Arce heads Pinoys bid in World Poker

MANILA, Philippines - Reigning Asian Poker Tour champion Neil Arce leads a formidable group of Filipino poker players in competing in the main event of the World Series of Poker (WSOP) starting today at the Amazon Room of Rio All-Suites Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada.

The 25-year-old Arce, known in the poker world as the “Dirty Ice Cream”, is arguably the most successful poker player in the Philippines in terms of tournament winnings and finishes.

He rose to prominence after becoming the first Philippine-based player to finish in the money in the WSOP main event in 2007, coming out 222nd out of 6,500 players and cashing in more than $50,000.

Arce then ruled the third leg of the Filipino Poker Tour and pocketed the P1.1-million top prize.

But his biggest win came just last February, when he bested a tough field of 262 players from 40 countries to crown himself champion of the Asian Poker Tour held at the Dusit Thani Hotel in Makati City. The feat also earned him $185,000 or close to P9-million.

Arce, whose campaign is supported by The Metro Card Club in which he is a founding member, will pit his skills against thousands of poker players from around the world in this year’s edition of WSOP, where nearly $200,000 will be awarded.

The WSOP is an annual multi-event poker tournament held in Las Vegas since 1970.

Last year, the event attracted more than 58,000 participants with the biggest prize pools compared to any sport. In December, 2008 the WSOP was named the seventh most admired sports brand in North America by the Turnkey Team Brand Index trailing only the more established NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL, NASCAR and PGA Tour among sports properties.

This year’s series, which started last May 28, has a total of 57 events calendared, most of which are Texas Hold’em but also includes other poker variants such as the five-card stud, deuce-to-seven low ball draw, razz, Omaha, Omaha High-Low, five-card draw and seven-card stud.