World Series of Poker Asia Pacific Kicks Off Thursday

Finding myself pressed for time today, thus leaving little time for scribbling. Have a few different deadlines to meet, plus I am trying to get my act together before traveling this Friday to Foxwoods for the upcoming World Series of Poker Circuit Main Event which I’ll be helping cover for PokerNews starting on Saturday.

Of course, most of the poker world’s attention starting tomorrow is going to be focused more than 10,000 miles away from Connecticut as the first ever WSOP Asia Pacific series finally gets underway.

There will be five bracelets awarded at the Crown Melbourne over the next couple of weeks -- the first of 75 (!) that will be won in Australia, New Orleans, Las Vegas, and Paris during 2013. There’s also a High Roller event (AUD $50,000, with re-entries) as well as another installment of the Caesars Cup that will be grabbing some attention toward the latter part of the schedule.

As I say, I don’t have a lot of time today to write much here about the WSOP APAC, although I have written a couple of items about it lately and so can point to them instead.

One is a preview written for Betfair Poker that includes the schedule and a few other bits of information about what’s to come. The other is a post for Flushdraw in which I again cover the schedule while also sharing some of what I learned after speaking with a couple of folks who will be involved with covering the WSOP APAC.

I talked to Matthew Showell, Editor-in-Chief at PokerListings, and he offered some details of PL’s plan as the “exclusive live reporting partner” for the WSOP APAC. It’s a bit of a change-up, actually, as PokerNews has filled that role at the WSOP since 2007 and at WSOP Europe over recent years as well.

I also spoke with Heath Chick of Poker Asia Pacific, with whom PokerListings is partnering to provide their live updates, chip counts, and photos from the different events. Heath is someone I’ve worked alongside in the past as a reporter, and he and his team down under are well positioned, I think, to help PL out and ensure good reporting.

Anyhow, for now check out those pieces and also look in over at PokerListings and Poker Asia Pacific over the coming days for more from the WSOP APAC. PokerNews and BLUFF will also have daily reports and features, and the WSOP site will be a good place to go as well for specifics and other information.

Meanwhile, off I go to take care of more business, including my own upcoming travel plans. At least I get to stay in my own time zone.