After making a lot of headway in their push to crack the Asian market this past year PokerStars has announced the second season of the Asian Pacific Poker Tour will be back and with more events across the region. Season two will see poker action and big paydays from Poker Stars new poker room in Macau, to New Zealand and with the “grand final” set for sunny Australia.
“Following the success of the APPT’s first season, we’re very excited to announce the schedule for Season 2, which includes a brand new event in Auckland, plus increased buy-ins to create even bigger prize pools,” said Jeffrey Haas, APPT president.
According to Haas poker in the Asian-Pacific market has been exploding after PokerStars inaugural tour and it’s a testament to the success of season 1 that it’s coming back for another go round.
“Every year, PokerStars sends thousands of poker players from around the world to compete in events across Europe, the U.S. and the Caribbean, and now the Asia Pacific region is established as an integral part of the global poker circuit,” Haas said.
The opening event is in Macau at the Grand Waldo Hotel PokerStars room, with a $25, 000HKD ($3200US) buy in event, scheduled for September 1-6. There will also be a second Macau event just days later for a whopping $150, 000 ($19, 200US) buy in dubbed “the high rollers” event, running September 7-9. The monster buy in is hoping to attract the biggest names from the poker world.
Next for the tour will be stops in South Korea, New Zealand, Philippines and finally Sydney, Australia in December, bringing the total number of tournaments this season to six, up from four last year.
In addition to tournament play, the APPT is working with the local tourism boards of each host country to offer a wide range of tourism experience to tournament participants.
“Poker is still at an early stage in many of the countries we visit with the PokerStars.net APPT. But for those forward-thinking authorities that embrace the opportunities it offers, the APPT continues to develop a whole new type of tourism in the region,” said Haas.
“The APPT tournaments bring players from all over the world. This in turn helps stimulate tremendous local economic benefit – because one of our key aims is to ensure players, their friends and families enjoy the local sights and experiences.”
Satellites to all of the events will be running on PokerStars allowing players cheap entry into all of the events.
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