History Making Macau Action on Intermission

Rumor has it that the clutch of pros that stole APT Macau’s headlines two weeks ago with their high stakes action have finally checked out. The Starworld Casino’s poker tables have been returned to the usual local crowd, but many insiders have been hinting that the record-setting games could very well resume elsewhere, maybe even as early as this weekend.

Tom Dwan, Chau Giang, Phil Ivey and John Juanda got in on the action early, but when multimillion dollar pots started hitting the table, poker forums and news portals around the world lit up with questionable reports about who else was trying to grab a seat. The major players already mentioned above have been totally mum thus far on what’s been going down in Macau, but the general consensus is that a couple of those pros are going home considerably richer.

It all began when a couple of pros eliminated from the APT Macau’s Main Event wandered over to the Hard Rock’s regular poker room. When there aren’t events in town, Macau’s poker rooms are filled with a motley mix of locals, resident pros and businessmen. As it turns out, they eagerly accepted the new level of competition. Soon the action was so hot that even Tom Dwan, who still had a seat in the Main Event and was only a dozen players from the bubble, refused to leave the table.

Once the Main Event concluded, and the ring game became the big story, the players agreed to move to a less press-heavy location. But it didn’t take long for someone to leak the new location, and for days the poker press have been trying to get inside the now-fabled high stakes poker room at the Starworld Casino. The APT’s tournament director, Matt Savage, reported seeing at least $40 million in chips on the table.

While it’s safe to assume that Full Tilt teammates Ivey and Dwan were working together, what’s unknown is whether all the pros formed a coalition a la Ivey’s legendary Corporation crew, or if it was every man for himself. APT Chairman Tom Hall joined the game for several hands and provided some of the only reliable table-side information. Hall reported that Juanda left well up prior to the weekend, and that he himself was leaving the game almost $1 million in the black.

The end of the weekend spelled the end of the game…for now. Savage has since revealed that both Ivey and Dwan left the game well up, with the most popular reports estimating Dwan’s winnings in the range of $9 million. It’s not quite on par with Ivey’s $16 million take from his famous game against billionaire Andy Beal, but something tells us this story isn’t over yet.

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