Regional Live Poker Tournaments on Tap In May And June

Few places in the world can say that they eradicated Covid-19. (Cheers, New Zealand!) Every other country is still carefully monitoring for outbreaks. In light of the current pandemic surge in India, players in the Asia-Pacific region are particularly mindful of precautionary measures.

At the same time, poker players have been awaiting the return of live poker tournament series for more than a year. The occasional poker operator has hosted a live series in the past few months, but May and June present options from the World Poker Tour, Asian Poker Tour, Australian Poker Tour, and Australian Poker League.

WPTDeepStacks Gold Coast

The World Poker Tour had grand plans for Australia in 2020 and beyond. Prior to the pandemic, the WPT had announced more WPTDeepStacks and even a main tour stop on the Gold Coast. Of course, and unfortunately, everything changed in 2020.

But the WPTDeepStacks tour was one of the first to return to the Asia-Pacific region. Just last month, WPTDS Hanoi brought the WPT back to Vietnam in April for a 13-event series at the Crown Poker Club in Hanoi. Turnout was positive. And in the end, Nguyen Van Phinh not only won the WPTDS Main Event but also the Player of the Series title.

Now, the tour is setting up for WPTDeepStacks Gold Coast at the Star Casino. It will wrap up the longest WPTDS season in history with its series in the Star Gold Coast poker room. The full series begins on 21 May, but the Main Event begins on 27 May. Details are in this WPT PDF schedule.

Asian Poker Tour Vietnam

The Asian Poker Tour wanted to host more events in early 2021, but pandemic surges – again – preempted some of those attempts. For example, APT Vietnam at Phu Quoc Corona Casino was set for 17-28 March, but they had to postpone it. Now, finally, it is on the horizon with a 15-30 May schedule.

The lineup of events is as follows:

• Event 1 on 22 May: VN$8,000,000 NLHE Welcome
• Event 2 on 22-23 May: VN$50,000,000 NLHE Super High Roller
• Event 3 on 23 May: VN$8,000,000 Open Face Chinese Poker Progressive
• Event 4 on 24 May: VN$6,000,000 PLO
• Event 5 on 25-26 May: VN$8,000,000 NLHE
• Event 6 on 26-27 May: VN$7,000,000 NLHE Head Hunter Bounty
• Event 7 on 26-27 May: VN$30,000,000 NLHE High Roller
• Event 8 on 27 May: VN$6,000,000 NLHE
• Event 9 on 28 May: VN$7,000,000 NLHE
• Event 10 on 28 May: VN$5,000,000 NLHE Deep Stack Turbo
• Event 11 on 29-30 May: VN$8,000,000 NLHE Monster Stack Turbo (2 flights)
• Event 12 on 29-30 May: VN$30,000,000 NLHE High Rollers
• Event 13 on 30 May: VN$5,000,000 NLHE Deep Stack Hyper Turbo

The APT Vietnam Phu Quoc Main Event is a multi-faceted one that runs through much of the series. It will start online at Natural8 with the first of three starting flights. The buy-in is VN$10,000,000, and the prize pool is guaranteed to be VN$2 billion. It will play out as follows:

• 15 May: Day 1A online at Natural8
• 23 May: Day 1B live at Corona Casino
• 24 May: Day 1C live
• 25 May: Day 2 live
• 26 May: Final day live

There is also the APT Vietnam Championship tournament, which offers two starting days. The event has a VN$15,000,000 buy-in and also guarantees VN$2 billion for the prize pool.

• 27 May: Day 1A live at Corona Casino
• 28 May: Day 1B live
• 29 May: Day 2 live
• 30 May: Final day live

Details regarding reentries, shock clocks, and formats are on the Asian Poker Tour website.

Australian Poker Tour Sydney

As one of the first to return to live poker after the initial pandemic shutdowns, the Australian Poker Tour has found many poker players excited to play again. The APT hosted several live poker tournament series thus far – from the end of 2020 to the beginning of 2021 – with the most recent being the APT Gold Coast.

Organizers are now preparing for APT Sydney, set to take place at the Cube Entertainment Center in Campbelltown 21-27 June. The schedule consists of 31 tournaments that will produce an estimated $1.75M in prize pools.

This is also a chance to qualify for the Player of the Year prizes, as only two series remain to qualify in Season 4. And APT Sydney will be the last chance to qualify for the Tournament of Champions, which will have $50K will be awarded in the invitation-only freeroll. The winner will receive $15K in cash and the trophy. The APT website offers all the details.

Australian Poker League Sydney

The most recent APL Million series took place at the Star Sydney. Its 11 events, including the Main Event, awarded more than $3M in total prize pools. And in the end, Kiavash Arbabi won the APL Million Main Event for $315K.

And just in the last few days, the APL Poker Tour wrapped up a stop of 19 events at the Club Italia Sporting Club in Melbourne.

Next up is the APL Sydney series set for 11-16 May at the Castle Hill RSL Club. The schedule offers 29 tournaments with $550K in estimated prize pools. An abbreviated form of the schedule is as follows:

• Event 1 on 11-16 May: $150 NLHE APLPT Sydney Main Event w/10 opening flights through 15 May ($100K GTD)
• Event 2 on 11 May: $120 NLHE Opening Event ($10K estimated)
• Event 3 on 11-12 May: $2,500 NLHE Centurion w/100K stack ($100K estimated)
• Event 4 on 11 May: $350 NLHE 6-Max ($15K estimated)
• Event 5 on 11 May: $60 NLHE Masters for 50+ senior players ($3K estimated)
• Event 6 on 11 May: $400 NLHE Tuesday Terminator w/$100 knockouts ($7,500 estimated)
• Event 7 on 11 May: $75 NLHE Turbo ($5K estimated)
• Event 8 on 11 May: $35 Dealers Choice w/NLHE, PLO, Crazy Pineapple ($1K estimated)
• Event 9 on 12 May: $120 NLHE ($10K estimated)
• Event 10 on 12 May: $350 PLO ($15K estimated)
• Event 11 on 12 May: $75 NLHE NSW Ladies Championship ($3K estimated)
• Event 12 on 12 May: $400 NLHE Wednesday Wonder ($20K estimated)
• Event 13 on 12 May: $60 NLH Crazy Pineapple ($3K estimated)
• Event 14 on 12 May: $35 NLHE Win the Button ($1K estimated)
• Event 15 on 13 May: $120 NLHE ($15K GTD)
• Event 16 on 13 May: $450 NLHE Mini High Roller ($30K estimated)
• Event 17 on 13 May: $70 NLHE Terminator w/$20 knockouts ($5K estimated)
• Event 18 on 13 May: $35 NLHE Thursday Late Night Freezeout ($2K estimated)
• Event 19 on 14-15 May: $1,250 NLHE Jackstar High Roller ($100K GTD)
• Event 20 on 14 May: $75 NLHE Deepstack Turbo ($5K estimated)
• Event 21 on 14 May: $75 NLHE Friday Funday ($5K estimated)
• Event 22 on 14 May: $35 NLHE Late Night Delight ($2K estimated)
• Event 23 on 15 May: $600 NLHE Deep Freeze ($50K estimated)
• Event 24 on 15 May: $200 NLHE Teams ($7,500 estimated)
• Event 25 on 15 May: $80 NLHE Freezeout ($3K estimated)
• Event 26 on 16 May: $300 NLHE Monster Stack ($30K GTD)
• Event 27 on 16 May: $60 PLO ($3K estimated)
• Event 28 on 16 May: $1,100 NLHE 6-Max ($30K estimated)
• Event 29 on 16 May: $60 NLHE Last Chance Hyper Turbo ($2K estimated)

Note that the Main Event begins on the first day and runs through the length of the series, with Day 2 set for the final day. In addition, most of the prize pool amounts listed are estimates, but a few are actual prize pool guarantees. The Main Event is one that offers a guarantee, and all of them are highlighted above.