PokerStars LIVE Macau has released its first draft of the 2017 Asia Championship of Poker (ACOP) schedule which will take place from October 13-29. The early schedule indicates that there will be 24 ACOP Title Events -- that award the ACOP Spadies trophy -- and, when including the smaller buy-in events, will total approximately 50 cash tournaments.
MAIN EVENT
Vladimir GeshkenbeinFirst and foremost, the ACOP is about the HK$100,000 Main Event which will once again boast Asia's biggest prize pool guarantee at a whopping HK$25 million!
The ACOP Main Event is Asia's biggest test in poker and runs over five grueling tournament days from October 23-28 before eventually awarding the coveted Gold Spadie trophy.
Last year, Vladimir Geshkenbein defeated a field of 302 players to claim the ACOP title and, in doing so, became the only man to win a title on both the European Poker Tour and the Asia Pacific Poker Tour.
Geshkenbein's victory earned him HK$5,643,000 (~USD $730,000), the Gold Spadie, and an invitation to return this year.
NEW EVENTS
Last year had some impressive fields and so tournaments such as the ACOP Warm-up (297 players), Flipout Championship (330), 1m GTD Spadie (565), and 2m GTD Spadie (819) will all make their triumphant return.
New Spadie events include the following:
HK$11,000 Shootout Championship - Over the last couple years there's been some discussion over having Heads Up, Mixed Max, and Shootout formats -- but we never considered doing all three at once as that felt like overkill. These variations have seemingly fallen into the niche category and so the Shootout will be trialed to see if there is indeed an appetite in the Far East.
HK$40,000 NLH-PLO Championship - Mixed games have slowly but surely been gaining steam in Asia and thus the NLH-PLO Championship was born. There's been a call for more events within the 25K-50K HKD range and this 2-game fit the bill perfectly.
HK$11,000 Closeout Spadie - It's not always easy to find the right way to conclude a 17-day schedule. If you're still here at the end, you'll get the chance to play a Shot Clock event which has, until now, been limited to the high stakes community.
Single Day Events - Gunning for a Spadie isn't meant to be easy but sometimes the sheer length of time it takes to go through deep, multiday events isn't for everyone. To accommodate the Man on the Run we've added several 1-day events.
HIGH STAKES
David Peters and Yuan LiThe high stakes arena at ACOP just got a lot bigger with four big time events - instead of two -- on deck.
Brace yourselves.
The following three 3-day events will each offer unlimited re-entries and make use of the 30-second Shot Clock. We've received some great feedback about the setup for time banks and will incorporate those changes for the: HK$800,000 Super High Roller, HK$250,000 High Roller, and HK$80,000 Mini High Roller.
Another new edition is the HK$300,000 Single Day High Roller which has been tentatively listed on Day 1b of the Main Event. In fact, the scheduling has been intentionally designed so that the only way you'll be unable to play a high roller (besides the lack of bankroll) will be because you're deep into the final table of another high roller.
Last year, David Peters won the High Roller event and, in one fell swoop, claimed his first Spadie, nearly HK$4.9 million, and clinched the 2016 GPI Player of the Year title.
Meanwhile, Yuan Li hoisted the flag for China after taking down the Super High Roller event for HK$6.7 million. Li sits at No. 10 on the ACOP all-time money list while Steve O'Dwyer is still far and away the biggest winner in the history of ACOP having earned more than HK$17 million.
THIS AND THAT
Payouts - The payout structure for the ACOP will remain unchanged where roughly 12% of the field will cash.
Satellites - Qualifying has been a big focus for this year and not just in terms of volume where we've added dozens of satellites to the ACOP Title Events. Satellites to the Spadies have been given a full makeover with deeper structures similar to those seen at PokerStars Championship Macau.
The Free-to-Enter Main Event Satellite will also make a return. Last year, Hong Kong's Stephen Lai qualified into the HK$100,000 Main Event for just HK$400!!
Regular Events - We recognize that not everyone has the bankroll to participate in all the ACOP Title Events and so we've significantly increased the number of smaller buy-in tournaments. Every day will have an event at HK$3,000 or less so that the ACOP is truly all inclusive.
OK, shall we get to the schedule?
Reminder that this is just the first draft and doesn't list satellites or start times. Something you'd love to see? Send in your comments and suggestions to: macau@pokerstars.net or to our official Twitter account @PokerStarsMacau with the hashtag #2017ACOP
2017 Asia Championship of Poker - Tentative Schedule
(all figures in HKD)
Friday, 13 October 2017
$1,500 NLH
$4,000 1m GTD Spadie (Unlimited Re-Entries) - Day 1A*
Saturday, 14 October 2017
$4,000 1m GTD Spadie (Unlimited Re-Entries) - Day 1B*
$4,000 1m GTD Spadie (Unlimited Re-Entries) - Day 1C*
$1,000 100k GTD (Unlimited Re-Entries)
Sunday, 15 October 2017
$2,500 Knockout
$11,000 Shootout Championship*
$11,000 Knockout Championship*
$500 Rebuy
Monday, 16 October 2017
$2,500 PLO
$11,000 6-Handed Championship*
$2,000 6-Handed
Tuesday, 17 October 2017
$2,000 Deepstack
$15,000 PLO Championship*
$11,000 Deepstack Championship*
Wednesday, 18 October 2017
$2,000 200k GTD (Unlimited Re-Entries)
$50,000 Single Day 50K (Single Re-Entry)*
$9,000 2m GTD Spadie (Unlimited Re-Entries) - Day 1A*
Thursday, 19 October 2017
$9,000 2m GTD Spadie (Unlimited Re-Entries) - Day 1B*
$9,000 2m GTD Spadie (Unlimited Re-Entries) - Day 1C*
$3,000 300k GTD (Unlimited Re-Entries)
Friday, 20 October 2017
$2,500 Rebuy Championship*
$25,000 ACOP Warm-up ($3,000,000 Guarantee)*
$2,500 Turbo Edition of the ACOP Warm-up (Single Re-Entry)
Saturday, 21 October 2017
$3,000 Deepstack
$10,000 Single Day 10K (Single Re-Entry)*
$800,000 Super High Roller (Shot Clock, Unlimited Re-Entries)*
$9,000 Ladies Asia Championship*
$2,000 Bubble Rush
Sunday, 22 October 2017
Free-to-Enter Main Event Satellite ($100,000 Main Event Seat Guarantee)
$40,000 NLH-PLO Championship*
$14,000 Main Event MEGA Satellite (10 Seat Guarantee)
$20,000 Teams Championship*
$3,000 Turbo
Monday, 23 October 2017
$5,000 NLH
$100,000 MAIN EVENT ($25,000,000 Guarantee) - Day 1A*
$3,000 Hyper Turbo
Tuesday, 24 October 2017
$300,000 Single Day High Roller (Shot Clock, Single Re-Entry)*
$100,000 MAIN EVENT ($25,000,000 Guarantee) - Day 1B*
$4,000 NLH
$1,000 Flipout (Unlimited Re-Entries)
Wednesday, 25 October 2017
$3,000 NLH
$3,000 Flipout Championship (Unlimited Re-Entries)*
$5,000 Knockout
Thursday, 26 October 2017
$4,000 NLH
$15,000 NLH*
$80,000 Mini High Roller (Shot Clock, Unlimited Re-Entries)*
$1,500 Turbo
Friday, 27 October 2017
$3,000 NLH
$250,000 High Roller (Shot Clock, Unlimited Re-Entries)*
$11,000 Turbo Championship*
$2,500 Turbo
Saturday, 28 October 2017
$11,000 Megastack Championship*
$11,000 Closeout Spadie (Shot Clock, Unlimited Re-Entries)*
$3,000 Megastack
Sunday, 29 October 2017
$3,000 NLH
All tournaments are subject to regulatory approval All tournaments are No Limit Holdem and with no re-entry unless specified *ACOP Title Event (aka 'ACOP Spadie trophy')