APF Spring Series canceled
Second Hanoi event scrapped in last 4 months
Running poker tournament series in Vietnam hit another roadblock this week after the Asian Poker Festival Spring Series was abruptly canceled.
The festival was set to kick off Monday, 8 April and run through 17 April. The cancellation now appears to come after the festival organizers cut ties with the Royal Poker Club, the group that partnered in running the series. This left organizers running an event that did not match a licensing request from the government.
“Due to the name of the tournament having to be changed, some information related to the organization was not matched with the license application anymore, so our license to organize the tournament was no longer valid,” organizers wrote on Facebook.
“Royal Poker Club (RPC) tried to resolve this issue, but due to the tight schedule, the organizing committee could not obtain a new license for this tournament.”
Latest Vietnam event cut short
The sudden cancellation no doubt left many players who planned on making the trip for the festival in quite a bind. A few players responded to the post that they’d already booked a flight and a hotel stay for the series, and some were already in the country.
The event’s organizing committee offered refunds for tournament packages and an additional $400 for those already on site. The group was also refunding those not yet in the country with an additional $200 as well.
“We sincerely apologize for this unforeseen circumstance and hope that our beloved players will understand and sympathize with the organizing committee’s difficult decision,” organizers said.
Last December, the Asian Poker Tour also canceled the Hanoi Billions series in the middle of the main event. This left many players puzzled and some speculated that the government was making it difficult to run a poker series in the country.
Event management paid out the 47 players remaining in the tournament based on chip stacks. Van Sang Nguyen, of Vietnam, was declared the main event winner based on having the most chips when the tournament was paused, earning the top payout of just over $180,000.
“The decision to cancel the remaining days of the festival has not been made lightly,” tour officials noted. “It is rooted in extenuating circumstances that have arisen, ones that, despite our utmost efforts, we are unable to overcome.”