A Shame to Be Home

Last night I arrived home, after 28 hours, from Cebu. Cebu is the "second city" of the Philippines and played host to a 2009 APPT stop. In 2008 I referred to the Philippines as the Mexico of Asia (or, at the very least, Manila as the Tijuana of the Philippines). The location where the APPT event was held in 2007 and 2008, in the heart of the Malate section of Manila, could charitably be described as "sketchy" outside the walls of the hotel. This year the event was at a resort in Cebu. It sounded great in theory, but after my experiences at the "resort" in Cyprus for WPT Cyprus, I was skeptical that the Cebu resort would live up to the hype.

Boy was I wrong.

Everything about the week -- from the room, to the food, to the entertainment and the service -- was over-the-top amazing. Things kicked off on Tuesday night with one of the better PokerStars parties I've been to (and I've been to a score of EPT, LAPT and APPT parties). It was beach-side, with live music, fireworks, fire dancers, APPT models for company, a full open bar and more food than I would have believed possible. There was a whole roast pig AND a whole roast calf. The party was followed up by an after-party at another spot on the resort where a DJ mixed dance music for a few more hours.

We then had two nights "off" -- one I spent at the resort, the other in Cebu City with Mark Vos, Tony Dunst and a few random poker players -- before a party on Friday night at a club in Cebu City that was hosted by the Metro Card Club, a local partner of the APPT and the FPT. Saturday and Sunday nights wound up being late nights at the resort's ocean-front bar, soft ocean breezes keep things just cool enough.

We even had the added benefit of the Pacquiao-Cotto fight, on a large projection screen, in the tournament room Sunday morning before the final table began.

Of course the poker itself was exactly what we've come to expect from TD Danny McDonagh and his team. Cash games were running non-stop allowing with side events and a Main Event with an excellent structure that made for nine-hour working days. In the poker industry, a nine-hour day is blessedly brief.

My hat's off the APPT President Jeffrey Haas and his crew for putting together an outstanding and wildly successful event. The general consensus amongst many of the players was that Cebu would be an event they would not miss next year. Haas himself said he would be willing to be that the APPT could improve on this year's 319 players and top 500 next year.

I wouldn't be surprised at all.