APT Macau Draws Notables for Late-August Poker Event

The second stop on the 2008 Asian Poker Tour (APT) is fast approaching. It's APT Macau, scheduled for August 28-31, 2008, set to take place amid one of the world's grandest gambling destinations. With a $1.5 million prize purse guaranteed and a bevy of big names slated to participate, the APT Macau stop will be one of the biggest Pacific Rim poker events to date.

The event will be held at Macau's posh Galaxy StarWorld Hotel and Casino, and will be headlined by Doyle Brunson, the godfather of poker. "Texas Dolly"'s trip to Macau puts him at the top of a roster of name pros who have already committed to the event. Joining Doyle will be his son, Todd Brunson; Australia's David Saab, winner of the APT Philippines stop; and four poker stars of Asian heritage, a huge draw for poker in the burgeoning Chinese poker market: JC Tran, Nam Le, Quinn Do and Steve Sung. Tran and Do are WSOP bracelet winners, as is Todd Brunson, while Doyle Brunson's ten WSOP titles and career achievements in poker are legendary. Nam Le's biggest achievement to date is a triumph at the 2006 Bay 101 Shooting Star, a WPT event, while rising star Sung continues to search for that first major breakthrough live win, which he nearly achieved with a runner-up showing at the '08 Shooting Star.

Saab's payday of $280,000 for his APT Philippines victory is his largest cash to date, though first prize in the APT Macau event will outrank that by a wide margin. $500,000 is guaranteed for the winner of the event. Approximately 500 players are expected to attend the tournament, which features a USD $5,300 buy-in. Several major online sites continue to offer satellite qualifiers to the event as well.

PokerNews will be providing live coverage at APT Macau, along with daily summaries of the action. APT Macau preliminaries and satellites begin on Aug. 27, with the first of two starting days beginning at noon Macau time (UTC +08:00) on August 28th, or late night on the 27th for interested U.S. readers. Macau is 12 hours ahead of U.S. Eastern Daylight Time and 15 hours ahead of US Pacific Daylight Time.

APT Macau event organizers have announced a high-stakes cash game to be held during the event's run, for players not otherwise occupied by the tournament itself. The buy-in for a seat in this cash game is HKD $1,000,000 (or approximately USD $128,000). Information on wiring in funds is available by contacting event organizers through the APT's asianpt.com site. Other APT Macau information, including a complete schedule of events, is available at the site as well.