By Heath Cram

There is no charity on the felt where competitive professional poker is concerned, but today 9 of the most competitive names in the game will line up in the inaugural Asian Pacific Poker Tour Tournament of Champions.

The 9 player field will comprise of 4 Team PokerStars Pros, 4 World Champions and 4 APPT Champions, including yesterday’s 2007 APPT Grand Final Sydney winner, Australian Grant Levy. The players will be vying for the honour and glory of being the first ever APPT Tournament of Champions Champion, with a prize of $50,000 to the charity of each player’s choice, in a prestigious televised event.

The field and charities nominated are as follows:

Seating:

Seat 1 Ziv Bachar 2007 APPT Seoul Korea Champion -- Family Soldiers (Israel)
Seat 2 Grant Levy 2007 APPT Sydney GF Champion -- CARITAS
Seat 3 Greg Raymer 2004 WSOP Main Event Champion -- Bubel/Aiken Foundation
Seat 4 Scotty Nguyen 1998 WSOP Main Event Champion -- Homeless Children
Seat 5 Eric Assadourian 2007 APPT Macau High Roller Champion -- Salvos
Seat 6 Isabelle Mercier 2004 WPT “Ladies Night” Champion -- ALS Research Foundation
Seat 7 Chris Moneymaker 2003 WSOP Main Event Champion -- Memphis Humane Society
Seat 8 Brett Parise 2007 WPT Manila Champion -- Make-A-Wish Foundation
Seat 9 Joe Hachem 2005 WSOP Main Event Champion -- Shane Warne Foundation

Event Preview:



The all-star field has assembled and the cards are in the air, with plenty of poker to be played. Play will commence $100k starting stacks and the three 60minute opening blind levels. There will be no antes in the tournament.

Structure:

1 500 / 500 Duration: 60 min.
2 500 / 1000 Duration: 60 min.
3 1000 / 2000 Duration: 60 min.
4 1500 / 3000 Duration: 30 min.
5 2000 / 4000 Duration: 30 min.
6 3000 / 6000 Duration: 30 min.
7 4000 / 8000 Duration: 30 min.
8 6000 / 12000 Duration: 30 min.
9 8000 / 16000 Duration: 30 min.
10 10000 / 20000 Duration: 30 min.
11 15000 / 30000 Duration: 30 min.

Stay tuned for all of the action and photos, and visit http://www.apptlive.com/ for a live webcast of the event!