The latest Pokerstars Asia Pacific Poke Tour was held at the Grand Waldo Hotel in Macau last weekend. Organized in grand style with an impressive oriental feel generated through an opening ceremony replete with gongs, drums and a Chinese lion dance before international poker veteran Scotty Nguyen made the traditional shuffle up and deal call, the tournament attracted 352 entries.

Lots of professional players such as Joe Hachem, Liz Lieu, Isabelle Mercier, John Juanda, Jeffrey Lisandro and Bertrand Grospellier were eager to win the $225 640 main prize. By day 2 the number of stars had decreased to 74. Among the stars to continue the game were  Scotty Nguyen, Joe Hachem, Bertrand Grospellier, Bill Chen and Internet hotshot Hevad ‘Rain’ Khan.

The game was rather tough even for the pros. Eventually 9 people with the following chip counts took part in the final table: Dinh Le (710 000), Guillaume Patry (575 000), Ivan Tan (549 000), Bertrand Grospellier (455 000), Sangkyoun Kim (422 000), William Tan (293 000), Liz Lieu (232 000), Simon Randall (159 000), Joe Hachem (130 000).

Finally, the relatively unknown Dinh Le became the winner. He took home the title and the $225, 640 main prize. Ivan Tan took the second place and the check for $129, 536.