Yesterday, December 29, PokerStars, which is currently operating the most popular online poker platform in the world, introduced officially its second room for live poker tournaments in Asia. It is part of the so-called City of Dreams Manila. Executives stated that the room was launched on December 23.
Melco Crown Philippines Resorts Corporation, the company in charge of the above-mentioned integrated resort’s development, announced that PokerStars LIVE Manila will host various cash games and live tournaments at a total of fourteen tables.
Danny McDonagh, director of PokerStars’ live operations in the Asia-Pacific region, stated that they are particularly happy about the opportunity to work in partnership with City of Dreams. He also expressed his confidence that their joint project will certainly “take poker in the Philippines to new heights”.
At certain major events, such as the Asia Pacific Poker Tour Manila Poker Festival, more tables may be added to the fourteen permanent ones. It was also announced that there will be live tournaments every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. In addition, various special events are planned to be held next year.
PokerStars and other leading poker brands such as Full Tilt, the European Poker Tour, the Latin American Poker Tour, and the Asia Pacific Poker Tour are all operated by Rational Group.
Since the launch of PokerStars back in 2001, more than 100 billion hands have been dealt. What is more, the site has millions of registered users from all over the world, which makes it the most popular online poker platform.
As for City of Dreams, it was built by gaming operator Melco Crown Entertainment and Belle Corp., the latter being owned by business magnate Henry Sy. The integrated resort had its soft launch on December 14 and its grand opening is expected to take place before the Chinese New Year in 2015.
City of Dreams features six hotel towers and 950 rooms. The towers are operated by three popular hotel brands – Crown Towers, Hyatt Hotel, and Nobu Hotel. The integrated resort also offers to its visitors and guests a wide variety of restaurants, bars, and other entertainment options.
The casino venue features about 365 gaming tables, a total of 1,680 slot machines, and 1,680 more electronic table games.
It was last year when Belle Corp. announced that Melco Crown Entertainment, owned by Australian mogul James Packer and Lawrence Ho, will be in charge of its casino in the gaming complex at the Entertainment City. As previously mentioned, Lawrence Ho is the son of Asian businessman Stanley Ho, who became notorious for supposedly being linked to the Chinese organized crime.
