Whether it’s a publicity stunt or a serious offer, the Asian Poker Tour has invited U.S. Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps to play in its upcoming Macau tournament. Phelps is on the right side of the world to play in the APT’s Macau event, which starts on August 27th. In an open letter to Phelps, Jeff Mann from the Asian Poker Tour took advantage of Phelps’ recent comments in the Baltimore Sun newspaper, where the swimmer stated: “I think it would be cool to play in the World Series of Poker. My game is a little off right now, so I’ll have to start improving it a little bit. But I think that would be cool, and it would be cool to meet some of those poker guys.”
The APT is making every effort to reach out to the eight-time gold medalist at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games by offering him an all-expenses paid trip to Macau. The letter read, “While you are already in China, why don’t you give it a go? It would be our pleasure to fly you in, organize your accommodation and buy-you in to the tournament!” The APT even offered to fly in the man whose records Phelps toppled, Mark Spitz: “We’ll even get some special one-on-one lessons for you from poker’s greatest players. If it makes you happier we’ll even bring in Mark Spitz too and you can play heads-up! Some have campaigned for poker to become an Olympic sport. The fact that you are a ‘human dolphin’ doesn’t mean you will necessary get a gold medal for Texas Hold’em!”
Phelps won a record eight gold medals during the 2008 Olympic summer games. In the process, he broke seven world records, becoming one of the most instantly-marketable names on the planet. The APT has done everything in its power to attract top poker names to Macau – which is thousands of miles away from Las Vegas – to try and bolster the attractiveness of its tournament. Players that the tournament series has successfully lured include Doyle Brunson, Todd Brunson, J.C Tran, John Juanda, Kenny Tran, Nam Le, Quinn Do, Steve Sung, and David Saab, who won the Philippines leg of APT’s tour.
The Macau event will take place at the StarWorld Hotel and Casino. The prize pool is guaranteed to be $1.5 million, the largest in Asia, according to the APT. The tournament comes with a price tag of $5,300. Preliminary tournaments and Main Event qualifiers begin on Wednesday, August 27th. Day 1-A of the Macau tournament begins the very next day and a winner will be crowned on August 31st.
Satellites to Macau’s tournament have been running constantly on online poker sites such as PartyPoker, Datapoker, Titan Poker, Bodog, JBetPoker, Virgin Poker, and Poker Trillion. According to TimeandDate.com, Phelps will only need to endure a 1,223 mile (1,984 kilometer) flight from Beijing to Macau in order to play. Phelps’ trip back to home to Baltimore, in comparison, is over 8,500 miles. Phelps can even stop over in Hong Kong for a victory dinner – the city is about an hour ferry ride from Macau.
After Macau, the Asian Poker Tour will hold tournaments in Seoul, South Korea and Singapore. The dates for these two tournaments have not yet been announced. Each player in the Macau event will start with 10,000 chips and blinds begin at 25-50, escalating every hour.
