Could Macau Host $100 Million Poker Tournament?

According to several published reports, casino owners and other investors in Macau may be looking to take the poker world by storm by staging the largest poker tournament ever held. However, some doubt whether getting the kind of prize pool organizers are talking about is possible – even in the world’s largest gambling market.

Gaming Today has been quoted as reporting that a proposed tournament, tentatively known as the Macau Pro Am Open, is planned for the spring of 2013. The goal is an impressive and ambitious one to say the least: to create a prize pool of $100 million, with $25 million going to the winner – instantly making them the biggest all-time winner in the history of live tournament poker.

“This spectacular event will establish Macau as the poker tournament capital of the world,” said William Murray, an American businessman representing one of the companies interested in sponsoring the event.  “Macau is already the baccarat capital of the world, and now we are completing the other half of the puzzle, poker.”

According to Murray, the goal of the tournament would be to draw 500 or more players, with at least one-third of the field being made up to players from China and elsewhere in Asia. The rest of the field would hopefully come from around the world in the hopes of winning the massive prizes being offered.

However, many are already speculating that such an event would be impossible to organize – at least not without a massive overlay from the tournament’s sponsors.

As Card Player reported, other mega buy-in tournaments have generally attracted very small fields. For instance, an Aussie Millions high roller event with a buy-in of $250,000 drew just 20 players, while a $100,000 tournament at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure attracted only 38 entries.

Of course, having the tournament in Macau is an advantage, as there are plenty of wealthy Asian gamblers who may be willing to travel there to play. But even if the tournament drew a field several times larger than the previously mentioned events, that would still leave it with a prize pool that only makes up a fraction of the promised $100 million.

How or if the sponsors would be willing to make up this shortfall remains to be seen, but it’s certain that the Macau Pro Am Open is definitely a tournament that everyone will be keeping an eye on as 2013 grows nearer.