found at www.asianpt.com