The last quarter of the year will see plenty of poker festivals taking place in the Philippines with new events recently announced by APT, Metro Card Club, and PokerStars LIVE Manila.
APT moves Finale festival from Macau to Resort World Manila
Hot off the press, the Asian Poker Tour will now be hosting its year-end festival at Resorts World Manila in the Philippines from November 27 to December 6, 2018. The finale event was initially scheduled to take place at Macau Billionaire Poker as part of the five-year agreement by the APT and MBP signed last year. In a statement by Jeff Mann, CEO of the APT,
“In August we had to cancel our scheduled event in Macau due to circumstances beyond either APT’s or our local partner’s control. We did not wish this to happen again given that some confirmations for the event including exact dates were outstanding. The fact is our Finale is becoming very popular with players from around the world and already some are requesting confirmed details so that they can make plans for the end of the year,”
This will be the third APT festival to be hosted at RWM for the calendar year with the second edition of the APT Philippines Championships 2018 happening next week from September 13 to September 24.
Metro Card Club adds 2M Guaranteed event in September
Throughout each calendar year, the Metro Card Club, the most popular card room in the Philippines, hosts several poker festivals ranging from 750K GTD to 5M GTD. These events attract many local players with buy-ins usually set at a very affordable rate.
Just added to their year-ending lineup is a 2M Guaranteed series, taking place from September 26 to October 1 (subject to approval). Details have yet to be announced. This event come just before the upcoming RVS Cup 2018 in November.
Last month, the latest edition of the Metro 2M series saw a massive turnout of 707 entries with well-known Filipino poker pros dominating the action. The final five players comprised of superstars John Tech, Lester Edoc, Marc Rivera, Euryd Rivera, and first Filipino WSOP bracelet winner Mike Takayama. Euryd Rivera went on to defeat his brother Marc Rivera at heads up and took home his first Metro title and PHP362,765 in winnings.
Manila Super Series 9 in October at COD Manila
Kicking off next month is the 9th edition of the PokerStars Manila Super Series running from October 1 to October 7 at City of Dreams Manila. Ever since the festival’s inception in February 2017, this event has grown immensely with players from all over the region taking part. The upcoming series will likely draw in another healthy attendance with the Main Event offering an added value of one PokerStars Players No Limit Hold’em Championships (PSPC) Platinum Pass.
For avid PokerStars fans, the room in Manila is also the only place in Asia to regularly enjoy the brand’s events. In April 2018, the highly popular PokerStars LIVE room in City of Dreams Macau closed. Announcement of a new partnership between The Stars Group, owner of the PokerStars brand, and Stanley Choi’s International Entertainment Corporation followed in May raising hopes of events to resume in Macau. However in an interview with Mark Blake, PokerStars Head of Live Events – Asia Pacific, he stated,
“…At the moment IEC is looking for a new home in Macau, and until they secure that they can’t formally announce any new events…”
More: A talk with Mark Blake about the future of PokerStars Live in Asia
In the coming year, IEC intends to bring events to select countries in Asia, and while no developments have yet been announced, the PokerStars LIVE Manila room at COD Manila will continue to be the only PS venue and will remain to be the only room run solely by the brand.
Article by Tricia David
Louis Hartwell
Graduated in Media Communication at the University of Lausanne, Louis Hartman is a co-founder of somuchpoker.com. He began his career in Cambodia as freelance journalist. In same time he was making his living by playing poker every night at that time. Intense learner, he read dozens of poker strategy books to improve his skills during many years. With a strong interest about poker "behind the scene" in Asia and his communication skills, Louis launched Somuchpoker in 2014.
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