Looking Back at the 2013 WSOP Asia-Pacific
At the beginning of October, the poker world will set its eyes on Crown Melbourne for the 2014 World Series of Poker Asia-Pacific. This will be the second time the WSOP takes to Australia, and things are planned to be much bigger and better — the amount of gold bracelet events has been doubled to 10 and the series will conclude the race for the 2014 WSOP Player of the Year.
With the event right around the corner, PokerNews would like to take a look back at the inaugural event for a bit of a refresher.
The five gold bracelet events from the 2013 WSOP APAC festival attracted a total of 1,910 entries. The largest event in terms of field size was the AU$1,100 No-Limit Hold'em Accumulator event that kicked things off. That event attracted a very impressive 1,085 entries and will likely crack the four-figure mark again this year.
Winning the Accumulator event was young poker professional Bryan Piccioli. He earned AU$211,575 ($221,419) after defeating a very tough final table that included Jonathan Karamalikis, Jonathan Duhamel, Jeremy Ausmus, Graeme Putt, and Iori Yogo.
The second event of the series was won by Jim Collopy, and that was the AU$1,650 Pot-Limit Omaha tournament. With 172 entries, Collopy earned his first gold bracelet and a take of AU$69,662 ($72,903). Much like in the first event, some big poker faces were at this final table. Tino Lechich, Dan Shak, Mike Leah, and Marvin Rettenmaier all made the final nine.
The third event of the series proved to be the smallest with only 81 entries, but it provided some very, very big buzz. The AU$2,200 Mixed Event was won by none other than Phil Ivey, who earned AU$51,840 ($54,252) for the victory and his ninth WSOP gold bracelet. Putt finished third in this event and was making his second final table of the festival, while Ivey's good friend and poker superstar Daniel Negreanu finished fourth, but we'll have more on "Kid Poker" in a bit.
The fourth gold bracelet event of the series was the AU$5,000 Six-Handed No-Limit Hold'em event. This one attracted a field of 167 entries, created a prize pool of AU$835,000 ($873,851), and awarded AU$233,800 ($244,678) to first place. The player earning that top prize was Australian Aaron Lim. Lim was fresh off a victory in the Asia-Pacific Poker Tour Seoul Main Event for KRW 121,700,00 ($111,088) and defeated an all-Aussie final table.
Last, but certainly not least, was the Main Event, complete with a big AU$10,000 buy-in. The marquee event of the series attracted 405 entries and the prize pool swelled up to AU$3,847,500 ($4,026,519). The final table contained some big names in Russell Thomas, Benny Spindler, and Winfred Yu, but none larger than the eventual champion, the aforementioned Negreanu.
Negreanu walked away with an impressive AA$1,038,825 ($1,087,160), his fifth gold bracelet, and began the quest to an amazing year at the WSOP that saw him go on to win the 2013 WSOP Player of the Year award.
The 2013 WSOP Asia-Pacific event certainly proved to be one to remember, and much more excitement can be expected this year. PokerNews will be on hand to provide live coverage of all 10 gold bracelet events, and you can find the complete schedule by clicking here.
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