We are in a bit of a holiday lull right now when it comes to major live poker tournaments (though that doesn’t differ much from the lull most people are in at this time of year – how long does each work day this week feel?), but once the calendar page turns, it is off to the races once again. One of the first live poker tours that will step to the plate is the PokerStars Asia Pacific Poker Tour (APPT). Today, PokerStars released the schedules for the first and third stops on the tour: the Macau Millions and the Macau Poker Cup 24.
The Macau Millions kicks off Friday, January 8th with the first of nine events and will run through January 18th. The Main Event, which begins Thursday, January 14th, has a HK $3,000 buy-in (approximately USD $387) and a HK $3,000,000 (USD $387,093) guaranteed prize pool.
Similar to what is being done with the Colossus II at the 2016 World Series of Poker, the Macau Millions Main Event will have six starting flights, divided equally across three days (so for those scoring at home, that is two per day). In an interesting twist, though, the two starting flights that share each day will have different blind structures – the first each day will use the standard structure, while the second will be a turbo event.
Tournament organizers believe the Macau Millions Main Event will break this year’s record of field of 1,804 players. If so, it will easily eclipse the guarantee.
One new event at the Macau Millions is the HK $9,000 (USD $1,161) China Poker Championship. The PokerStars press release says that it is “closed to citizens of the People’s Republic of China,” but this wording is confusing: it is actually open ONLY to Chinese citizens. This is the first time the PokerStars LIVE Macau poker room is hosting a country-specific poker tournament.
After what is arguably the star of the Asia Pacific Poker Tour – the Aussie Millions – it is back to PokerStars LIVE Macau for the Macau Poker Cup 24. Running February 19th through March 6th, the third tour stop on the APPT Season 10 will feature 17 events. By the name, you probably thought there would be 24 events, as did I, but the “24” refers to this being the 24th edition of the Macau Poker Cup.
The headliner tournament of the Macau Poker Cup is the HK $12,000 (USD $1,548) Red Dragon Main Event with a HK $8 million (USD $1,032,240) guaranteed prize pool. It will be held February 28th through March 4th and will have three starting flights.
While the Macau Millions boasted over 1,800 entrants last year, the Red Dragon event actually holds the Macau record for most unique players in a tournament, with 995 (that’s unique as in “separate individuals” not as in “distinctive or special”).
The complete schedules for both Asia Pacific Poker Tour stops can be found at pokerstarsmacau.com.
