Friday, January 23, 2009

Manila Is A Poker And Party Paradise!

The countdown is on to the keenly anticipated Asian Poker Tour Philippines, which gets underway on Monday and runs until the 1st February at the Dusit Thani Hotel in Manila. The highlight is the $2500 + $200 No Limit Hold’em Main Event, which runs from the 29th January – 1st February. The latest news sees the confirmation of an FHM sponsored party, a celebrity event and a PKR sponsored bounty tournament.

Parties on the Asian Poker Tour in Manila and Macau last year have taken on legendary status and have even won an award! One highlight for this year’s event is definitely the FHM/DafaPoker Player’s Party, which starts at 19.30 on the 31st January and promises to be ‘tastefully wild,’ with FHM planning to send plenty of their cover models. After the party, the Asian Poker Tour and FHM have hired party buses to take players around Manila’s hotspots. At 20.00 on the 27th January, the Asian Poker Tour Celebrity Challenge, presented by Ray Ban, FHM and JBet, also promises to be lively. 20 celebrities will take part and the Asian Poker Tour and sponsors will be donating a minimum of 200,000 pesos to the charities of the celebrities’ choice. More details are to follow on this event but expect a twist to proceedings!

The Asian Poker Tour is also delighted to introduce the PKR Headhunter Tournament to the fantastic range of side action at the event. Getting underway at 19.30 on the 28th January the $250 + $20 tournament will feature members of The Poker Pack as bounties including Nam Le, David ‘Chino’ Rheem, Quinn Do, Steve Sung and Kwang Soo Lee. A recent online bounty tournament featuring members of The Poker Pack, who are currently on a phenomenal run on the world circuit, broke all records on next generation site PKR.

DafaPoker is the official partner of the Asian Poker Tour in presenting the Pot-Limit Omaha Hi tournament – a first for a major Asian Tour. The game is scheduled to take place at 14.00 on the 31st January. The buy-in for this tournament will be $185 + $15. On the same day at 19.00 there will also be a hugely anticipated 13 card tournament featuring a $460 +$40 buy-in. Other highlights include the world’s first GREED tournament and a huge range of cash games, sit and gos and satellites into the Main Event. Registration for the Main Event starts on the 27th January with welcome ceremony cocktails on the evening of the 28th January.

Chris Parker, CEO of the Asian Poker Tour said: “The excitement is building as the clock ticks down to the Asian Poker Tour Philippines. Manila is one of the most fun cities in the world and the event will reflect this. We are delighted with our package of famous parties and the range of side action around our prestigious Main Event. This is one experience not to miss!”

Last year’s Asian Poker Tour Philippines winner was Australia’s David Saab, who scooped first place and $280,000. Coverage of this year’s Main Event will be televised and distributed internationally later in the year. Overseeing the action will be leading tournament director Matt Savage.

The Asian Poker Tour is supported by the iPoker Network, Titan, Dafa Poker, PKR, PartyPoker, Everest, 888, JBet Poker, 32 Red Poker, Microgaming Network and Everleaf Network. Full details can be found at http://www.asianpt.com/