HomeWarming up for the big one, Asian Poker Tour (APT) festivities opened Wednesday afternoon at the Level 2 Premier Club of Resorts World Manila (RWM) with the first side event of the APT-RWM Iron Man Poker Challenge this week.
NLH Rebuy and Add On Event Champion Soo Jo Kim
Kim Soo Jo from South Korea won the opening tourney or the NLH Re-Buys + 1 Add-On event. For his efforts, Soo Jo went home with $4,650 for drawing first blood this week.
Five players made the money in the event with a $150 buy-in including Lee Kwang Jin, who had to settle for 2nd place ($3,140); Ding Willy Fan (China) was at 3rd ($2,480); Samad Razavi (England) at 4th ($2,080); and Kristian Faering (Denmark) at 5th ($1,900).
When play was six-handed—or the dreaded bubble time—Soo Jo was down to 23,000 in chips or just roughly 5 big blinds. Then again, chip and a chair, he doubled up multiple times to survive what was looking like a losing proposition.
“I got lucky. Very, very lucky,” admitted the Korean. “I got lucky two or three times (after that).”
Four other side events are on tap later this week including the $300 No Limit Hold ‘Em side event on Thursday and the $2,500 High Rollers Event on Saturday. For full details, check out the complete Event Schedule.
APT-RWM Iron Man Poker Challenge Opening Day
Meanwhile, the APT-RWM Iron Man Main Event is set to start Friday, December 13th at 8:00 p.m. If the current record of 36 hours, 34 minutes and 41 seconds is to be broken, players will have to play until Sunday morning and a champion declared after 8:34:41 am of December 15th.
Players can still avail of the special rates at Remington Hotel located across RWM exclusively for APT-RWM Iron Man Poker Challenge participants.