Asia Pacific Poker Tournament (APPT)

PokerStars, the largest online gaming website today, sponsors a number of offline tournaments, including the European, Latin American and the Asia Pacific Poker Tours. These events are televised and are thus widely popular among the poker community.

Started in 2007, the Asia Pacific Poker Tour is the first of its kind in the region. It was responsible for bringing major Texas Hold ‘Em tournaments to these countries for the first time ever. The first season covered only four countries, Philippines, South Korea, China and Australia. It broke the record for the largest poker tournament in Asia with over 350 players.

In 2008 the tournament returned to the region for a second season, adding New Zealand to its list and showing a significant increase of participants from the previous year. At 538 participants APPT Macau broke its own record and is currently hailed as the largest poker tournament in Asia. 

The 2009 tournament looks to set all new records for the region with a change in locations and increased player capacities. Season 3 is due to begin at the end of August in Macau, China. Further tournaments will be held in Seoul (South Korea), Auckland (New Zealand), Cebu (Philippines) and finally arriving in Sydney, Australia for the Grand Final, scheduled to occur in December.

The Asia Pacific Poker Tour 2009 aims to outdo itself this year. Prize pools are increased to make room for more players. Larger events are to be held to draw in the crowd. Thanks to the introduction of tournaments all over the world, poker is truly becoming a global sport.

The tournament isn’t run by rookies either. Danny McDonagh, the tournament director has previous experience with numerous poker tournaments held in Australia since 1998. He was also deeply involved in every major poker tournament held at the largest casino in Australia, the Crown Casino. As if that isn’t enough, he has also directed two televised poker tournament series held in the country.

The APPT President, Jeffrey Haas, is also highly experienced with the gaming industry, both online and offline. In addition, he has worked with the Discovery Channel, and produced poker events in diverse regions like Canada, Sweden and Spain.

441 Productions, which adapts the tournament for television, has vast experience with both poker and beyond that. They have directed numerous documentaries, in addition to handling the televising of the WSOP on ESPN since 2003.