Manny Pacquiao Honoured With Own World Poker Event

Following a deal struck last week, the Asian Poker Tour (APT) has now announced it is to hold a new official APT Accredited Event called The Manny Pacquiao World Poker Event on December 7th to 12th in the Philippines.
The World Champion boxer Manny Pacquiao is a national hero in his native Philippine, and is the only boxer ever to have won world titles in eight different weight divisions, from Flyweight (less than 112lbs) to Super Welterweight (less than 154 lbs).
Currently, the ten times world title holder is the WBO Welterweight World Champion and is rated as the best pound-for-pound boxer in the world.
As well as being a much respected politician in his own country, Manny Pacquiao’s other interests also include playing poker. In the Philippines, gambling is not viewed with the same critical eye as some nations, and as one poster on the TwoPlusTwo forum put it:
“With the money, jobs and pride this guy brings to his country every day, they will probably let this one slide. Also, they probably are not scrutinizing every little moral issue like us Americans.”
Over the year, Pacquiao has been spotted at various poker venues, such as at the  Commerce Casino is Los Angeles ahead of a big fight against Shane Mosley, where he was seen playing $100/$200 no limit hold’em. He’s also played some of the game’s top pros, such as Justin “Boosted J” Smith and Roland De Wolfe.
Manny Pacquiao will now be pleased to have his name added to the APT Accredited Manny Pacquiao World Poker Event, to be held at the Pan Pacific Hotel’s Asia Poker Sports Club in Malate, Philippines.
Tournaments featured at the inaugural six-day event include a PHP 500,000 ($11,578) buy-in High Rollers, PHP 11,000 ($255) buy-in PLO event and a PHP 50,000 ($1,158) buy-in Main Event.
Commenting on the upcoming tournament series, Asian Poker Tour Tournament Director, Lloyd Fontillas said:
“The APT is obviously proud to be ensuring its popular and trusted protocol is followed at the Manny Pacquiao World Poker Event. I’m sure it will be a pleasure working with such a respected personality as Manny and we’re looking forward to seeing a large turnout come December 7.”