The schedule of events for the inaugural World Series of Poker foray into Australia was announced earlier this week, setting a slate of five tournaments and two special events that should draw the international poker community “down under” come this April.
The World Series of Poker Asia/Pacific (WSOP-APAC) will be held at the Crown Casino in Melbourne beginning on April 4, with the schedule of events wrapping up on April 15 with the crowning of its first-ever Championship Event victor. “We can’t wait for the first WSOP APAC to begin,” WSOP Executive Director Ty Stewart stated during the announcement of the schedule. “With a solidified schedule, players from around the globe will plan their trip to Melbourne as we make WSOP history by awarding the first bracelets in the Southern Hemisphere.”
The Chief Executive Officer of the Crown Casino, Greg Hawkins, seems to be ready for the onslaught of players come this April. “Crown is thrilled to have partnered with the biggest poker brand in the world,” Hawkins said. “The five WSOP-APAC bracelet winners will etch their names in the long and coveted history that is the World Series of Poker.”
The schedule kicks off on April 4 with a new tournament variation for its participants. The $1000 No Limit Hold’em “Accumulator” event (all denominations are in Australian dollars) will feature three different Day Ones with a unique twist. Players can play in one, two or all three Day Ones and – if they are able to make it to the end of the day’s action – when they begin Day Two, the chips they have accumulated will be added together for the player to move on in the tournament. Regardless of how many Day Ones a player takes part in, any player who has chips will move onto Day Two.
Event #2 will be a $1500 Pot Limit Omaha tournament (beginning on April 7), with a $2000 Mixed Event (April 8), a $5000 Six Handed No Limit Hold’em tournament (April 9) and the $10,000 Championship Event (April 11) rounding out the official bracelet events of the first WSOP-APAC.
There will also be two special events that will not award bracelets but should feature strong fields. First, a $50,000 High Roller tournament will step to the felt on April 13, featuring rebuys for the competitors in the first day of the two-day competition. Added to the schedule by the demand of the players, these High Roller tournaments always feature strong fields and usually draw a great deal of attention from the poker community.
The second special event will be the revival of the Caesars Cup competition. The inaugural event was played in 2009 at the WSOP-Europe, where a team of players from the “Old Continent” led by Captain Annette Obrestad vanquished an Americas squad with former World Champions Doyle Brunson and Phil Hellmuth as captains. The last Caesars Cup competition, in 2011 in Cannes at the WSOP-Europe, saw Hellmuth lead Team Americas to victory, seizing the Cup from the Europeans and setting the stage for this year’s Caesars Cup event.
This time around, Team Asia-Pacific will join in the festivities as they square off against Team Europe in the first round of competition. The team that emerges as the winner from that battle will then earn the right to step up against Team Americas, with the winner taking down the coveted Caesars Cup.
Team Asia-Pacific will be led by former World Champion Joe Hachem (who calls the Crown Casino in Melbourne his “home casino”). Hachem is the only player at this time that has been confirmed for the tournament, with the rosters of Team Asia-Pacific, Team Europe and Team Americas to be filled out as the WSOP-APAC draws closer.
There will be extensive coverage of the entirety of the WSOP-APAC. The first four bracelet events are expected to be live streamed over the WSOP website. The Championship Event, High Roller tournament and the Caesars Cup matches will be taped for television broadcast, although no announcement as to the television schedule has been released as of yet.
With the schedule now set, players can make their plans accordingly for what should be a very popular tournament schedule. The WSOP-APAC should be one of the highlights of the 2013 poker season, kicking off the “race for the bracelets” that the WSOP is just a bit earlier this year!
