APT Korea Championships 2018 introduces the Ante-Big Blind

The Asian Poker Tour has just released the upcoming APT Korea Championships 2018 schedule taking place at Paradise City Casino in Incheon, South Korea from August 8th – 19th. The twelve-day festival offers a wide array of high caliber poker games featuring two major tournaments, the KRW 1,100,000 buy-in Main Event and the KRW 1,650,000 buy-in Championships Event. See the full schedule.

During the festival, the APT will be introducing the Big Blind Ante, or as we prefer to call it, the Ante Big Blind (Ante BB). Starting APT Korea Championships 2018, all APT festivals moving forward will utilize the Ante BB format.

 

So what is the Ante BB? The Ante BB format is the latest innovation to the game of poker. It does away with the traditional style of everyone at the table posting an ante, and instead, only one player is given the responsibility, the big blind player. The big blind player posts for everyone. This new method greatly helps speed up the game with the dealer only looking to the big blind player for the ante. The Ante BB is equivalent to one big blind no matter how many players are seated.  In essence, the big blind player posts the total of two big blinds on his/her turn.

So why the change? According to Lloyd Fontillas, the APT General Manager and Executive Tournament Director,

“The times are changing. The Big Blind Ante has taken the USA by storm. The change may be drastic going from players ante-ing up every single hand down to a new system but everything has come out positive. It’s making the game more fun. Players get to see more hands. Pots are also bigger which means more action, and players tend to make it to the final table faster and with a much deeper stack. This is the way to go.”

To avoid the confusion of big blind first or ante first, the APT decided to rename the new format “Ante BB” to remind players that it is always “ante first”. If the big blind player can only afford the ante, then that player will only be able to win the equivalent of the amount posted as the ante.

The Ante BB will debut at the APT Korea Championships 2018. Events on the schedule with the new Ante BB format are

  • Main Event
  • Championships Event
  • Super High Rollers
  • High Rollers
  • High Rollers Single Day
  • NLH Welcome Event
  • Head Hunter KRW 100,000 Bounty
  • NLH Single Day Event 1, 2, & 3
  • No Limit Hold’em 1 & 2
  • Monster Stack
  • 6 Handed Turbo