This article first appeared in the Chinese New Year 2010 special issue of World Gaming magazine.
Records were broken recently at the Macau Poker Cup and it was local Hong Konger ‘Devan’ Ying Seng Tan that was setting the felt on fire. He won two events over the week including HK$727,600 in the Main Event. Everyone is now looking forward to the Red Dragon HK$1 million Guarantee Event in early March 2010.
PokerStars Macau at the Grand Lisboa casino hosted the Macau Poker Cup in late December. It set a new record for the tournament with 158 players battling it out for huge cash prizes. The Macau Poker Cup is not just one tournament but a weeklong festival of poker that sees a wide range of affordable tournaments offered to the local market. Tournament poker is part of the reason why poker in general has enjoyed such success over the last few years. The thing that players love about tournament poker is that they can turn a small amount into a large windfall.
Tasting this ultimate success in Macau was ‘Devan’ Ying Seng Tan from Hong Kong. The new Macau Poker Cup Champion walked away with a first prize of HK$727,600. Devan won two tournaments over the week and his future looks bright in the world of poker. He outlasted a classy field that included PokerStars Team Asia pros, Tae Joon Noh and Bryan Huang. In the heads-up battle he finally got the better of Michael Chun Chieh Chang from Taipei.
The Championships also saw Asia’s first heads-up tournament and its winner was none other than Terrence Chan who is without doubt one of the region’s most experienced and well credentialed poker players. He outlasted the likes of former World Champion, Amarillo Slim and PokerStars Team Asia Pro, Raymond Wu.
In terms of organisation the week was a credit to the PokerStars team. The room continues to grow from strength to strength and the team is one of the most experienced in the Asian region.
PokerStars Macau will launch the Macau Poker Cup 2010 season with tournaments from 3 to 7 March. It will feature the HK$10,000 buy-in Red Dragon Guarantee Event. This event has a guaranteed prize money of HK$1,000,000, but don’t be surprised to see the total prize pool exceed that amount.
If you’re interested in taking part in this exciting poker tournament you could pay upfront or you could try winning your seat into the Main Event. You can play a satellite tournament at PokerStars Macau at the Grand Lisboa or you can qualify for free at PokerStars.net. It’s up to you but don’t be the last person on earth to given Texas Hold’em poker ago.
