Chino Rheem wins first WPT title

MANILA, Philippines -- (PRESS RELEASE) -- AsianLogic Plc, owners of The Asian Poker Tour would like to congratulate newly signed pro David 'Chino' Rheem on taking down first place and $1,538,730 at the WPT Doyle Brunson Five Diamond Poker Classic and Steve Sung on finishing fourth for $396,205. Chino inked a contract to join JC Tran, Nam Le, Quinn Do and Steve Sung in The Poker Pack last week. The Poker Pack is an elite team of top professionals who take part in big events on the world circuit.

Victory was sweet for Chino, who also finished seventh cashing for nearly $1.8 million at the final table of the WSOP Main Event in November.

Rheem said: 'It was amazing to take this tournament down and it was great to have so many of my friends sweating me at the Bellagio and online. Winning my first WPT title is very special and finishes off a great year for me. I also have to congratulate my good buddies Steve Sung and Amnon Filipe for finishing fourth and fifth and Nam Le for making the money'.

Chino fought his way through a field of 497 players over six days of tournament play but the final heads-up against Justin Young was an epic. After being dominated 14,100,000 to 8,185,000 at the start it took Rheem 151 hands to emerge with the championship. Chino had never cashed in a WPT Main Event before and certainly chose the right time to do it! Fellow member of The Poker Pack Steve Sung was the chip leader going into the final table and finished fourth cashing for $396,205 becoming the WPT's 99th millionaire in the process.

The Poker Pack was formed in the aftermath of the Asian Poker Tour event in Macau in August with JC Tran, Nam Le, Quinn Do and Steve Sung the first players to sign. Since then it has been non stop success for the newly formed group who have ripped up major events around the world. Highlights include a HK$3.7 million (US$473,915) win for Nam Le and final table for Quinn Do at a highrollers event in Macau, a huge runner's up cheque of $943,215 for Nam Le at the WPT Festa Al Lago and a brilliant win for JC Tran, who represented the Asian Poker Tour and PKR at the recent star-studded PartyPoker.com Premier League III in London. Now Chino's big win is added to the roster of consistent success. The Poker Pack recently took part in a special bounty tournament on PKR which broke all records for the next generation site.

Tom Hall CEO of AsianLogic Plc, owners of the Asian Poker Tour said: ' We concluded the sponsorship deal with Chino last week and what a start he has made to life in The Poker Pack! Chino is a great guy and thoroughly deserves this big win and we'd like to congratulate him as well as Steve and Nam on cashing at the tournament.'

The Poker Pack will be out in force at the Asian Poker Tour Philippines, which takes place January 27 – February 1 at the Dusit Thani Manila Hotel in Manila. The main event has a $2,500 + $200 buy-in and there are lots of ways to qualify online. The Asian Poker Tour is supported by iPoker Network, Titan, Dafa Poker, PKR, PartyPoker, Everest, 888, JBet Poker, 32 Red Poker, Japan 3D Poker and Everleaf Network. Full details can be found at http://www.asianpt.com/ The Poker Pack are also heading for the Aussie Millions at the Crown Casino in Melbourne in January http://www.aussiemillions.com/schedule.