The Asia Championship of Poker (ACOP) 2013 happened at the end of October and everyone I knew left the PokerStars Live Macau poker room at the City of Dreams Macau full of praise for the schedule, structure and the way the events were ran. The ACOP provided a full schedule catered to players with different bankrolls and I definitely enjoyed it very much, although I only mustered up a 12th place in Event 1 and several deep runs and a bubble in the “title events”. The Team Pro flag was, however, well represented by my teammates Randy “Nanonoko” Lew who final tabled the Main Event and Celina Lin who made history by becoming the first female to win a “Spadie” in the final ACOP title event. This cements her place as one of the best player in Asia in addition to her double red dragon wins.
Poker events aside, the ACOP welcome party was very well received by all who attended. The pool area of the Hard Rock was transformed into a party where players came together to talk over hands, put face to online screen names and… compete! There was the inaugural beer pong competition where I, amongst many others, might have lost an extra dollar or two wagering on the hand eye coordination of the beer pong finalists! It was definitely a fun night and with all the positive feedback given by those attended I foresee that the games organized will not be the last. Free flowing alcohol + quality food + games (for a party full of competitive people) = successful party!
Another highlight of the ACOP was the introduction of the Poker Pro tables to Pokerstars Live Macau. The tables have been a great hit and is a welcome addition to quell a long overdue demand in Macau: low stakes cash games. For a long time the exponential growth here in Macau has led to the poker rooms spreading only high stakes ($50/$100HKD and above) tables and the introduction of the Poker Pro tables has reinvigorated the poker economy with the addition of $10/$20 (and up) NLHE & PLO games. This can only be a good thing for poker here and I look forward to playing on them on my next visit to Macau.
The next tournament at PokerStars Live Macau is in January where the 20th Macau Poker Cup will be celebrated with a huge guarantee – $8 million HKD to be exact! – and you can be a part of it by buying in for $11,000 HKD or qualifying online on Pokerstars for free! I hope to see you there in the events and on the poker pro tables!
Bryan Huang is a member of Team PokerStars Pro.