2014 ACOP: Who's coming?

We're only a week clear of the 2014 Asia Championship of Poker and it is time for a roll call!

Let's check out one of the crucial big names who're coming.

Team PokerStars

There may be no shortage of players bearing the red spade on the 'PokerStars LIVE Macau' poker site as ten members of Team PokerStars are already confirmed.

Asia could be represented by Celina Lin, Raymond Wu, Vivian Im, Bryan Huang, and Naoya Kihara. Lin and Wu have had probably the most success on this poker series and feature each won an ACOP Spadie title.

Meanwhile, the internationals flying into Macau include Bertrand 'ElkY' Grospellier, Jonathan Duhamel, Eugene Katchalov, Ike Haxton and Randy 'nananoko' Lew. Liv Boeree has recently shown interest but has yet to ensure.

Randy Lew

MBP Super High Roller
A few weeks back, PokerStars announced the partnership with Macau Billionaire Poker (MBP) for the HK$500,000 (USD $65,000) Super High Roller.

If you missed it, you will discover it here.

As I'm writing this, the Early Bird Special shows 16 confirmed players however the word across the campfire is that we're 24 hours clear of hitting the 20-player max for the promo.

Besides a slew Team PokerStars Pros, the list of fully paid players include Mike McDonald, Fabian Quoss, and Jeff Rossiter who's the best-ever earnings leader on the ACOP. Dan Smith, Philipp Gruissem, and Niklas Heinecker - who won last year's GDAM event for USD $4.5m - have also shown interest in joining the SHR.

Champions
The hype machine often refers back to the ACOP because the best-of-the-best competing in Asia. But it isn't just hype. A number of champions from the east and west could be vying for the HK$100,000 Main Event's Gold Spadie trophy.

WSOP winners Greg Merson and Joe Hachem are confirmed for the principle Event and in addition candidates to enroll in the high stakes tournaments.

Sunny Jung is confirmed to defend his 2013 ACOP Main Event title. He'll be joined by Season 8 winners Chane Kampanatsanyakor (APPT Seoul) and Thanh Ha Duong (APPT Manila); current Player of the Year leaders Pete Chen (Asia) and Edison Nguyen (ANZ); and, reigning APOY winner Jian Yang.

The 2014 ACOP begins next Friday, October 24.

Read More... [Source: PokerStarsBlog.com :: PokerStars Macau]