The 2016 Asia Championship of Poker (ACOP) is over three months away from its October 28 start date but the good folks at the 'PokerStars LIVE Macau' poker room have been kind enough to release the first draft of the schedule.

The 17-day poker festival once again features a HK$100,000 (USD $13k) buy-in Main Event and the first draft indicates that there will be 17 ACOP Spadies (pictured) up for grabs in addition to 9 smaller buy-in events.

Many of the finer details are still to be confirmed - such as start times and prize pool guarantees -- but here's a couple of things we know so far:

BIG OPENING WEEKEND

With the huge success of the 2m GTD Spadie last season (655 entrants), the opening weekend will kick off with the new 1m GTD Spadie event which, as you can guess, comes with a HK$1 million prize pool guarantee. The buy-in has been set at HK$4,000 (~USD $500) so a 500+ field is expected given how affordable the tournament is relative to other Spadie events.

HIGH STAKES

The ACOP will once again run the HK$250,000 High Roller and HK$500,000 (~USD $65,000) Super High Roller - which comes with two optional rebuys.

Over the last two installments of these high stakes events the prize pools have totalled more than HK$38 million (~USD $5 million) and has attracted the world's biggest names in poker. Some notables include Phil Ivey, Fedor Holz, Steve O'Dwyer, John Juanda, and reigning EPT Player of the Year Mike McDonald to name a few.

MAIN EVENT

You can bank on the dates for the Main Event which is set to run from November 7-12. The tournament has averaged more than HK$25 million in prize money in each of the past two years as players pursue the riches, glory, and coveted Gold Spadie trophy.

FREE-TO-ENTER MAIN EVENT SATELLITE

The PokerStars LIVE team plans to give you more ways to qualify to the Main Event than ever before and here's the one chance you don't want to miss! There will be a number of different buy-in amounts for feeders and satellites but how does free sound? YES. FREE. SERIOUSLY!!

Once the official dates are released be sure to mark circle the day on your calendar. PokerStars will be guaranteeing at least one seat to the HK$100,000 Main Event!

OK, shall we get to the full draft of the schedule?

Reminder that this is just the first draft and only includes significant live satellites. Something you'd love to see? Send in your comments and suggestions to: macau@pokerstars.net or our official Twitter account @PokerStarsMacau with the hashtag #2016ACOP

2016 Asia Championship of Poker - Tentative Schedule

Friday, 28 October 2016
$4,000 1m GTD Spadie (re-entry) - Day 1A*

Saturday, 29 October 2016
$4,000 1m GTD Spadie (re-entry) - Day 1B*
$4,000 1m GTD Spadie (re-entry) - Day 1C*

Sunday, 30 October 2016
$2,500 Knockout
$15,000 PLO Championship*
$11,000 Knockout Championship*

Monday, 31 October 2016
$2,500 PLO
$11,000 6-max Championship*

Tuesday, 1 November 2016
$2,000 6-Max
$1,000 Deepstack Championship*

Wednesday, 2 November 2016
$9,000 2m GTD Spadie (re-entry) - Day 1A*

Thursday, 3 November 2016
$9,000 2m GTD Spadie (re-entry) - Day 1B*
$9,000 2m GTD Spadie (re-entry) - Day 1C*

Friday, 4 November 2016
Free-to-Enter Main Event Satellite
$5,000 ACOP Warm-up Satellite
$25,000 ACOP Warm-up*
$3,000 Midnight Turbo

Saturday, 5 November 2016
$40,000 Super High Roller Satellite
$2,000 Deepstack
$500,000 Super High Roller (2 rebuys)*
$9,000 Ladies Asia Championship

Sunday, 6 November 2016
$500,000 Super High Roller - Day 2 (Day 2 entry allowed)*
$14,000 Main Event MEGA Satellite

Monday, 7 November 2016
$100,000 MAIN EVENT - Day 1A*

Tuesday, 8 November 2016
$100,000 MAIN EVENT - Day 1B*
$500 Rebuy

Wednesday, 9 November 2016
$100,000 MAIN EVENT - Day 2 (Day 2 entry allowed)*
$500 Flipout
$3,000 Flipout Championship*

Thursday, 10 November 2016
$15,000 NLH*
$10,000 Teams Championship*

Friday, 11 November 2016
$15,000 High Roller Satellite
$250,000 High Roller*
$11,000 Turbo Championship*
$2,500 Turbo

Saturday, 12 November 2016
$11,000 Megastack Championship*
$250,000 High Roller - Day 2 (Day 2 entry allowed)*
$2,500 Rebuy Championship*

Sunday, 13 November 2016
$3,000 NLH