2005 World Series of Poker Main Event champion Joe Hachem of Australia and 2004 WSOP Player of the Year Daniel Negreanu of the USA are here in Manila care of PokerStars to head the stellar cast of players vying for the estimated pool of $500,000 in the Poker Stars Asia Pacific Poker Tour starting today at the Hyatt Hotel and Casino in the action-packed city of Manila, Philippines.

This is definitely the biggest poker tournament ever staged in the Philippines, and surely there’s going to be some serious poker in this three-day event which goes for a buy-in of $2,500, the biggest buy-in ever in the country.

Apart from poker pros Joe Hachem and Daniel Negreanu, other poker pros include 22 year-old American Vanessa Rousso, the 2006 Borgata Open champion and the youngest woman to make the final table in a World Series of poker event, and Scottish Manlee Wan, who can also speak 9 languages apart from playing a mean game of poker.

300+ other players from 40 countries are in the field, which might even pump up the pot to $600,000+ dollars. That’s a lot of moolah for the prize pool, which will see at least 40 players or so making good money.

“We chose Manila because it’s attractive to global people and we know there are many great poker players here,” said Jeffrey Haas, president of the Asia Pacific Poker Tour, in yesterday’s media launch at the Hyatt Hotel.

Representing the Philippines is Neil Arce, who made an impressive stint in the recent 2007 WSOP Main Event by placing 222nd in a field of 6,000+ players and earning a hefty $50,000 plus dollars for his effort. Neil Arce was the highest ranked Filipino with a Philippine address to advance that far into the Main Event.

“I have nothing to lose and I feel this is to our advantage,” said the 26-year-old Arce, who has made a living playing poker.

Another Filipino who has made his mark in the local scene is Philip Chua, who made it through the main event for free after topping a satellite online tournament by Poker Stars.net.

“I was just lucky,” said Chua. “It’s a big opportunity for me to play against some of the best poker players in the world and I hope to perform well.”

Nick Galan also hopes to make his mark for the Philippines after besting a field of 50 plus celebrities and poker pros in yesterday’s APPT Celebrity Media Invitational Poker Tournament at the Hyatt also hosted by Pokerstars.net. Nick Galan, who has been instrumental in building the poker community in the Philippines, busted out Negreanu from the tournament, and outlasted Hachem in the final table to win the tournament.

“That’s the highlight of my poker career… And I didn’t even have to go to Vegas,” Galan said about busting out revered poker pro Daniel Negreanu in an exclusive with pokerlessons.net.

Nick Galan looks like a heavy contender to score big in the APPT Main Event which kicks off today 2PM.

Other notable entries are Korea-based American Daniel “Rekrul” Schreiber, Canadian Guillaumer Patry and Australia-based Japanese Masaaki Kagawa, who took 3rd at the 2007 Aussie Millions besting poker pros like Gus Hansen, John Juanda, Daniel Negreanu and Phil Ivey.

After the APPT Main Event in Manila, Pokerstars.net will be bringing the Asia Pacific Poker Tour to Seoul, South Korea and Sydney, Australia among other places.

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 23rd, 2007 at 11:04 pm and is filed under Daniel Negreanu, Erick Lindgren, Poker Event, Poker Industry News, Poker News Archive, Poker Players, Poker Promotions, Poker Tips & Strategy, pokerstars.net. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.

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