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Aiming High

Written by Ben Blaschke

The Asian Poker Tour is expecting record numbers when it returns to Macau for the APT Macau Championships this month.

The Asian Poker Tour returns to Macau in late April for what promises to be one of its biggest events of the year.

The APT Macau Championships, to be held in the Macau Billionaire Poker room at Babylon Casino, will feature 18 events over 12 days from 25 April to 6 May, headed by the HK$11,000 Main Event starting Saturday 28 April. There will also be a HK$22,000 Championships Event.

Notably, the timing of the APT Macau Championships has been carefully planned to coincide with Japan’s 10-day Golden Week holiday which is expected to significantly boost player numbers. Last year’s Championships were held at Resorts World Manila (RWM) in the Philippines and attracted 442 Main Event entries with almost a quarter of the field comprised of Japanese players.

The APT believes that moving the event to Macau could result in record numbers.

“The APT Macau Championships is primetime for poker because of the Golden Week holiday of Japan,” said APT General Manager and Executive Tournament Director Lloyd Fontillas.

“The same time last year we held the event at RWM and the Japanese came in with over 100 players. For Macau, I expect us to have record breaking numbers because of our efforts to also attract Mainland Chinese to join the mix of regulars and Japanese coming to the event.”

The event will be the first held under the APT’s revised 2018 payout structure with one in every six players reaching the money, equating to deeper payouts than previously. It will also feature the APT’s new Player of the Series program, whereby the top player throughout the series will receive a five night stay at the following stop – APT Korea Seoul in June – and US$500 in cash.