 The inaugural PokerStars.net sponsored 2014 Beijing Millions concluded this past Sunday set a new record for the biggest live poker tournament outside the USA. The event was won by China's Chen Qin.
The poker tournament was the Asia Pacific Poker Tour's (APPT) first ever event in mainland China. It was held at the Beijing Star Poker Club from July 18-27 and the Main Event drew a massive field of 2,732 entries.
The tournament field is the largest ever outside of America, breaking a record set by the GUKPT Goliath event in Coventry, England, in 2013. This new record sets a new PokerStars record -- surpassing the previous PokerStars mark of 2,446 entries at the 2013 Brazilian Series of Poker tournament in Sao Paolo.
In a nice coincidence, the three largest poker tournaments to have taken place outside the USA were on three different continents, demonstrating the global appeal and growth of the game.
Largest Poker Tournaments Outside USA (by number of entries):
Rank / Event / Entries / Continent:
1. 2014 Asia Pacific Poker Tour Beijing Millions 2,732 Asia
2. 2013 Grosvenor United Kingdom Poker Tour Goliath 2,570 Europe
3. 2013 Brazilian Series of Poker Millions Sao Paolo 2,446 South America "We always believed that this would be a successful event but this result greatly exceeded our wildest expectations." said APPT President Danny McDonagh.
The 10-day poker festival was organized by the Beijing Sports Competitions Administration Centre, a division of the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Sports.
"It's a great honour for PokerStars and the APPT team to be selected to support this tournament." added McDonagh. "It's been a historical week. Not just the record itself but how it may change the future landscape for poker in China." |
