PROJECT POKER | APPT9 Macau: Bryan Huang is secretly taking over the Asia-Pacific

When you’re a Team PokerStars Pro it’s not often you get overlooked or unnoticed.  But with so many incredible stories on the Asia Pacific Poker Tour this season (Phil Ivey wins his third Aussie Millions $250K Challenge, Yuguang Li wins two titles in two days), Bryan Huang has gone under the radar while managing to make the Top 13 on the three most prominent Asia-Pacific ranking systems.
Huang, is presently No. 7 on the GPI Asia-Pacific Rankings, No. 9 on the Australia-New Zealand Player of the Year Leaderboard, and No. 13 on the Asia Player of the Year Leaderboard.  To put that in perspective, there are 1,118 ranked players amongst the three leaderboards.
The 30-year old Singaporean has surged up the rankings after making the main event final tables at ANZPT Perth and APPT Seoul in addition to cashing in the Aussie Millions Main Event.  However, Huang hasn’t displayed any sort of satisfaction despite his current standing.
“They aren’t impressive enough…you either win or don’t win.  Nobody remembers No. 2.” responded Huang when asked about his accomplishments thus far in 2015.  “With that being said, I’ll do right by myself and go for it.  That’s the main reason why I always put in volume…to give myself a shot.  That way I won’t be disappointed if I finish 2nd or 3rd or whatever because I know I gave it 100% and left nothing on the table.”
“Hopefully, May will change things after APPT Macau.”
Huang won the Asia Player of the Year (APOY) title in 2010 but, like many other winners, hasn’t been able to string together a solid season the past two years where he’s finished outside the Top 100.
“Burnout is a massive factor.” suggested Huang on why APOY winners struggle afterwards.  “For me, I was playing online, sleeping three hours, then playing a live tournament and then rinse-repeat.  Now I focus on either live events or online but rarely both.”
“I also have a very fulfilling life outside of poker.  My time is so busy now that when I go to a poker tournament it’s like a way to de-stress and I feel so in the zone…Zen-like.”
Having the experience of knowing what it takes to win a ‘Player of the Year’ title certainly gives Huang an advantage – particularly in preparing his schedule on how best to achieve the ultimate goal.
“The GPI Asia-Pacific ranking is more or less a product of the ANZPOY or APOY so my chances go up if I do well in those two leaderboards.” said Huang.  “Planning is important but you can’t look too far ahead either.  You can only win what’s in front of you and for me, that’s getting myself ready for APPT Macau in two weeks.
APPT Macau takes place at ‘PokerStars LIVE at the City of Dreams, Macau’ from May 20-31, 2015. Fred Leung