The Asian Poker Tour (APT) has announced that some of the world’s largest online poker rooms have agreed to support the tournament by including the 2009 APT into their featured lineup of qualifier tournaments. According to the APT, the iPoker Network, along with PartyPoker.com and EverestPoker.com, have recently committed to send their best players to some of its events programmed for the 2009 season. It means that the 2009 APT will get promotion on the third, fourth and sixth largest online poker rooms on the world. Some other top online poker rooms, including PKR.com, PokerTrillion.com, JBetPoker.com, World3DPoker.com and 888 Pacific Poker as well as the Microgaming Network and the National Poker League have also agreed to work with the organization based on the Philippines to promote the tournament though a series of online qualifiers and satellite events.

The Asian Poker Tour recently announced that its 2009 season will kick with the Manila event held at the Dusit Thani Manila Hotel in Makati, Philippines. The tournament will start on January 27^th and run though February 1^st, and will feature a $2,500 buy in. The last year's APT event attracted more than 300 players from all over the world; the

APT 2009

will have at least four major events on its schedule and it is expected to surpass last year's attendance. With the success of its two first events, the APT organizers are optimistic about its growing strength due to the large number of players expected to qualify through its recently acquired online poker room partners.

“With so many players coming in through our online partners, we are looking to exceed the number of players who participated in last year’s Manila event. The support of all of these online poker rooms is a testament to the growth of poker in Asia, especially the Asian Poker Tour.” said Chris Parker, APT Chief Executive Officer.