By Kevin Felix | May 20, 2009

Although many poker players are focusing on the upcoming World Series of Poker, PartyPoker is looking beyond that.

PartyPoker announced on Monday that they have started up their satellite events for the Asian Poker Tour’s first stop of its 2009-10 season in Macau. “The Asian Poker Tour Macau Festival” will run from August 12th through the 23rd at the Galaxy StarWorld Hotel and Casino in Macau and should offer a great deal of poker action for winners of the PartyPoker prize packages.

PartyPoker is offering several $7000 packages to its winners, which includes the $4,300 buy in for the Championship Event, seven night’s accommodation and $1,600 in spending money. Each Sunday at 3:55PM Eastern Time, there will be a $700+$50 buy in Weekly Satellite tournament, where one in ten players will secure a package. There are daily $70 + $5 qualifiers at 3:55PM Eastern Time that will allow players to get into the weekly satellite tournament except on Sundays. Sundays will offer a Turbo qualifier for the Weekly Satellite at 1:55PM. If your bankroll isn’t up to playing for such a price, PartyPoker also will offer players the chance to be able to earn their seat in Macau for as little as $3.

The tournament this year has expanded to a twelve day festival this year, above and beyond the six day event that was offered last year. In addition to the Championship Event, there will be other smaller tournaments offered as well as a slate of cash games. Overseeing the play of the tournaments is Commerce Casino Tournament Director Matt Savage, who is recognized as the top tournament director in poker today.

Last year the Asian Poker Tour event attracted some of the most famous names in the game. Former World Champions Doyle Brunson and Johnny Chan led a contingent that also included John Juanda, Huck Seed, Liz Lieu, Todd Brunson, Kenny Tran, Nam Le, Quinn Do, JC Tran, Steve Sung, David “Chino” Rheem, and Kwang Soo Lee. The 2008 Macau champion was Yevgeniy Timoshenko, who won nearly $500,000 for winning the tournament. Timoshenko continued to demonstrate that he is a new force in the game as, after he turned 21, he went on to take the 2009 WPT Championship at the Bellagio in Las Vegas in April.

The CEO of the Asian Poker Tour, Chris Parker, states that Macau – which has replaced Las Vegas as the biggest gaming market in the world – is ready for the onslaught of players for this year’s tournament. “We are currently witnessing record numbers in our Asian Poker Tour sponsored room at the StarWorld and six figure $US pots are now a regular occurrence. We believe Asia is ready for its first festival of poker and that it will establish Macau as an essential stop on the international circuit.”

For those who may miss out on the festivities of the WSOP, perhaps Macau and the APT can offer some solace. For further details on satellites for the APT Macau stop in August, visit PartyPoker.com to learn more.

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