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.

Go Team Pro!

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!

Team Beerpong Pro Bryan Huang

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.

See Bryan Huang at the tables

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.

Read More... [Source: PokerStarsBlog.com :: Players]

The PokerStars festival liner has sailed back into Saint Julian's Bay, Malta for a second time this year. The stop proved so popular back in March that there was very little chance of leaving it off the schedule, this time around.

The European Poker Tour Main Event kicks off in few days time leaving all eyes gazing upon the penultimate leg of Season 7 of the Italian Poker Tour and the plethora of side events on offer today, as well as over the next few days.

Can you spot the next IPT champion down there?

Casino Barcelona is probably still recovering from the record-breaking numbers that tested their foundations to the limit back in August and the Portomaso Casino - host for the 11-day poker festival - will be hoping for the same rigidity, or we'll all be sliding into the Mediterranean sea

There are seven tournaments proper, and two satellite tournaments taking place today, with the main focus being on the IPT Main Event Day 1A. The tournament has two starting flights and a very good chance of attracting more than the 1,285 entries who participated back in March (still Season 7 on the IPT).

Georgios Zisimopoulos took down that title and the €142,200 that came with it. He deserved every cent of that prize as he had to navigate his way past so many players and sharks during the latter stages of the tournament.

Georgios Zisimopoulos - the reigning champ

Day 1A's field is expected to include Team Pros Mickey Petersen, Luca Pagano and Matthias De Meulder along with notables such as Kenny Hallaert, Joao Simao, Morten Mortensen, Rupert Elder, Tom Hall and Jason Wheeler. There's a couple of EPT title-holders to be found amongst that lot.

Cards are due to be in the air at 12pm CET. Keep an eye on the blog for all goings-on from the IPT Main Event, and we'll be sure to bring you news from any major happenings in the side events..

For full details of the festival, click here.

Not got a PokerStars account yet? Join the world's biggest site now by clicking here.

Updates provided by Marc Convey, with photos coming from René Velli and
Tomáš Stacha.

Read More... [Source: PokerStarsBlog.com :: Italian Poker Tour]

Hines Ward came into this season of Dancing with the Stars the same way that NFL players have in the past, with an eye on filling their time between the end of the regular season and the new year. Ward may end up going out as former NFL players as well, like a champion.

Read More... [Source: ]

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie spoke this week on how he believes online gambling will produce upwards of $1 billion by next summer, while Internet gambling ads ran all across the state.

Read More... [Source: Online Casino News]

United Kingdom regulators ensured the safety of British children by testing the age verification measures at online casinos, while US children are unprotected.

Read More... [Source: US Casinos in the News]

A stellar week of poker, a record-breaking field and a new Macau Poker Cup Red Dragon champion!

The atmosphere here at PokerStars LIVE Macau has been electric over the past few days. Not only did this iteration of the Red Dragon prove to be the biggest yet, but the event also earned itself the title of the largest freezeout tournament ever in the Asia-Pacific.

There were 1,075 who ponied up the HK$12,000 entry fee but when play concluded tonight a champion had emerged...

Congratulations to Malaysia's Ying Lin Chua!

Chua navigated his way through a tough final table that included former Red Dragon champion Tom Alner and Hong Kong Stars team member Wayne Zhang to score himself HK$1,904,000 (HK$1,804,000 after a three-handed deal + a HK$100,000 ACOP Main Event ticket) and the best-looking trophy in poker.

By the later stages of the final table Chua had begun to steamroll his opponents and came into heads up play against Zhang as a 10:1 chip favourite. Moving all in blind in the very first hand Chua showed he wasn't afraid to gamble, and while he may have lost that hand, it would be less than 10 minutes later that Chua would seal his victory.

The final hand of the tournament saw Chua get the chips in with a dominant [jd][9s] to Zhang's [jh][4h] and hold as the board ran out [3h][jc][2s][kc][as]. With the fall of the river card, and an applause that swept across the tournament floor, we had our new Red Dragon champion.

Before that whirlwind heads up clash though, the final table of nine would take over eight hours. It took 90 minutes of play to find our first final casualty. The 9th place spot went to Yongqiang Huang who got his money in good with [ad][9d] against Liang Xu's [kh][jd] and looked almost a lock to double up after the [8h][6d][ac] flop. Unfortunately for Huang a painful runner-runner would determine his fate as the [kc] turn and [jh] river arrived to give Xu two pair.

Next to go was former Red Dragon champion Tom Alner. The Englishman moved all in over an opening raise from Yang Zhang before Wayne Zhang next to act pushed all in over the top. The rest of the table folded and with Yang Zhang flashing [ad][qd] before mucking, Alner's chances looked bleak with [ah][qc] against Wayne Zhang's [qs][qh]. Alner failed to improve when the community cards fell and he left us in 8th place.

Tom Alner shakes the hand of his eliminator

It wouldn't take long for our 7th place finisher to find the exit. Yang Zhang was eliminated only 15 minutes after Alner. Zhang got the last of his chips all in holding [qh][5d] on a [9d][qc][4c] flop but was dominated by Chengbei Lei's [qd][td]. With the [kc] turn and [6s] river completing the board Zhang couldn't find any help and would have to be content with 7th place.

Fan Xie would exit in the 6th spot. With the flop reading [7s][4s][4c] Xie got the last of it in holding [7d][6s] but had run into the [5s][4d] trips of Xu. Drawing thin to a seven or running cards they never came as Xie was eliminated and collected HK$302,100.

All smiles for our 6th place finisher - Fan Xie

Then Chengbei Lei hit the rail. He moved all in preflop from under the gun with [ah][4h] and was called in two spots by Xu and Chua. Despite the dream flop of [5d][3h][6h] Lei soon found out Chua had flopped a straight with [4s][2s] and Lei failed to find a heart for a win of a seven or deuce for a chop.
4th place went the way of our start-of-day chip leader Liang Xu. He got his chips in preflop against Chua and was dominated holding [ac][4d] against Chua's [as][qc]. While the [2d][7h][7d] flop gave him some hope for a chop, the [8d] turn and [5d] couldn't save him as he was eliminated for HK$611,000.

4th place - Liang Xu

Japan's Takashi Ogura finished one short of heads up play. He was all in and behind with [kh][jh] against our eventual champion's [ac][2d] and couldn't improve. Ogura took home HK$1,382,000 and his elimination saw the heads up match set where Chua held the 10:1 lead and would soon overcome Zhang.

MPC24 Red Dragon - Final Table Results
1st: Ying Lin Chua (Malaysia) - $1,904,000*
2nd: Wayne Zhang (China) - $1,307,000*
3rd: Takashi Ogura (Japan) - $1,382,000*
4th: Liang Xu (China) - $611,000
5th: Chengbei Lei (China) - $413,000
6th: Fan Xie (China) - $302,100
7th: Yang Zhang (China) - $257,000
8th: Tom Alner (United Kingdom) - $223,500
9th: Yongqiang Huang (China) - $190,000

* denotes a three-handed deal
all amounts in HK$

Click here for a full list of payouts

Congratulations to Ying Lin Chua and a big thank you to the City of Dreams casino for hosting another sensational Macau Poker Cup Red Dragon event. If you're still chasing some more exciting poker action, our coverage of the HK$80,000 High Roller begins from tomorrow at 2pm.

We hope to see you then right here on the PokerStars Blog!

Read More... [Source: PokerStarsBlog.com :: Asia Pacific Poker Tour]

Something happened last night. Something extremely fun and entertaining. And while it was in no way forgettable, I'm not sure many people will remember it with crystal clear clarity.

I'm talking, of course, about last night's PokerStars players party here at the PCA. If you've never been to one, you really owe it to yourself to try and attend one of these shindigs.

All you need to do is play the main event, so why not try and qualify for next year's PCA or an EPT/LAPT?

---

Ready to sign up for PokerStars? Click here to get an account.

---

First of all - there's a free bar. The Bahama Mamas were flowing as far as the eye could see.

Secondly, there's free food. And there's no expense spared here at the PCA; from exotic mini burgers and delicious Cajun chicken to exquisite canapés and...we mentioned the free bar, right?

Then there's the entertainment. This year the PCA has transformed the ballroom at Atlantis into a Cirque du Soleil-esque extravaganza.

Two men painted gold like Oscars performing physical feats that have to be seen to be believed; a woman manoeuvring 15 hula hoops around her body with ease; acrobats dangling from the ceiling; it really was quite remarkable to watch.

So, who was in attendance? Well, let's start with the PokerStars Team: Daniel Negreanu, Liv Boeree, Bertrand 'Elky' Grospellier, Eugene Katchalov, Jake Cody, Jason Mercier, Andre Akkari, Felipe Ramos, and Fatima Moreira de Melo were all in attendance.

So were the high rollers: Mike McDonald, Ole Schemion and Fedor Holz are just a few of the big names we saw enjoying themselves.

Sadly, all good things must come to an end - or do they? When the official PokerStars party was drawing to a close, hundreds simply made the short walk over to the amazing Aura nightclub here on the Atlantis resort.

And the Bahama mamas continued to flow. Our heads are very sore this morning, but boy did we have a good time.

Get yourself out to the PCA next year and you'll see it all for yourself. Satellites for next year's PokerStars Carribean Adventure and all of the EPT and LAPT stops are running right now.

We mentioned the free bar, right? --JS

---

Ready to sign up for PokerStars? Click here to get an account.

---

Read More... [Source: PokerStarsBlog.com :: PokerStars Caribbean Adventure]