What a weekend. The Singapore Poker Championships VI drew to a close late Sunday evening, and for the first time, some of the final tablers and tournament staff were in danger of missing the last ferry. The cruise’s air-conditioning was also experiencing some ailment over the weekend and, in spite of their best efforts, the ship’s engineers were unable to manipulate the temperature below 25 degrees. Despite the unsettling conditions, one seasoned campaigner was heard to declare, ‘I go to war in any weather’. Such is the resilience of the poker player.

The prospects for a decent size field and prize-pool looked very good when the SPC hit its first Flight 1A sell-out in the $400 era, with 15 alternates waiting by the wings. By the time the dust had settled on late entries and re-entries in Flight 1B, the SPC had set a new Main Event personal best of 295 runners. Best of all, the 102,000 prize-pool smashed the previous best of 87,000, entailing a champion’s purse of $20,000.