Asian Poker Tour (APT) Partners With PokerBaazi to Launch the First-Ever APT India Online Series (January 15 – 26)!

The pandemic has caused a whirlpool change in the poker industry! Most live poker tournament brands have had to take the virtual route, and the result has been that poker players have been treated to some massive online tournaments these past eight months.

Setting up the stage for another blockbuster online series at the start of the New Year is one of Asia’s leading tournament brands, the Asian Poker Tour (APT). Yes, APT is the latest international tournament brand to announce an online series exclusively for Indian players. The operator has partnered with PokerBaazi to launch the ₹8 Crores GTD APT India Online Series 2021!

The APT India Online Series is tailored specially for Indian players. This will be a 12-day-long series (including a break day on January 23) that starts on January 15. Up till January 26, over ₹7.5 Crores in prize pool guarantees will be awarded across 48 featured events, with a whopping ₹50 Lakhs in leaderboard prizes kept aside for the most consistent players at the series.

There are 15 APT trophies (12 for featured tourneys and three for leaderboards) and four APT rings (three for tourneys and one for the “Player of the Series”) up for grabs at the series, with a ₹2 Crores GTD APT India Online Main Event headlining the schedule. The showstopper tourney features an entry buy-in of ₹11,000 and will run four starting flights from January 20.

There will also be a mini version of the Main Event with a ₹50 Lakhs guarantee alongside the APT staple, the Championships Event, that promises a ₹40 Lakhs prize pool guarantee.

APT India Online Series – At a Glance

> 12 Days, ₹8+ Crores guaranteed across 48 tourneys

> 15 APT Trophies and 4 APT rings to be won

> Series and Daily leaderboard prizes totaling ₹50 Lakhs

> Player of the Series (POS) to win APT POS Trophy, ring & a luxury watch

> Satellites start December 9

PokerBaazi made the blockbuster announcement on Twitter.

The Glory of Asia. The Spirit of India. The continent's premier poker series hits India very soon. Stay tuned for more!#PokerBaazi #APT #Baazigar #Poker pic.twitter.com/aXerMsRg5L

— PokerBaazi (@PokerBaazi) December 4, 2020

Online satellites for the APT India Online Series 2021 will kick off on PokerBaazi starting December 9 (tomorrow). Some lucrative deposit offers and other promotions are expected to be announced in due course.

Let’s take a look at the schedule first.

APT India Online Series 2021 Complete Schedule

APT- Ready to Make its Online Debut in India!

Asian Poker Tour is a prominent live tournament brand in Asia and has successfully hosted stops in countries like the Philippines, Cambodia, Taiwan, Vietnam, Macau, and Korea. It’s also hosted two live editions in India with the APT Asian Series Goa held onboard Casino Deltin Royale in November 2011 and the APT India series at Casino Carnival in December 2012.

Essentially, the APT will be making its return to India after almost eight years!

APT has also picked up experience running online events. It ran the APT 2020 Online Series on Natural8 in April, followed by the second edition of the APT Online Series in June.

With most international brands now looking to tap into the fast-growing Indian market, the writing was on the wall for a brand like APT to make a return to India. It’s found a credible partner in PokerBaazi, a brand that considers itself to be India’s most trusted online poker site – and features among the top four poker operators in the country.

While numerous Indian players have won the coveted APT trophies at the various Asian stops, the upcoming series offers Indian players the opportunity to win the trophy right at home!

Talking about the upcoming series, Founder & CEO at Baazi Games, Navkiran Singh, said, “The Asian Poker Tour is one of the world’s most valuable poker properties, and we’re honored to bring the tour back to Indian shores. After having held over 80 major events and numerous small tournaments across the Asia-Pacific Region, we’re delighted to join hands with the tour and add another landmark IP to India’s growing poker landscape. This truly is an exciting time to be a professional poker player in India.”

APT General Manager & Executive Tournament Director Lloyd Fontillas also gave more details – “What excites me the most about our partnership is the fact that PokerBaazi also operates a live poker room. So on top of the action-packed online schedule, we are putting together, players can expect us to bring back a live APT event to India before the end of 2021.”

Well, as Fontillas has indicated, we could likely see an APT India live stop take place onboard the Baazi LIVE poker room in Goa sometime next year.

If winning an APT trophy will be a major attraction for players at the APT Online India Series, another USP are the massive leaderboards – one for the series and the other daily – with a combined ₹50 Lakhs in prizes.

The player who tops the Series Leaderboard will walk away with the bragging rights of becoming the APT Player of the Series (POS). They will win the POS Trophy, an APT ring, and a luxury watch. The first and second runner-ups behind the “Player of the Series” will also receive trophies.

The Main Event

The biggest draw at the inaugural APT India Online Series will undoubtedly be the ₹2 Crores GTD Main Event. Since this is the star attraction, it will begin towards the end of the series, i.e., January 20 onwards.

The ₹11,000 entry buy-in Main Event is a multi-flight event that comprises four starting flights.

>Day 1A – January 20 at 8:30 PM

>Day 1B – January 21 at 8:30 PM

>Day 1C – January 22 at 8:30 PM

>Day 1D – January 24 at 8:30 PM

Day 2 will take place on January 26, starting at 6:30 PM.

The first-ever APT India Online Series Main Event winner will be awarded an APT trophy and an APT ring in addition to the ginormous top prize.

Other Headline/Trophy Tourneys

While the APT India Online Main Event is hands-down a must-play tourney for any serious poker player, there are many more events that players would be wise to chalk out on their poker calendar.

In total, there are 12 APT trophies up for grabs!

> Kickoff ₹10 Lakhs GTD – January 15 at 5 PM

> Sunday Major ₹30 Lakhs GTD – January 17 at 7 PM

> Monday Major ₹30 Lakhs GTD – January 18 at 8 PM

> Mini Main Event Day 2 ₹50 Lakhs GTD – January 19 at 6 PM

> PLO Highroller ₹30 Lakhs GTD – January 19 at 8 PM

> Wednesday Major ₹30 Lakhs GTD – January 20 at 8 PM

> Championship Event ₹40 Lakhs GTD – January 21 at 8 PM

> Super High Roller ₹80 Lakhs GTD – January 22 at 8 PM

> Sunday Major ₹30 Lakhs GTD – January 24 at 7 PM

> Monday Major ₹20 Lakhs GTD – January 25 at 8 PM

> Tuesday Major ₹20 Lakhs GTD – January 26 at 8 PM

The Leaderboards

The series’s consistent winners will collect TLB points to become eligible for prizes – as Real Cash Bonus (RCB) – offered on the APT Leaderboards.

Daily Leaderboards

There is ₹2 Lakhs worth of prizes to be won every day as part of the Daily Leaderboards. With a total of 10 prizes, the leaderboard topper of the day will pocket a cool ₹50,000.

Series Leaderboards

The Series Leaderboard promises ₹28 Lakhs in cash prizes, and the player topping the rankings will walk away with an additional ₹5.50 Lakhs and the prestige of becoming the APT Player of the Series.

The leaderboard points formula is as follows:

Points = 10*[sqrt (A)/sqrt (C)]*[1+log (B+0.250]

Where A = Number of total entries, B= Buy-in and C= Player’s Position

Satty Your Way In!

There are going to be online satellites running round the clock on PokerBaazi from December 9 onwards. With buy-ins starting as little as ₹22 (step satellites), everyone has a shot at playing at the series.

Players can also satty their way into multiple events by winning the package sattys to the headline tourneys.

Keep following PokerGuru for more updates from the 2021 APT Online India Series!