Asian Poker Tour announces line up

PokerStars yesterday announced the line up for its upcoming Asia Pacific Poker Tour beginning September 1.
Joining the field of 20 world class champions in a tournament with 500 plus expected participants is poker legend Johnny پeThe Orient Expressپf Chan. There are few players on the planet who can rival his poker record, with 10 World Series of Poker bracelets to his name and more than US$6.7million tournament earnings during his career, the release said.
Johnny Chan first shot to fame in the late 1980s, winning the championship event of the World Series of Poker (WSOP) in two consecutive years (1987 and 1988) and was also featured as one of the greatest poker players ever in the 1998 movie “Rounders” with Matt Damon and Edward Norton.
“It’s great for Poker in Asia that there’s a major tournament like this here in Macau,” said Chan. “It’s bringing in top players like myself, and letting the world know that there is real poker here, and real poker players here, and that anybody can win millions of dollars.”
Jeffrey Haas, President of the PokerStars.net APPT, said: پgWe are excited to have so many of the worldپfs top players coming to the Grand Waldo Casino in Macau this year and itپfs a testament to our initial success that champions such as Johnny Chan, Joe Hachem, Scotty Nguyen, Men پgThe Masterپh Nguyen, Liz Lieu, JJ Liu, Isabelle Mercier, Elky and Barry Greenstein are eager to compete on the felt during our second season. Weپfre privileged to continue leading the growth of poker and poker culture in Asia, and expect local and regional player participation to at least double during this yearپfs events.پh
Joining the professionals will be a host of players from across Asia Pacific, and the world, who have won their way to the event via free online tournaments at PokerStars.net, in addition to those who will win their entries through live mega satellites still to take place throughout next week (Sunday 24th Aug – Sunday 31st Aug) at the PokerStars Macau poker room at Grand Waldo Casino. Players can also buy-in directly on-site.
The PokerStars.net APPT Season 2 in Macau from September 1-9, will include the HKD25,000 buy-in Main Event from September 1-6 and the return of the prestigious پghigh rollerپh event with a buy-in of HKD150,000 September 7-9. Both televised events guarantee a minimum prize pool of HKD10M and with more than 500 players expected to start in the Main Event it is likely to set a new record for poker tournaments in Asia, both in player numbers and prize pool.

The Champions from around the world that will be hosted at PokerStars APPT Macau event include:

    Joe Hachem, Australia (2005 WSOP Main Event Champion)
    JOHNNY CHAN, HONG KONG (1987 & 1988 WSOP MAIN EVENT CHAMPION)
    Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier, France (2008 PCA Champion)
    SCOTTY NGUYEN, VIETNAM (2008 WSOP HORSE CHAMPION)
    Lee Nelson, New Zealand (2006 Aussie Millions Champion)
    ISABELLE MERCIER, CANADA (2004 WPT LADIES EVENT CHAMPION)
    Van Tuyet Nguyen, Vietnam (2008 WPT Celebrity Invitational Champion)
    BARRY GREENSTEIN, USA (2008 WSOP RAZZ CHAMPION)
    Dinh Le, Vietnam (2007 APPT Macau Main Event Champion)
    ERIC ASSADOURIAN, AUSTRALIA (2007 APPT MACAU HIGH ROLLER EVENT CHAMPION)
    Neil Arce, Philippines (2008 FPT Manila Champion)
    MIKE "TIMEX" MCDONALD, CANADA (2008 EPT GERMAN OPEN CHAMPION)
    Ziv Bachar, Israel (2007 APPT Seoul Champion)
    GRANT LEVY, AUSTRALIA (2007 APPT SYDNEY CHAMPION)
    Mel Judah, England (2003 WPT Legends of Poker Champion)
    DANIEL "REKRUL" SCHRIEBER, USA (2007 WSOP HEADS UP CHAMPION)
    Men "The Master" Nguyen (2005 Player of the Year)
    HARRY "WISE OWL" DEMETRIOU, ENGLAND (2004 VICTOR POKER CUP CHAMPION)
    Anthony Rivera, USA (2008 WSOP Mixed Events Champion)
    Isaac Galazan, USA (2005 WSOP Short-Handed Champion)

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