The APPT Grand Final in Sydney, Australia - December 12-16

[Poker Tatsu]

Hello All,

This post is about the upcoming PokerStars.net Asia Pacific Poker Tour Grand Final at Star City Casino in Sydney Australia from December 12-16.

This will be the first major tournament in Sydney, Australia's largest city and home of famous landmarks like the Harbour Bridge, the Opera House, The Minogue Sisters and the beautiful Bondi Beach where you can learn to surf or just people-watch and eat ice cream (no wireless internet available for online poker though).

Mid-December is summertime in Australia and the weather should be hot and beautiful. If you want to escape the cold and the dark and Seasonal Affective Disorder in the Northern Hemisphere, then consider coming to play Down Under in what promises to be an exciting event with a multi-million dollar prize pool.

The APPT Grand Final has a $6,000+300 AUD buy-in. It's a five-day event with three day ones, and considered the Main Event of the larger 12-day Big Game Poker Championships at Star City Casino. It will be televised internationally and – like at all APPT events – non-PokerStars-sponsored players will be allowed to wear their own sponsors' .NET logos (and they won't be removed from the TV broadcast).

The structures were all designed by APPT Tournament Director Danny McDonagh and are meant to provide excellent value for money. We've received great feedback on these structures during our first two APPT events in Manila and Seoul and plan to continue using them

As of today we have 140 players registered and bought-in to the event, meaning there's already an $840,000 AUD prize pool. We expect at least 450 players and it's more likely that 500+ players will start. That puts our estimated prize pool at more than $2.5M – though we'll probably have a $3M or greater prize pool. Our goal is to have at least a $1M prize for first place.

Here's where you can find more information:<ul type="square">[*]General Information [*]Structures [*]Prize Distribution [*]Complete schedule (.PDF Download) [/list]Star City Casino are accepting registrations now, and you can also buy-in through your PokerStars account.

There are lots of ways to qualify online at PokerStars and win a $9,000 USD packages that include the tournament buy-in, 5 nights’ accommodation and $2,000 USD for travel expenses:<ul type="square">[*]Daily freerolls for Asian and Australasian Players[*]A tremendous number of scheduled MTT on PokerStars starting from as low as $2,20 or 50 FPP, including a <font color="red">10-Package $90,000 Guaranteed Qualifier scheduled for this Saturday November 17</font>. It will repeat again next Saturday November 24.[*]APPT Sydney Steps tournaments that start as low as $7.50 or 500 Frequent Player Points.[/list]Star City Casino in Sydney (the host venue for the event) are now running regular live satellites:<ul type="square">[*]Mondays at 1200 - $200 MTT[*]Wednesdays at 1800 - $300 MTT[*]Fridays at 2000 - $675 MTT[*]Friday afternoons there are Mega Satellite qualifiers available at $160 with the top 2 winning a $675 entry satellite entry.[/list]There will also be live satellites throughout Australia:<ul type="square">[*]This Saturday at 1410 at Crown Casino in Melbourne there will be a $120 buy-in satellite qualifier with $100 rebuys[*]This Sunday at 1000 at the Conrad Treasury Casino in Brisbane there will be a $250 buy-in no-rake satellite qualifier. They will also be running 10-player $750 buy-in SNG on demand this Friday evening (November 16).[/list]As the renown blogger Brad Willis writes: In a good portion of the poker playing world, the leaves have fallen off the trees, the air is growing colder, and the idea of wearing short sleeves is met with raised eyebrows. However, in the land down under, summer is just getting started and if you're looking for warmer climes in which to get your game on, look no further than the Asia Pacific Poker Tour's Grand Final in Sydney, Australia.

I hope to see you all in Oz.

Cheers,

Jeffrey
http://www.appt.com