The first season of PokerStars Asian Pacific Poker Tour (APPT) wrapped up this weekend when a 28-year-old teacher won APPT Sydney. It was the fourth APPT event in its inaugural season.
Grant Levy outlasted 560 players to capture the crown and the $875,542 (AUS $1 million). American player Jeremiah Vinsant came in second for $544,184 (AUS $621,540).
Levy is a teacher by trade, but he has had some success on the poker trail, recently. Before playing in Sydney, he finished in third place in a tournament, good for $131,000.
The APPT event, held at Star City Casino in Sydney, attracted more entrants than any other APPT event this season. After watching its European Poker Tour grow, PokerStars launched the APPT late this summer.
The first event was a $2,500 buy-in no-limit hold'em tournament held at Hyatt in Manila, Philippines, at the end of August. American Brett Parise took down this event, beating 254 players in the process.
A month later, the APPT stopped in Seoul, South Korea. This $2,500 no-limit hold'em event attracted 186 players and was won by Ziv Bachar of Israel.
In November, the $2,500 event held in Macau, China, generated 352 buy-ins. Dinh Le of Vietnam was the last player standing, and he took home more than $222,000. A $15,000 "high rollers" event was also held during the stop in Macau, and this event attracted 64 players. It was won by Australian Eric Assadourin ($368,640).
The dates and locations for next year's APPT have not been yet been settled upon, but looking at the PokerStars EPT as an example, players should expect at least the same number of events. The EPT started with seven events and then repeated seven before expanding to eight events in its third season and then to 11 this season.
PokerStars runs hundreds of satellites to its events in Europe and Asia, and it's always sending its Team PokerStars members to the event to help create buzz. Many consider Asia the next poker frontier, and PokerStars built a solid foothold in its first season touring Asia.
