Bracelets Down Under: 2013 WSOP APAC Starts This Week in Melbourne
In addition to the five bracelet events, another running of the Caesars Cup will attract attention as well at the 2013 WSOP APAC. Three region-based teams will compete in the non-bracelet, invite-only exhibition, with Sam Trickett the captain for Team Europe, Phil Ivey leading Team Americas, and Joe Hachem scheduled to pilot Team Asia Pacific.
The first ever World Series of Poker Asia Pacific series is only days away, with the first event set to kick off next Thursday, April 4. The WSOP APAC will run from April 4-15 at the Crown Casino and Entertainment Complex in Melbourne, Australia (a.k.a. the Crown Melbourne), which for more than a decade has hosted the popular Aussie Millions series. In all, five gold bracelets will be awarded at WSOP APAC, the first of many bracelets to be won in 2013.
Satellites are already underway at the Crown Melbourne, including several for the AUD $10,000 buy-in Main Event that starts April 11. WSOP officials are estimating more than 150 players will be winning Main Event seats via satellites over the next couple of weeks. Meanwhile, the poker world is curious to see what sort of turnout the WSOP APAC Main Event will ultimately draw, including how it will compare to the $10K buy-in Aussie Millions Main Event in which 629 participated this year.
Five Bracelet Events
The full schedule for the 2013 WSOP APAC is as follows (all $ AUD):
That initial "no-limit hold'em accumulator" Event #1 introduces a never-before-seen format to the World Series of Poker, kind of a variation on re-buy/re-entry events.
Players will have the opportunity to play one, two, or all three Day 1 flights, with each requiring the AUD $1,100 buy-in. Players surviving multiple Day 1 flights will then be able to combine whatever chips they accumulated with which to begin Day 2 of the event when the entire field will be combined.
Thus will some players potentially begin Day 2 with inordinately large stacks if they manage to thrive on more than one of the Day 1 flights. Meanwhile, players busting from an earlier Day 1 flight will have the opportunity to re-enter later flights.
Event #2 offers a pot-limit Omaha tournament for players, while Event #3 presents the popular 8-game mix format with games rotating between no-limit hold'em, seven-card stud, Omaha hi/lo, razz, pot-limit Omaha, limit hold'em, stud hi/lo, and 2-7 triple draw.
The Mixed Event at the WSOP APAC will represent only the third time a non-hold'em or Omaha WSOP bracelet will be awarded outside of the U.S. and the first in five years. In both 2007 and 2008, the WSOP featured a single £2,500 H.O.R.S.E. event, with all of the other 28 events during the WSOPE's six years featuring only hold'em, pot-limit Omaha, or a combination of the two.
Event #4 then offers players a higher buy-in (AUD $5,000), short-handed NLHE tournament. Then comes the WSOP APAC Main Event (Event #5) which will follow a format similar to both the WSOP and WSOPE Main Events, although levels will last 90 minutes (as at the WSOPE Main Event) rather than two hours (as at the WSOP in Las Vegas).
Another Caesars Cup, and a High Roller
Also happening at the 2013 WSOP APAC will be another Caesars Cup competition such as has been staged at the WSOPE in 2009, 2011, and 2012. However, unlike at the WSOPE where two teams -- Team Americas and Team Europe -- compete, the WSOP APAC's version of the Caesars Cup will feature three region-based teams participating in the non-bracelet, invite-only exhibition, with an Asia Pacific team having been added to the mix.
Captains for the three WSOP APAC Caesars Cup teams have already been announced, with Sam Trickett heading up Team Europe, Phil Ivey leading Team Americas, and Joe Hachem to pilot Team Asia Pacific. Each will select four more players to join them on five-player team rosters that will then play a combination of formats against one another.
The entire event will play out on Sunday, April 14, with Team Europe initially taking on Team Asia Pacific, then the winner going on to face Team Americas in the final. Team Americas earns the bye thanks to its having won the last Caesars Cup at 2012 WSOP Europe.
Among the other non-bracelet events on the schedule at the Crown Melbourne is one that will surely grab some attention, a two-day, AUD $50,000 (with re-entries) "High Roller" event scheduled to begin Saturday, April 13. The Caesars Cup, High Roller event, and the Main Event are all scheduled to be televised globally on various ESPN networks. There will also be online streaming of all WSOP APAC bracelet events as well as the High Roller event.
Moving Toward a "Grand Slam of Poker"
The WSOP APAC was first announced nearly a year ago in late April 2012. At the time, WSOP Executive Director Ty Stewart spoke of the WSOP having an ultimate goal "to establish the worldwide grand slam of poker and use our platform to elevate the game through a series of major championships."
Ever since the WSOP APAC was first unveiled, observers have speculated both about the prospects for success of the series (coming just three months after the Aussie Millions) as well as how the introduction of still more WSOP events might further affect the overall value and significance of winning a bracelet. I touched on some of those debates here last spring in an article titled "The WSOP... Where the Sun Never Sets."
In addition to the five WSOP APAC bracelets up for grabs over the coming weeks, there will be a record-high 62 bracelets awarded in Las Vegas this year at the WSOP, plus another that will be won in late May at Harrah's New Orleans at the 2012-13 WSOP Circuit National Championship.
Meanwhile, there will likely be seven more bracelet events staged when the 2013 WSOPE moves to Paris this October. That number would bring the overall total of WSOP bracelets to be won in 2013 to 75.
For more on the 2013 World Series of Poker Asia Pacific schedule, see the WSOP APAC landing page at WSOP.com.
Prices quoted in copy are correct at time of publication but liable to change.
