The Asian Poker Tour has announced the debut of the Manila Millions – the largest high-roller event in Asian poker history. The HKD 1m ($129k) buy-in tournament will go down at Resorts World Manila’s Genting Club on April 20, the day before the APT Philippines main event kicks off. Organizers are hoping to attract 25-30 deep-pocketed players, and they already have two big names confirmed in Phil Ivey and Tom Dwan — both of whom are well familiar with super high stakes cash games in Macau. APT CEO Jeff Mann said an event of this magnitude “will put the Philippines on the world poker map and the APT is excited to be once again be working with Resorts World Manila to make it all possible.”
Speaking of mega-buy-ins, Scott Seiver has emerged victorious at the PartyPoker Premier League V. The $125k buy-in event attracted 16 contestants to the Montesino Casino in Vienna, and when the final table configuration was announced, it was qualifier Matthew Frankland holding the chip lead, but he could manage no higher than a seventh place finish. Daniel Cates sent a number of the final tablers to the rail to set up a heads-up battle with Seiver. But less than a half-hour later, Cates’ pair of sevens got crowned by Seiver’s kings, handing Seiver the title and the $500k prize. Cates earned $300k for second, and the rest of the table finished thus: Phil Laak ($175k); Patrik Antonius ($125k); Tony G ($100k); Tom Dwan ($80k); Frankland ($65k) and Sam Trickett ($55k).
Sticking in Europe, Kevin Vandermissen won the Paddy Power Irish Open 2012 on Monday, seeing off his 501 opponents to earn €420k. Vandermissen’s triumph was made all the more impressive by the fact the Belgian entered final table play with the shortest stack. By the time it got down to heads-up play between Vandermissen and Thomas Beer, Vandermissen was ahead by a slight margin. But after some fortunate deals and a monster bluff, Beer was shaking Vandermissen’s hand and accepting his €225k consolation prize. David Dean finished third, earning €158k.
