APPT Reveals Schedule for 2014 Asia Championship of Poker
On Thursday, the Asia Pacific Poker Tour released schedule information for the 2014 Asia Championship of Poker (ACOP), a series of 21 tournaments which will be held at PokerStars LIVE Macau from Oct. 24 through Nov. 9.
Spread across 17 days of poker action, the schedule is sprinkled with 14 'ACOP Title Events' which offer a wide selection of buy-ins ranging from HK $2,500 to HK $500,000. Just like in previous editions of the series, winners from these prestigious 'ACOP Title Events' will each receive a 'Spadie' trophy in addition to their winnings.
Once again, the centerpiece of the ACOP series will be a HK $100,000 (~USD $13,000) buy-in Main Event, an extravaganza of poker with a guaranteed HK $15 million prize pool. The champion of this event will also take home the 'Gold Spadie.'
In last year's edition of the ACOP poker festival an impressive 2,235 players turned out to take a shot, with HK $49 million (USD $6.34m) in prize money up for grabs. For this year's third running of the series, turnout and prize pools are expected to grow by a significant margin.
“There’s a new level of excitement for poker in Macau this year and we’re anticipating a big turnout for the ACOP,” said APPT President Danny McDonagh. “We’ll have further announcements as we approach the event date but the fact we’ve received player confirmations this far in advance just illustrates the excitement for the ACOP in Year 3.”
There will be at least seven members of Team PokerStars on hand to participate in the ACOP poker festival, as Bertrand ‘ElkY’ Grospellier, Randy ‘nanonoko’ Lew, Raymond Wu, Bryan Huang, Vivian Im, Naoya Kihara, and Celina Lin have all confirmed their attendance.
“The ACOP is where the world’s best players compete in Asia,” said Wu, winner of the first ever Spadie award in 2012 after taking down the Deepstack Championship event. “I want to be the best and that means beating the best. The ACOP attracts some of greatest minds in Asia as well as internationally. Those trophies represent something special and a collection of Spadies means you’d be good enough to play with anyone in the world.”
PokerStars is currently running an array of online satellites to the ACOP, so players around the world can play their way into the series from the comfort of their own living room.
Schedule Highlights
The first weekend of the ACOP will begin with a flourish, as the HK $2,500 Rebuy Championship and HK $11,000 Deepstack Championship events take place over two days. These tournaments sport HK $500,000 and HK $1,000,000 guaranteed prize pools, respectively.
Among the new additions to the ACOP schedule is the unique '2m GTD Spadie’ event, a HK $8,800 buy-in tournament which comes with a HK $2 million guaranteed prize pool. PokerStars players can qualify for this event via online satellites.
And for the high rollers, the 2014 ACOP has scheduled a pair of larger buy-in tournaments for those with big bankrolls to enjoy. The debut of the Super High Roller tournament will take place on Nov. 1, and this event comes complete with an astounding HK $500,000 (~USD $65k) buy-in, while also allowing for two rebuys per player. On Nov. 8 the HK $250,000 (~USD $32k) High Roller freezeout event will be held.
Take a look at the Schedule Highlights below for pertinent dates, start times, and buy-in information (all buy-ins in HKD):
| Date | Time | Buy-In | Event |
|---|---|---|---|
| October 24th | 7 p.m. | $2,500 | Rebuy Championship ($500,000 GTD) |
| October 25th | 6 p.m. | $11,000 | Deepstack Championship ($1,000,000 GTD) |
| October 30th | 6 p.m. | $8,800 | 2m GTD Spadie ($2,000,000 GTD) - Day 1A |
| October 31st | 6 p.m. | $8,800 | 2m GTD Spadie ($2,000,000 GTD) - Day 1B |
| November 1st | 6 p.m. | $500,000 | Super High Roller (2 Rebuys) |
| November 2nd | 3 p.m. | $25,000 | ACOP Warm-up |
| November 4th | 5 p.m. | $100,000 | Main Event ($15,000,000 GTD) |
| November 8th | 6 p.m. | $250,000 | High Roller |
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