The number of poker players who turned up for the Macau Poker Cup (MPC) 20, the twentieth anniversary of the MPC, broke all previous records. The event began last weekend at the City of Dreams Casino’s live poker room, the PokerStars LIVE. The MPC20 Red Dragon Main Event will begin on Thursday.
Had the MPC been held a few years back between the Aussie Millions and the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA), hardly any players would have turned up for the event.
But MPC20 has proved beyond any doubts that the MPC has evolved into one of the biggest live poker tournaments in the very history of live poker in Macau.
The first event of MPC20, the HK$2k buy-in Deepstack No Limit Hold’em tournament began on Friday with a huge line of players trying to buy-in to the event. The champion of this event was Chang Rak Choi, a Korean poker player. This event was followed by other MPC20 tournaments; and the Red Dragon Main Event is drawing closer than ever.
The MPC20 schedule includes the HK$6k buy-in Baby Dragon tournament, which offers a guaranteed prize of HK$1 million. Since 332 poker players registered for this event, the prize pool has become as large as HK$1.7 million. Ultimately, Bobby Zhang won the championship title after defeating Stephen Zhou in a heads-up match.
The MPC20’s initial three days had three side events, attracting a field of 743 players and giving away as much as HK$2,46,622 in prizes, thus breaking all previous records of player field and prize money set by the event.
Although the 20th anniversary celebrations will include a number of side events, everybody is eagerly waiting for the MPC20 Red Dragon Main Event, which promises a guaranteed prize of around HK$8 million. The buy-in to this event is HK$11,000 and more than 800 players are expected to take part in this event. In April 2013, this event attracted a field of 891 players and Terry Fan emerged as the champion. The Red Dragon Main Event, which will begin on Jan 16, Thursday and end on January 21, comprises three starting flights.
The MPC20 schedule includes the following exciting events. The $2,400 Red Dragon Mega Satellite with 20 seats guaranteed will be held on January 16, Thursday. The $1,500 No Limit Hold’em Turbo will be held on January 17, Friday. The HK$50k High Roller tournament, a 2-day tournament, will be held on January 20, Monday.
