Duhamel, Merson Among 50 Players Confirmed for $130,000 Buy-in Asia Millions on June 5
The World Series of Poker kicks off in less than a week, but some of poker's most high-profile pros will be arriving late to Las Vegas this summer. On Thursday, PokerStars revealed that more than 50 players are signed up for the HK $1 Million (US $130k) buy-in GuangDong Ltd Asia Millions (GDAM) tournament at the PokerStars LIVE at the City of Dreams poker room in Macau from June 5 through 7.
The massive event has not only drawn high rollers from the Asia-Pacific Region, but also a handful of superstars from the Western Hemisphere. Among the players already confirmed for the event include Gus Hansen, Erik Seidel, Greg Merson, John Juanda, Joseph Cheong, Tony Gregg, Mike Watson, Yevgeniy Timoshenko, Igor Kurganov, Tobias Reinkemeier, Aaron Lim, JC Alvarado, and Team PokerStars Pros Jonathan Duhamel, Isaac Haxton, and Celina Lin.
With 50 players already committed, it's safe to say the prize pool will hit HK $50 Million (US $6.5M), which means the winner will likely walk away with more than US $1 million. The tournament is being billed as both the “biggest poker tournament ever held outside of the World Series of Poker in terms of prize pool” and “the largest ever high-roller event by number of players.”
“This is going to be the one of the most amazing poker tournaments of all time,” said Danny McDonagh, Director of Live Poker Operations for the Asia-Pacific for PokerStars. “We are expecting over 100 players to sit down and play and one of the biggest prize pools for a poker tournament outside of the World Series of Poker. It’s going to be seriously huge! ”
Last August, the Guangdong Group put together a HK$2,000,000 (USD $260,000) buy-in event in Macau that attracted 73 players and created a prize pool of HK$182,360,000 (USD $23,511,000). Phil Ivey, Tom Dwan, Gus Hansen, Sam Trickett and Patrik Antonius were among the players in attendance, but the HK$50,149,000 (USD $6,465,746) first-place prize went to Stanley Choi.
"Guangdong is happy to organize another high stake poker tournament in Macau this year," said Winnie Wong, CEO from Guangdong Group. " I see strong synergy between Guangdong and PokerStars. I believe this Event will be exciting, stunning and leave a mark in Macau poker history."
The PokerNews Live Reporting team will be bringing you live updates from the GuangDong Ltd Asia Millions, so keep it locked in here for all of the highlights. The event will be also webcast live on PokerStars.TV beginning at 3 p.m. HKT each day.
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