$1 Million For Grabs As Biggest Poker Tournament Heads To Sydney

The biggest poker tournament ever held in NSW will start in Sydney next month with a prize pool of more than $1 million.

The National Poker League, in conjunction with the Asian Poker Tour and The Star, will present APT Sydney 2013 - the main event of the Star Summer Series - on December 5-8.

During the past three years of hosting poker events throughout Australia, the NPL has amassed a base of more than 350,000 players.

The APT name and the prize pool is expected to attract about 600 participants.

The 2005 world poker champion and NPL spokesman Joe Hachem said he expected next month's tourna-ment to be a great opportunity for amateur players in Australia to play with some of the world's best.

"For most players and for me it's the competition which makes a great poker tournament," he said.

"Poker is the sort of dynamic game where it changes all the time and no game is the same.

"You are constantly being challenged and you never know what is going to happen or how people are going to play.

"You might think you know what the other players are going to do but then they do something different that defies logic and for that to happen in a game generally considered to be based on logic, it can provide some unexpected challenges and excitement."

NPL managing director Richard O'Neill said he expected the tournament to be unlike anything NSW pokers enthusiasts had seen before.

"We have wanted to run a $1 million tournament for a while and working with The Star has made it possible," he said.

"This is the first time we have put something together like this and we expect it will be the largest poker tournament in NSW history."

■ Participants can either win their tickets at selected NPL regional events (npl.com.au), via satellite games at The Star or via direct buy-ins

■ APT Sydney will be held at The Star casino, Pyrmont, on December 5-8

Source: http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/newslocal/city-east/million-up-for-grabs-as-biggest-poker-tournament-in-nsw-history-heads-to-sydney/story-fngr8h22-1226767848355