This article first appeared in the Mar/Apr 2012 issue of World Gaming magazine.
Railbird Ronny
Kicking off the new year in the sunny, warm Bahamas at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA) was a great way to begin a new calendar year of poker. For John Dibella of the United States, that meant an olive tan and becoming US$1,775,000 richer.
Phil Ivey, having returned to tournament poker, skipped the PCA this year, heading to the other side of the world for the Aussie Millions at Crown casino in Melbourne, Australia. After going deep in the main event and busting in 12th place, Ivey took his AU$100,000 winnings and added another AU$150,000 of his own to buy himself into the 250K Challenge. He bested 15 other players for a whopping AU$2 million payday, the single biggest of his career. Oh, and Melbourne native Oliver Speidel won the Aussie Millions main event for a lazy AU$1.6 million.
Phil Ivey
Our good friends at the Asian Poker Tour (APT) conducted an Asian Series event in the ever-popular destination of Cebu, Philippines from February 1 to 7. Their 50,000 peso buy-in main event was won by Tan Tai Zheng, who pocketed 3,623,000 pesos for his victory.
In February, PokerStars Macau (PSM) announced the 2012 Macau Millions (scheduled for late March) had been postponed indefinitely. Their agreement to operate at Grand Lisboa expires on 8 March. Doubt descended upon PokerStars’ future in Macau, as they sought to find a new home.
As of going to press, no announcement had been made, but sources have been indicating to WGM for some time that PSM will be moving to City of Dreams. PokerStars have put in an enormous amount of effort to grow poker in Macau and the wider Asia region since the first ever APPT in 2007. They even recently announced Asia’s very own answer to the WSOP with the Asia Championship of Poker (ACOP), a HK$100,000 buy-in event to be part of APPT6 in November.
2012 Aussie Millions main event champion, Oliver Speidel
In our view, Macau needs a vibrant and active center for tournament poker. PokerStars Macau has filled that role. To lose such a venue would be a tragic waste of the amazing growth in Macau-based tournament poker over the last five years. We sincerely hope that by the time you read this, PSM have found a new home.
The last ever Macau Poker Cup at Grand Lisboa ran from February 18 to 26, with Nicky Tao Jin being crowned the Red Dragon main event winner. The monster field of 635 players resulted in a first prize of HK$1.32 million.
The next big Asian tournament is the APT Manila in April, to be held at Resorts World Manila (RWM). Both the APT and RWM are fantastic operators, committed to the success of Asian poker. We wish them well in the upcoming event.
For details of upcoming and completed tournaments of particular interest to Asian and Australian poker players and fans, check out Railbird Ronny’s Tourney Tracker on our website wgm8.com, and of course be sure to check out The Railbird Report in future issues of World Gaming.
