Left to right: bumbumbum, Espin, zlatan35, Marlon67, jorgal72 and james666. Below are Waswini, kingkai84 and Neil Wright. These sensible looking young men have their minds focused firmly on the business at hand - the 2009 Asian Poker Tour in Macau.
Warming up
Tomorrow sees the start of the Main Event at this year’s Asian Poker Tour stop at the StarWorld Casino in Macau, the gambling capital of Asia.
Macau is home to many luxurious Vegas style super casinos, including versions of some of the biggest like, 'The Wynn', 'MGM Grand' and 'The Venetian' (the Macau version being largest casino in the world). The Macanese versions are every bit as glamorous as their Vegas counterparts with Baccarat the overwhelming game of choice - and although poker is only offered at a few of the casinos it’s very much a growing market here. The nightlife is fairly quiet compared to Vegas, with only a few small bars and a couple of nightclubs located within and around the casinos - but we're making the most of things : )
Eleven PKR players will be competing over the next few days in one of the strongest live tourney line-ups we’ve had yet. The group includes Team PKR Pro legends james666, pokey85 and kingkai84 along with previous Masters winner Marlon67, tournament specialist zlatan35 and former APT qualifiers bumbumbum and Waswini.
Neil loses to worthy adversary - makes new Facebook friend
The warm-up activities have included a combination of poker action and exploring the local attractions...
I was joined by Waswini and zlatan35 for a warm-up tournament at the Grand Lisboa casino on Sunday, where early exits from the two Frenchmen left me to fly the flag for PKR. After reaching the final table and dominating the action (yes really!) I was eventually eliminated in 4th place to a player whose previous poker experience extended only to play money facebook games! He went onto to win and take down the $3,200 first prize.
The next day Waswini, zlatan35, kingkai84, james666 and myself entered the 64 player heads-up shootout side event (buy-in of $300), unfortunately 4 out of 5 fell at the first hurdle, with only james666 surviving to round 3 until his A8 was outdrawn by A7 to take him out.
The side events have included several interesting variations such as the ‘greed’ event where the top 10 get paid equal prizes but only if they agree an equal split deal upon reaching the final, otherwise play continues until all remaining players agree an equal split. Further deals could only be made after a player is eliminated. Also included in the schedule is a Team Nations tournament, a ‘buddy’ event where two players play one seat (one at a time!) and must swap at the end of each level, and a ‘head hunter’ event.
APT Macau not all, 'work, work, work'
The next day we were joined by the young Frenchman jorgal72 and his father for bit of a break from poker at the local go-carting track. Despite zlatan’s over confidence, there was little between the contenders with the exception of Waswini, who after being overtaken several times later claimed to have been allocated a go-kart with wonky steering!
The next stop was the official APT welcome ceremony in the tournament arena with welcome speeches and a celebrity tournament including big name players Johnny Chan, ‘poker pack’ members JC Tran, Nam Le, Quinn Do and Chino Reem, plus Liz Lieu and Liv Boeree, with the action surrounded by a multitude of stunningly beautiful APT models! We were later joined by Marlon67 and bumbumbum with his girlfriend and explored several of the local bars, and despite late night attempts to find an energetic karaoke bar, finished up at the lively Lion bar in the MGM Grand casino until the early hours.
The revolving restaurant at the top of the Macau Tower was tonight’s venue of choice, where an impressive buffet offer is complimented by stunning arial views of Macau, and with several of the team playing tomorrow an early night was the sensible option taken.
PKR players zlatan35, Marlon67 & Waswini show us their sensible faces...
Down to business
Tomorrow’s action kicks off at midday local time (GMT +8) with five PKR players taking their seats...
zlatan35 - Adrien Allain
Waswini – Marc Bariller
bumbumbum – Eamon McNamee
kingkai84 – Kai Danilo Paulsen
james666 – James Sudworth
You can watch it all live at the Asain Poker Tour website.
Day 1B will feature 6 more PKR players...
MATILJA – Jonas Andersson
pokey85 – Henrik Eklund
F4llout – Sebastian Freilinger
jogal72 – Jonathan Galbrun
Marlon67 –Marlon Vasilda
Beyne – Vladimir Geshkenbein
We look forward to seeing their progress over the next few days and hope to see PKR represented at the final table.