Fight week was busy for me as usual, starting with a day long portrait shoot in Macau with the fighters. On the day of the event, I grabbed some environment shots of the arena a few hours early to document some of the behind-the-scenes and setup. Then, minutes before the fight it was on to our on-location studio to photograph the ring girls (tough job!), and then of course the 9-fight card itself. After the final bell we did some quick edits for press and media photos before catching our late night ferry back to HK. Hard work for me and my assistant but exciting and well worth it when I think from the perspective of documenting an evolving sport in one of the most rapidly growing regions of the world.

Here are some highlights from Legend 5:

Ring Girls Cupid, Gloria, Tiffany and Shannie

The ring a few hours before going live

Behind-the-scenes production

Hong Kong’s Vincent Siu

NZ’s Gareth Ealey throws a nasty elbow to Korea’s “Hungry” Yang

Knee from Yusuke Kawanago just misses Mark Striegl, but lands on the ground

Legend veteran Li Jingliang utilizing the jab versus Alex Niu

Ground and pound between South Korean Jo Nam Jin and Chinese Yao Honggang

I just arrived at the Grand Lisboa Poker Room to shoot the weekend of Macau Millions for PokerStars. I am picking up photography coverage at Day 1G and into Day 2. I was happy to hear that the event has broken through the 1000-player mark, which was not surprising news – just further indication that players in the region love their poker.

Here are some player photos from the Macau Poker Cup in February 2011.

 
Celina Lin, lovely as usual

Bryan Huang in his zone

I just got back to Hong Kong from Macau, where the Macau Poker Cup Championship (MPCC) at the Grand Lisboa wrapped up over the weekend. There were events throughout the week, including the 6-Handed High Rollers and the invitation-only Tournament of Champions. Amidst all of the action, crucial Asia Player of the Year points were up for grabs as Team Asia Pros Raymond Wu and Bryan Huang raced for leaderboard standings.

I was focused on shooting the main event, which included about 250 players competing over 4 days. Having setup a MacBook and netbook by the bloggers table, I was editing on the fly and uploading player photos to two displays in the poker room.

Hats off again to the PokerStars Macau team for organizing another successful event. You can also see some of my images on the PokerStars blog.

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Photographers-a-plenty at the kickoff festivities

Asia Player of the Year, Bryan Huang and Team Pro Raymond Wu signs an autograph

Women in full force

Jeff Lisandro and Joe Hachem

Tony Dunst

PokerStars’ Fred Leung

Julian Hasse takes down Kelly Flynn at the Main Event Final Table

I’ll be heading over this week to the Grand Lisboa to shoot the Macau Poker Cup Championship (MPCC) hosted by PokerStars Macau. I’ll be displaying player portraits on display screens at the front of the tournament poker room, so if you are in town come check it out or drop by to say hi.

Last week PokerStars Macau held its most successful Macau Poker Cup event to date at the Grand Lisboa poker room. The big story of the event was Japan’s Kenichi Takarabe, the last man standing in the Red Dragon main event. Takarabe overtook Team PokerStars Pro Bryan Huang of Singapore, who held the chip lead for most of the tournament.

Despite attending several poker events, I still have not managed to pick up the poker addiction. But even as a spectator I could not help but to appreciate the sheer passion for the game shared by all the players. Even the PokerStars Macau team (for the ‘regulars’ of the poker room, you would’ve at some point met Fred, Dom, Danny, and Roberto among others) run the tournament with a professionalism and love for the game that is truly admirable.

Among the players, the friendly competition and mutual respect for each other’s game were awesome to observe. The scene in the room actually reminded me a little bit of the photographer community – just a bunch of people doing what they love.

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A spectator watches over the tournament action

Team PokerStars Pro Celina Lin taking down a pot

Team PokerStars Pro Bryan Huang’s most loyal fan

Red Dragon main event final table: Kenichi Takarabe (Japan) vs. Bryan Huang (Singapore)