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haha, $1500 buyin, $300 of which goes to an administrative fee and $150 to WSOP package fee. Right.

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The $300 looks like it includes 3 nights accomodation at that resort. The $150 looks like it should be $1500 which doesn't seem that unreasonable for airfare and entry in the WSOP.

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Who the heck is going to go the an island in the middle of nowhere for an untelevised $1500 buy-in event?


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1. Not everyone lives in North America
2. Not everyone cares if a tournament is televised or not
3. Not everyone is bankrolled for the $25K buy ins

I live in Japan & this would be a relatively cheap way to try my hand at live tournament poker & enjoy a brief vacation too. I'd imagine the same might be true for expats living in HK, Manila or Singapore too. If your not interested, just ignore it.

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The tournament poker business in Asia (I do NOT include Australia as part of Asia) so far has been bumpy.

The APPT in the Philippines last November, which was put together with very little lead time and very little promotion, drew only 34 players.

The APPC in Tainan looks to have the same problem: very little promotion.

Remember that there is no poker on TV in much of Asia.

(The Philippines is an exception, with the government gambling monopoly PAGCOR granting licenses to promoters to put tournament poker, including WPT and WPT Philippines, on TV.)

ESPN-branded networks in 24 countries and territories from Pakistan to South Korea, which are managed by NewsCorp (Rupert Murdoch) under a joint venture agreement (ESPN STAR SPORTS, or ESS, with headquarters in Singapore), has never aired the WSOP.

I understand from a contact in Japan that J Sports ESPN in Japan, which is managed by the Sumitomo Group under a joint venture agreement (J SPORTS, headquartered in Tokyo), has never aired the WSOP.

Translation: 99+% of the population in the Chinese-speaking world has never heard of Johnny Chan and has no idea who Johnny Chan is.

In order for poker to take off in Asia, a massive marketing effort, via widely-available and widely-watched TELEVISION networks (i.e. WSOP-branded products on ESPN-branded networks run by NewsCorp/Rupert Murdoch), will be required.

As long as the government-run or government-granted monopolies are protecting their turf and are keeping the WSOP (and the WPT, Aussie Millions, etc.) off television sets in Asia (in an attempt to monopolize televised and online poker within their respective countries and territories the way France is attempting to do so now), big time televised tournament poker may never see its light of day in much of Asia.

(The BetFair APT last November, which drew over 300 players, relied on online satellite qualifiers mostly from Europe. Out of the 300+ players, less than 20 were local players from Singapore.)