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Asia Pacific Poker Tour (APPT)
General Information
The growing popularity of poker in the Asia Pacific region the past few years has prompted the creation of a poker tournament that caters to the region with a global approach.
The Asia Pacific Poker Tour (APPT) was launched in 2007 and established itself as the first major poker tournament in the world’s largest continent. APPT has also made history for conducting the first real-money Texas Hold’em tournaments in two of the four country-venues last year. These countries were China and South Korea.
The other two venues that hosted the APPT were Manila, Philippines and Sydney, Australia where the Grand Final took place. The grand winners from the three preliminary tournaments (Philippines, Seoul and Macau) gained automatic entry at the APPT Grand Final.
Poker site PokerStars acts as the major sponsor of the event and the site has sent hundreds of players to compete in the inaugural event last year. Veteran poker tournament organizer Danny McDonagh is the APPT Tournament Director. McDonagh is known for being the chief person behind the Aussie Millions tournament for the past 10 years. Jeffrey Haas serves as APPT President.
Public reception
The APPT’s inaugural year has attracted a decent number of players from all over the world, a clear indication that more and more people are getting hooked in the interesting Texas Hold’em poker tournaments. The first preliminary leg was conducted at the Hyatt Hotel and Casino in Manila, Philippines from August 22 to 24, 2007. About 255 players shelled out $2,500 to create a prize pool of $599,250. The winner of the event was 22-year old American student Brett Parise. He took home $179,775 and an automatic entry in the Grand Final.
The second preliminary leg was conducted at the Sheraton Grande Walkerhill Casino in Seoul, South Korea. There were 186 players who paid $2,500 each to compete in the event. The winner was an Israeli poker player named Ziv Bachar. Bachar won $139,872 for his efforts plus a seat in the Grand Final.
The third preliminary leg took place at the Grand Waldo Hotel in Macau, China. An overwhelming support was seen during the event because 352 players showed up and paid off the $2,500 buy-in to create a prize pool of $809,600. U.K.-based player Dinh Le won the event and pocketed $222,640 plus an entry in the Grand Final.
The APPT Grand Final, which took place at the Star City Casino in Sydney, Australia, was a well-attended affair. Abut 561 players paid AU$6,000 to create a cash prize pool of AU$3,369,445. The winner was Grant Levy and he took home a cool AU$1 million cash prize for his efforts plus the distinction of becoming the first APPT Grand Final champion.
Season One Results
Here are the results in last year’s inaugural APPT:
APPT Manila (August 22 – 24, 2007): 1. Brett Parise (Irvine, CA, USA) $179,775, 2. Ira Blumenthal (Bangkok, Thailand) $113,858, 3. Nicholas Bamman (USA) $62,921, 4. Van Marcus (Mill Park, Australia) $44,940, 5. Maor Feldinger (Israel) $35,955, 6. Roger Spets (Malaysia) $26,966, 7. Bas Van Liere (Netherlands) $20,974, 8. Kazuhiro Sato (Tokyo, Japan) $14,981 and 9. Derick Hernandez (Philippines) $11,386.APPT Seoul (September 28, 2007): 1. Ziv Bachar (Tel Aviv, Israel) $139,872, 2. Jozef Berec (Victoria, Australia) $87,420, 3. Shinhan Sid Kim (South Korea) $48,081, 4. Michel St Pierre (Canada) $34,968, 5. James Honeybone (New Zealand) $28,412, 6. Seval Hegeland (Norway) $21,855, 7. Roger Spets (Malaysia) $17,484, 8. Daniel Schreiber (Seoul, South Korea) $13,113 and 9. Paul Adams (Greenwood, IN, USA) $8,740APPT Macau (November 22, 2007): 1.
Seoul (September 28, 2007): 1. Dinh Le (UK) $222,640, 2. Ivan Tam (Singapore) $129,536, 3. Sangkyoun Kim (South Korea) $72,864, 4. Guillaume Patry (South Korea) $56,672, 5. Bertrand Grospellier (Melun, France) $48,576, 6. William Tam (Australia) $40,480, 7. Liz Lieu (Los Angeles, CA, USA) $32,384, 8. Joe Hachem (Melbourne, Australia) $24,288 and 9. Simon Randall (UK) $16,192 APPT Grand Final Sydney (December 13-16, 2007): First: Grant Levy (Sydney, Australia) $1 million, Second: Jeremiah Vinsant (Murfreesboro, Tennessee) $ 621,540, Third: Lei He (Australia) $ 322,280, Fourth: Sol Bergren (Canada) $ 230,200, Fifth: Jai Kemp (Australia) $ 158,830, Sixth: Barry Kohlhoff (United States) $ 115,100, Seventh: John Matwey (New York) $ 92,080, Eighth: Vijayan Nagarajan (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia) $ 69,060 and Ninth: Larry Wright (Montgomery, Alabama) $ 46,040.
Tournament Schedules
The APPT 2008 Season has been confirmed by the organizers but the official dates have not been announced yet. The four countries, Philippines, South Korea, China and Australia will still serve as hosts of the second season. The latest APPT updates can be seen in its official website, www.appt.com. The latest news and satellite events can be read on the site as well.
APPT Online Satellite Tournaments
Just like any major poker tournaments, a number of online poker sites had conducted satellite tournaments that only require a smaller buy-in with the winner getting a seat in the APPT Main Event.
As the major sponsor of the event, PokerStars has launched massive satellite tournaments leading to the much-anticipated event. In Season one, PokerStars launched a six-step satellite qualifying promotion wherein the players will only need to shell out as little as $7.50 and get to win the $9,000 APPT Sydney package which includes the Grand Final seat, free travel and accommodations.Other sites offering online satellite tournaments for the APPT are:
Bodog Poker
The number of sites that will offer APPT satellite events is expected to increase once the official schedule for Season 2 has been announced.
Due to the success of its inaugural year, APPT is expected to attract even more participants this year. This means there will be bigger cash prizes, better competition and more poker superstars gracing the event. Winners from three preliminary events will have another chance to get more cash prizes during the grand final which will take place in Sydney, Australia. While doing so, participants can also get the chance of cruising around the famous Sydney Harbour and other scenic spots of the Australian city during their stay.