The poker felt in the eastern part of the globe is witnessing some high-octane poker action with 3 major tournaments underway in 3 cities. Macau Millions which kicked off on 8th January reached an unprecedented level of poker battle with the largest ever field in the HK $3,000 Main Event. The Aussie Millions Championship underway at Crown, Melbourne brought 3 events in the first 5 days of the series out of which the $1,150 Opening event is down to 17 players. The Asian Poker Tour 2016 Kickoff which begun on 13th January has completed 10 events and the Main Event is down to 67 survivors.
Macau Millions
After 5 side events at the PockerStars LIVE Macau, the main event started off 14th January with a unique structure that allowed for unlimited re-entries for the first six levels. 2,343 entries across 3 regular and 3 turbo flights shattered all records of attendance. The prize pool shot up to HK$6.1 million (~US$782,000) exceeding the guaranteed HK$3 million setting the top prize of HK$811,000 for the champion in addition to the HK$100,000 entry into the 2016 ACOP Main Event.
After grueling action in various flights in the initial 3 days, 160 players survived for the Day 2 game with China’s Xiao Lin leading the field. All 160 players were in the money for a minimum cash prize of HK$12,000. Day3 of the Main Event was played down to the final table of 9 players. Leading the charge is China’s Alvan Zheng with a stack of over 4.5 million. Today, the Main Event winner will be crowned at the PokerStars LIVE Macau.
Here are the final table players:
Seat 1: Quan Zhou (China) – 4,185,000
Seat 2: Guancheng Wu (China) – 1,580,000
Seat 3: Jason Lo (Hong Kong) – 3,570,000
Seat 4: Howard Ka Ho Sun (Hong Kong) – 1,675,000
Seat 5: Boon Hen Siong (Singapore) – 2,040,000
Seat 6: Tony Cheng (Hong Kong) – 1,055,000
Seat 7: Chun Liang Pan (Chinese Taipei) – 2,115,000
Seat 8: Alvan Zheng (China) – 4,515,000
Seat 9: Tatiana Barausova (Russia) – 2,445,000
Aussie Millions
One of the richest poker series in Asia Pacific started with the $1 Million Guaranteed opening event on 13th January. The event drew 1,320 entries generating a prize pool of a $1,353,000. 126 players are paid with a minimum cash prize of $2,975 while the winner will bag $275,300, an exclusive LK Boutique Aussie Millions Championship ring.
The opening event is down to 17 players led by the Canadian player Sean Giesbrecht who has amassed a stack of 1,690,000 chips. The event will be played down to winner today at the Crown, Melbourne.
Here are the top 10 stacks returning for the final day:
| Rank | Player | Country | Chips |
| 1 | Sean Giesbrecht | Canada | 1,690,000 |
| 2 | Jacob Elmore Dahl | United States | 1,449,000 |
| 3 | Aditya Rao | Australia | 1,398,000 |
| 4 | Louis Salter | United Kingdom | 1,300,000 |
| 5 | Ferenc Riech | Germany | 1,001,000 |
| 6 | Kevin Blackwood | Australia | 935,000 |
| 7 | Sinan Aydogan | Australia | 906,000 |
| 8 | Matthew Wakeman | Australia | 706,000 |
| 9 | Stephen Koutsouvelis | Australia | 586,000 |
| 10 | Eric Thiessen | Belgium | 567,000 |
Meanwhile, James Obst won the first ring of 2016 Aussie Millions on Friday taking down Event #2: $2,500 H.O.R.S.E. The Aussie player bagged $35,100 for this victory beating Jan Suchanek of New Zealand heads-up.
Event #3: $1,150 No-Limit Hold’em Shot Clock Shootout drew 126 players and was played down to 14 players on Sunday. The survivors will return today to play down to the champion. All the 14 players are guaranteed a minimum payout of $2,580 and the winner will take home $34,870 and an Aussie Millions LK Boutique ring.
Asian Poker Tour 2016 Kickoff
10 events crowned the winners in the on-going Asian Poker Tour 2016 Kickoff last week while the PHP 55,000 Main Event is down to 67 players. 134 players entered the main event through the 2 flight days on Saturday and Sunday creating a prize pool of PHP 6,499,000 which assures 18 players of the cash prize and PHP 1,660,000 in the top prize.
The Korean player Seung Soo Jeon with 134,125 chips is leading the field of 67 survivors who are returning today at the APT Poker Room Manila to resume the poker battle.
Here is the list of side event winners (till Sunday, 17th January) of the APT 2016 Kickoff:
| Event | Winner | Prize |
| Welcome Event 1M Gtd | JR Villanueva | PHP258,900 |
| Battle of the Nations | Mike Takayama & Richard Go | PHP117,900 |
| Ante Up for Charity | Edwin Marzan | PHP53,500 |
| Head Hunter | SJ Kim | PHP279,100 |
| Ladies of Poker | Menchu Esdaile Razavi | PHP18,900 |
| Pot Limit Omaha High Rollers | Henrik Tollefsen | PHP459,000 |
| High Roller OFC Pineapple Shootout 12 Max | Sim Jae Kyung | PHP240,000 |
| Open Face Chinese Pineapple Shootout 36 Max | John Kim | PHP130,100 |
| No Limit Hold’em | Ofer Greenberg | PHP250,200 |
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