HomeIt was booming Saturday afternoon at the APT Championships Philippines 2017 with a huge 170 entries for Day 1A of the Main Event held at Resorts World Manila. There were many well-known pros and decorated players scattered throughout the field with many making it through the day. Rising above the 90 remaining players was Germany’s Andre Peh who closed the day with the largest stack of 183,625 in chips.
Main Event Day 1A Chip Leader, Andre Peh
With no prior APT cashes nor postings, Peh may well be a newcomer to the APT circuit. Peh was seated at a very tough table with the likes of SJ Kim, Kosei Ichinose, and Hajime Iwakura. These notable players also made it through the day’s challenges.
Some of the other survivors included UK’s Daryl Green running second in chips with 131,700, India’s Aditya Sushant with 124,750 ranked third in chips, and Guam’s Annie Bordallo with 115,625. These were the only players to cross into the six-digit chip range. There were several past APT Main Event champions also happily bagging up chips; Iori Yogo, Hisashi Ogi, Czardy Rivera, Katsuhiro Muto, Julius Malzanini, In Chul Sin, Shinichiro Tone, Feng Zhao, and Alexis Lim.
For those unable to participate today or were not so fortunate at the tables, there is one more starting day to get in the Main Event. Day 1B begins at 1pm tomorrow, Sunday, April 30th. Players may also attempt for multiple stacks, and if successful, only the largest stack will advance.
Kim Gab Yong wins the Head Hunter event
Head Hunter Champion, Kim Gab Yong
The Final 8 players of the massive 189 entry Head Hunter field returned to the floor today to determine who will prevail as the #1 bounty hunter. Korea’s Kim Gab Yong and USA’s Nick Gorman entered the day as the chip leaders and both would go on to face each other at the heads up round.
Between the two, Yong was clearly the more aggressive player. He dominated the final table all day and amassed an even larger fortress of chips after a lucky double up with pocket jacks improving to a set against eventual 5th placer Mark Pagsuyuin’s pocket aces. Gorman was definitely the more patient one, grinding for chips. At the heads up round, Gorman was able to even up the playing field but still, Yong’s aggression proved to be the charm. The final hand saw Yong defeat Gorman by once again cracking aces. The hand saw Yong with J♣ 7♦ and Gorman with A♠ A♦. The all ins were at the turn on a completed board of 8♥ 9♦ 7♥ 7♠ 8♦. Yong was awarded the USD 13,620 first prize, Gorman’s bounty reward, his own bounty, and the event trophy.
Final 8 Payouts:
1st Kim Gab Yong – Korea – USD 13,620
2nd Nick Gorman – USA – USD 7,840
3rd John Clyde Tan – Philippines – USD 5,330
4th Duong Vi Khoa – Vietnam – USD 3,810
5th Marquez Pagsuyuin – Philippines – USD 3,100
6th Keisuke Okamura – Japan – USD 2,500
7th Junichi Nakagiri – Japan – USD 2,010
8th Carlo Poblete – Philippines – USD 1,630
You can watch the Final 8 archived in the APT Twitch channel and the APT YouTube channel.