The Asian Poker Tour (APT) will now be live streamed in the Chinese language, thanks to a new deal signed with the Hong Kong Poker Players’ Association (HKPPA). The new deal will see some of the events of the Asian Poker Tour be streamed to fans of the game in mainland China and Hong Kong.

The Hong Kong Poker Players’ Association has a channel on the Chinese online streaming platform Douyu, with this channel being used to broadcast gameplay during various APT events.  The first event that will be live streamed is the APT Championship Philippines 2018. This event will begin this month, starting on the 21st of March and continuing through the 2nd of April. Resorts World Manila will be hosting the event.

GGRAsia spoke with the managing director of the HKPPA, Stephen Lai, who stated that the negotiation of live streaming for some of the Asian Poker Tour events took time to complete, with the APT seeing that the HKPPA could provide a good platform for the poker streaming. The HKPPA will be providing cashless satellite games via their poker room to help support APT events during the year. These satellites will begin with the APT Championships Macau 2018.

According to Lai, the group used Facebook in the past for streaming but moved to Douyu over the past few months as the streaming service can reach a wider audience in mainland China. The HKPPA is also working on promoting the game of poker as a sport in the region of Hong Kong, along with trying to change the perception of the game.