Was The Inaugural WSOP APAC In Australia A Total Flop Or Huge Success?

The Crown Casino in Melbourne has just played host to the first ever Asia-Pacific World Series of Poker (WSOP APAC), an event that started on the 4th April and climaxed on April 15th when Canadian Daniel Negreanu took down Daniel Marton to claim the Main Event. Today here at pokernet.com we ask was the tournament a success and will it grow in years to come?

In total over the 12 days of action in Melbourne a total of 1,910 players competed against one another for five coveted WSOP bracelets, with a combined prize pool over the five events of AUS $6,187,000, with 175 players finishing in the money. Those figures are very impressive and the organisers will no doubt be pleased with them.

The largest number of entrants came in the first event which was the AUS $1,100 No Limit Hold’em Accumulator, an event that saw 1,085 players start out in search of the AUS $211,575 first prize. The largest prize pool as you would expect came in the AUS $10,000 No Limit Hold’em Main Event, which saw 40 players receive a cash payout and Daniel Negreanu take the winners cheque of AUS $1,038,825.

Negreanu also cashed in event three, an event that was eventually won by another great poker name, Phil Ivey. Ivey’s win saw him claim his ninth WSOP bracelet and he now needs just one more to equal the great Doyle Brunson and Johnny Chan who have 10 apiece, but he still has some way to go to catch leader Phil Hellmuth who has a total of 13.

Australians faired well during the 12 days of action with Perth’s Aaron Lim taking down event number four, and in total 52% of all players that cashed were from Australia. So all in all the WSOP APAC appears to have been a huge success with some big name players taking down a couple of the events, and Australians doing well too. It will be interesting to see how next years numbers compare, but the signs are looking good for the WSOP APAC and it appears as though the inaugural event was a huge success.