The Asian Poker Tour (APT) has announced that its first event for next year will take place from January 27 to February 1 at the Dusit Thani Manila Hotel in Makati, Philippines.

January's buy-in will be $2,500 with the APT stating that interested parties should contact their local or online poker room for information on scheduled satellites. The Tour revealed that it has plans to organise at least four major events in 2009 with further announcements being made next week.

'The APT has already held two major events this year, APT Philippines and APT Macau," said Chris Parker, Chief Executive Officer for the APT.

"After consultation with players, online partners and sponsors a comprehensive schedule is now being planned for 2009 to successfully meet the needs of all concerned. We are looking forward to enhancing poker's presence in Asia.'

This year's APT for the Philippines was held in May and attracted 316 global poker players, a figure that organisers are hoping to surpass at next year's event. Held at the same venue as the upcoming competition, the APT featured a one million dollar guaranteed prize pool alongside other attractions such as Asia's first 13-card poker tournament. Australian professional poker player David Saab won the main event and walked away with a $280,000 top prize.

The event in the Philippines was followed by a competition in Macau, which was held late in August, and featured an even bigger guaranteed prize pool of $1.5 million. US-based player Yevgeniy Timoshenko won this in the end.