HomeHappy New Year to All! With a new year upon us, the Asian Poker Tour is looking forward to making this year a grander experience by bringing you exciting additions and changes to its upcoming 2016 calendar.
So without further ado, here is the first addition, and get ready because it is a big one… the APT will be adding Main Event Bubble Protection! That’s right, bubble protection! To avail of the bubble protection, players must preregister for the Main Event, draw for a seat before starting time, and have his/her chips put into play on the first deal of level 1. That’s it, three easy steps. If all these steps are met then bubble protection is established. Now what does bubble protection mean? If a protected player bubbles then he/she will be awarded a free seat to the next APT Main Event of the same value.
Keep in mind that in addition to the criteria, if a protected player happens to bust out early and then re-enters on the same day, the protection will still be considered active. However, if a busted player re-enters on another day one flight, then the protection is no longer valid and the player must repeat the three steps to regain protection.
Also, for all those High Rollers, to give you more time at the felt, we’ve increased the starting stack of the No Limit Holdem event from 25,000 to 40,000 and will feature an even better structure for your enjoyment. In addition, a Pot Limit Omaha High Rollers tournament will be part of APT events whenever possible.
Next exciting addition to the APT 2016 calendar is the APT’s greater presence in the Japanese poker scene. In early February, the APT will be sponsoring the Okinawa Poker Cup in Okinawa, Japan. The inaugural event, which was held late last year, saw Jun Funabashi win two APT Main Event packages. This year, the APT will sponsor the top three players’ packages into Asian Poker Tour Philippines 2016. These prizes will include airfare, hotel accommodations, and seat/s to specified APT events. Further details to be posted soon.
Resorts World Manila – host of the upcoming APT Philippines 2016
Following the Okinawa Poker Cup is the Asian Poker Tour Philippines 2016 to be held at Resorts World Manila, Newport City, Philippines in April. One of the big changes to expect is the buy-in fee of the Main Event, which will go up to $3,300. Given this event’s previous numbers, it is possible that this increase will bring the prize pool well beyond $500,000 so start saving up!
Consecutive four-time APT Player of the Year Samad Razavi
Another exciting change to look forward to is the awards distribution for the APT Player of the Year. For 2016, there will no longer be an award for second and third place in the leader board. Instead, we will be awarding $2,000 worth of APT prizes to each APT POY leader from the Philippines, Japan, Korea, China, and one for the top nationality outside of those countries mentioned. The overall APT POY 2016 will still receive $10,000 worth of APT prizes. That is a total of $20,000 worth of APT prizes for the APT POY 2016 race!
Expect more of these exciting changes and additions throughout the year as the APT seeks out new events and new venues in 2016. For the meantime, three events have been pinned on the calendar: APT Kickoff in January, APT Cebu in February and APT Philippines in April. Although it may still be in the last quarter of 2016, the Asian Poker Tour looks to expand its reach to New Caledonia! Stay tuned for more details on new and confirmed events!
Welcome to 2016 everyone and look forward to a big year of poker festivities from the Asian Poker Tour!