The two starting days of the Main Event during the Asian Poker Tour (APT) drew a record-breaking entry field of 377 players and smashed its HK$ guarantee of 2 million. Runners are now competing for a share of the total prize pool of more than HK$ 3 million, according to organizers of the festival, with the exact amount calculated at HK$3,619,200.
The 2018 APT Macau Championships started April 25 at the Babylon Casino in Macau and the most exciting tournament of the festival, the HK$2 Million GTD Main Event kicked off Saturday. During Day 1A 114 players registered for the event, while Day 2B saw another 215 entrants buying in the HK$11,000 tournament. This pushed the total number of runners up to 329, breaking the previous record of 326 entrants for APT Macau Championships in 2009. Although the total prize pool was well over HK$3 million, it increased even more as 48 poker players took advantage of the late registration.
The Main Event collected a prize pool of HK$3,619,200 and a total of 63 players will get a piece of that pie. Meanwhile, the champion will receive the lion share of HK$587,000, which is around US$75,000. Out of all 377 entrants at the Main Event, only 182 players returned to their seats for Day 2. With 157,150 in chips, Chinaās Zhang Cheng Xu started the day as chip leader, followed by another Chinese player, Dong Guo with 145,850. The tournament is now underway and it continues tomorrow with Day 3 and on Wednesday when the Final will determine the Main Event champion.
2018 APT Macau Championships
Apart from the Main Event, the festival that is currently running at Macauās Babylon Casino features plenty of other events, some of which have already crowned their champions. Winning the richest tournament of all, Michael OāGrady from Australia became the Super High Roller winner and took home HK$1,164,000 (US$148,330) the winner-takes-all pot. Beating another 88 players, Japanās Daichi Tatsumi won the NLH Welcome Event for a nice first place prize of HK$259,000.
Another interesting event during the 2018 APT Macau Championships was the Ladies of Poker tournament which attracted 16 players from several countries. Thailandās Orathai Nasathaen won and scored her first live tournament win for HK$18,000. On Friday, the APT Japan Corp Main Event Warm Up event crowned another champion ā this was Macauās Chi Fai Chong, aka Gostinho, who dominated over the 79 participants in the HK$4,400 Buy-in tournament. He received HK$63,200 in cash and a seat to the Main Event worth HK$11,000.
The 2018 APT Macau Championships festival is taking place at the Macau Billionaire Poker at the Babylon Casino. The festival runs for 12 days, through May 6, and features 18 events in various formats, including No-Limit Holdāem, Monster Stack, Turbo events, and more.
