The Asia Pacific Poker Tour (APPT) is responsible for bringing the first major government-sanctioned real-money Texas hold 'em poker tournaments to Korea and China. The PokerStars.net APPT Macau: Asian Poker Open in November 2007 was the first-ever poker tournament in Macau.

The final day of play in the PokerStars Asia Pacific Poker Tour $5,000 no-limit hold’em main event welcomed back nine players to the final table. A first-place prize worth $541,089 was up for grabs from the total prize pool of $2,081,000 that was created by a field of 429 players. Dermot Blain eventually claimed that prize and his first major tournament title when he was the last man standing at the final table.

Stefan Hjorthall was the first to fall in ninth place, his pocket nines fell to the aces up held by Pontus Kers. Blain scored his first elimination at the final table when his pocket kings held up to bust Brandon Dems in eighth place. Blain eliminated another opponent when he paired his ace in the hole to defeat the pocket queens of Dbinder Singh, who fell in seventh place. The A-9 of Jicheng Su was dominated by the A-K of Daoxing Chen, and Su was knocked out in sixth place to keep the eliminations coming.

The elimination of Kers in fifth place was especially painful. He got all of his money into the middle with K 6 in the hole against the 9 7 of his opponent Darkhan Botabayev. The board delivered a 9, but neither a king nor a flush came for Kers, who exited in fifth place.

Botabayev fell in fourth place when his 10 4 went into battle disadvantaged against the A Q of Chen. That small victory was a short one for Chen, who was the next player to hit the rail in third place. With an ace showing on the flop, Chen called all in for his tournament life with A-Q, only to discover that Blain held A-K and had him dominated.

After eliminating three players at the final table prior to heads-up play, Blain had built a healthy chip stack worth 7,390,000. Mike Kim held just 920,000, and he never really had a chance to overcome the huge deficit he faced. It took only four hands for things to come to a conclusion. On the final hand, Blain moved all in preflop, and Kim made the all-in call. Blain turned over K 10, and Kim revealed 10 9. The board ran out A 10 3 J 8, and Kim was eliminated in second place. Blain was crowned the APPT Macau champion, and he was awarded the top prize of $541,089.

Asia Pacific Poker Tour Macau 2017

Here is a look at the final results:

Asia Pacific Poker Tour Macau Tickets

1: Dermot Blain — $541,089
2: Mike Kim — $484,999
3: Daoxing Chen — $239,327
4: Darkhan Botabayev — $166,497
5: Pontus Kers — $114,464
6: Jicheng Su — $74,923
7: Dbinder Singh — $52,033
8: Brandon Demes — $41,621
9: Stefan Hjorthall — $31,222

Asian Poker Tour

Vladimir Geshkenbein Wins APPT Macau High Rollers Event; Johnny Chan Finishes Second

The $11,000 buy-in no-limit hold’em high rollers event at APPT Macau attracted a total of 64 entrants, who created a total prize pool of $701,818. The first-place prize was $266,690, and it was awarded to Vladimir Geshkenbein after two days of play. The money bubble lasted for two and a half hours in Macau when 10 players remained. This stretch was a tough one for Geshkenbein, who watched his chip stack fall to as low as 300,000 before he turned things around.

After the money bubble burst, Geshkenbein still had to defeat Grant Levy and Johhny Chan at the final table. Levy fell in fifth place ($49,127), and when just two players remained, it was Chan versus Geshkenbein for the high-roller title. Geshkenbein had a large chip advantage on his side; he held 4,590,000 to the 1,098,000 of Chan when play began.

Chan was unable to get much going against Geshkenbein, who closed the door on the high-roller event in less than an hour. On the last hand, Chan limped from the button, and Geshkenbein checked. The flop was dealt 8 6 5, and Geshkenbein checked. Chan bet 125,000, and Geshkenbein raised all in. Chan made the all-in call, and both players flipped over their cards. Geshkenbein held K 8, and Chan flipped over Q 8. The turn and river then fell 7 and K, and Chan was eliminated in second place ($154,400). Geshkenbein was crowned high-roller champion and he was awarded $266,690.

The next stop for season 3 on the APPT tour will take place in Auckland, New Zealand from Oct. 14-18.