172 entries for Main Event Day 1B with Jack En Ching Wu leading; Paolo Araneta wins the NLH 1 Day Event

Day 1B of the Main Event is a wrap! The APT Philippines Championships 2018 at Resorts World Manila concluded the last starting day of the APT Main Event with 172 total entries. Putting aside Day 1A’s numbers for the moment, Day 1B turnout alone already obliterated the PHP 8 Million Guarantee. This means, players that make it through will be eyeing a very juicy prize pool.

Day 1B closed with 99 players remaining and Chinese Taipei pro Jack En Ching Wu at the helm with 119,675 in chips. This was a strong showing for Wu who finished 3rd last year at the APT Finale Macau Championships Main Event.

Main Event Day 1B Chip Leader, Jack Wu

Unlike Day 1A which saw several players go over the 100K marker, at Day 1B only Canada’s John Beveridge joined Wu with his stack of 103,400. A couple of players did come close, Netherlands player A.M.V.D. Ende with 99,925 and Marius Zalyps with 99,700.

Day 1B also brought 12 decorated APT major title-holders to the felt with a majority of them making it through, namely:  Jeon Seung Soo, Gyeong Byeong Lee, Gerard Bringley, Alecz Chan, Iori Yogo, Linh Tran, Hisashi Ogi, Huu Dung Nguyen, and In Chul Sin.

Other notable pros also in the list were Tetsuya Tsuchikawa, Hung Sheng Lin, Kai Paulsen, Euryd Rivera, Lester Edoc, Victor Chong, Michael Soyza, and Markus Garberg.

All of the starting day survivors will merge in Day 2 for their next round of competition. Action kicks off at Level 9 with blinds at 300-600 ante 75. For players wanting to get in the action, late registration is still open however it will close at the start of Level 10. We will have the official prize pool for you once we reach the freezeout stage.

You can view the chip count in the Live Updates section of the website or in the APT Facebook page. 

Paolo Araneta wins the NLH One Day Event

What a great finish to the NLH One Day Event! There were 91 entries ponying up the Php11,000 buy-in for a Php882,700 prize pool. On the 10th hour of play, it had finally reached the heads up round and it was between two players from the Philippines, Paolo Araneta and Richard Nakila. Impressively, both players entered the final 8 as the runts yet finished in the top two. Closing out the tournament was Araneta who dominated Nakila. He captured the Php223,100 first prize money and his first-ever APT event trophy. 

NLH One Day Event 1 Champion, Paolo Araneta

You can catch the Final 8 action in the APT Twitch station or APT YouTube. For now, we’ll just give you a short recap on the heads up round starting with the failed bluff by Araneta. On a raised pot preflop and a flop running 10 6 8, Araneta called Nakila’s bet, then called as well on the 3 turn. On the J river, Araneta fired out a sizable bet and after tanking, Nakila called. This exposed Araneta’s 7 4 bluff and Nakila won the pot with his 10 2 pair. This put Nakila up 4.5:1 and Araneta down to 10 bbs.

Despite the disadvantage, Araneta took command. He won the next five hands with the betting round only getting as far as the turn. After two more sizable pots going his way, the last hand was dealt. Nakila had A J and Araneta Q Q. No hits came for Nakila and Araneta claimed the title.

Additionally, during the bubble round with 17 remaining, eventual champion Araneta was in danger of elimination. He was down to around 3 big blinds and pushed all in with A 10. He was challenged by Eric Wasylenko with J 9 and with the board running 2 4 9 K A, he was saved by the river and went on to glory.

Final 8 payouts 
Prize pool: Php882,700 / 16 paid
1st Paolo Araneta – Philippines – Php223,100
2nd Richard Nakila – Philippines – Php148,700
3rd Anacleto Quijano – Philippines – Php103,100
4th David Chargualaf – Guam – Php74,400
5th SJ Kim – Korea – Php56,000
6th Eric Wasylenko – Canada – Php43,700
7TH Ong Jingxiang – Singapore – Php35,600
8th Carlo Calingasan – Philippines – Php30,100