More than 2,000 players registered for the Nanjing Millions, organized by PokerStars, but on Day 1D the Chinese police suddenly shut down the tournament as the organizers were suspected of organizing illegal gambling.
PokerStars has been trying to get more involved in the Chinese poker market, and at the beginning of March they announced a ¥3,000 (roughly $500) poker tournament between April 14 – 19, the Nanjing Millions as a part of the Asia Pacific Poker Tour.
The guaranteed prize pool was ¥1.000.000, which is roughly $159,000.
The tournament started out as a huge success, 404 players registered for Day 1A, 692 for Day 1B and 684 for Day 1C. During Day 1B/1C the organizers even had to stop the tournament after 4 blind levels to make sure everyone receives a seat.
Players who couldn’t register for the tournament were pleased as PokerStars decided to host a fourth Day 1 (1D), but police soon interrupted the tournament. The authorities arrived and closed down the Jiangsu Wutaishan Sports Center, according to World Gaming Magazine (WGM) reporters, the tournament was shut down after the organizers were accused of organizing an illegal gambling event.
WGM tried to contact the organizers, which was the "PokerStars Macau at City of Dreams" team, as well as the president of the APPT, Danny McDonagh, but as of now, they haven’t commented on the issue.
Currently there are no arrests in the case, but according to WGM, the offices of the organizers were searched by the police and the venue was surrounded with police.
The Chinese gambling regulations are very complicated, last year APT China had to be cancelled shortly before the start of the tournament. The APPT Nanjing incident could have long lasting negative effects on the Chinese live poker scene, it’s unlikely that a big event like this will be organized in the near future.
