Englishman Sam Razavi staked his claim as the Asian Poker Tour‘s best player in 2012 after concluding his year with an emphatic APT India 2012 victory, becoming the inaugural winner of the event and earning the series’ Player of the Year award.
Razavi’s Player of the Year honor is rightfully deserved considering the tremendous success he had in the circuit throughout the year. He kicked things off with an impressive second place main event finish at the APT Asian Series Cebu back in January. From there, it was one cash after another – 14 in total for the year – on numerous APT events, including wins in 2 side events and 3 Main Event appearances in Cebu, Macau, and Cambodia. The Black Belt Poker sponsored pro capped his year off with the biggest win of his career, beating out a relatively thin field of just nine players, including India’s Hussai Lakdawala, who finished as the runner-up in the tournament.
Regardless of the number of entrants to the 150,000 rupee Main Event, Razavi’s accomplishments throughout the year shouldn’t go unnoticed, especially when you take into account the number of cashes and Main Event final tables he found himself competing in this year. With his triumph at APT India 2012, Razavi not only walked away with yet another trophy, he also added 790,000 rupee (about $14,500) to his year’s winnings, and walked away with the title of Player of the Year, beating out his nearest competitor, Sweden’s Martin Nilsson by a wide margin.
As for the Asian Poker Tour, 2012 has been a banner year for the tournament series. All in all, the APT hosted and/or sponsored a total of 10 tournaments for the year, including APT Macau 2012 and APT Philippines 2012. The burgeoning Asian Series was also a tremendous success with the APT increasing the number of destinations to five for the year, up from the three events that were held last year. If propagating the game of poker to countries that are only experiencing the game’s infancy is any indication of the kind of success the APT has had this year, then you can safely say that the tournament series passed that test with flying colors.
From there, the APT will take a well-deserved hiatus before packing their bags anew for what is expected to be a busier 2013. The first stop? Jeju, Korea for the APT Asian Series Jeju 2013 from February 27 to March 6, 2013.
