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The first Betfair Asian Poker Tour |
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Betfair and Betfair Poker made their presence felt in Asia this November, by hosting the first ever live Poker tournament to be held in Singapore. The week-long Betfair Asian Poker Tour started on November 12th and involved six side events and qualifiers building up to a $5,000 buy-in Main Event.
The Main Event had a guaranteed prize pool of $1,000,000, which grew to around US$1.5m after 313 direct buy-ins and online qualifiers, with the internationally recognised Tony G scooping first prize of US$451,000. A professional player, well known for his sharp tongue around the table, he silenced his critics with an overwhelming show of generosity, giving half of his prize to Asian and Australian charities.
"I want people to know that poker is a sport. This is not a large amount compared to what people like Bill Gates give to charity but it is a gesture to show that it's not all about the money, it's about the competition as well," said Tony following his win. He also received a Merlion trophy, the symbol of Singapore, which he promptly gave to second-placed Singaporean player Joshua Ang, so that it would "stay in Singapore". Ang took home US$233,200. Lee Nelson from New Zealand took a creditable third place, winning US$116,600.
Betfair's Head of Poker Ben Fried said, "We had more than a hundred locals play poker during the week, and around three hundred people paid SG$20 just to come down and watch."
The action on the final table was dominated by Tony G from start to finish. He has likened his table banter to the sledging of his cricket playing Aussie friends. He is keen to assert that this is a competition and he will do whatever it takes, within the rules, to win it. This result speaks for itself.
Click here to see the full results from all the tournaments at the BAPT.
BAPT Gallery
Tony G Interview
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