HomeThree players came out as champions after the third day of the APT Asian Series Cebu 2014 in three side events held at the All-In Poker Club in Waterfront Hotel and Casino Lahug in Cebu, Philippines.
APT Asian Series Cebu 2014 Crowd
Curiously, and perhaps, serendipitously, two of the side event champions are real-life partners making the rare feat even more exceptional especially as the back-to-back wins happened on Valentine’s Day.
Kosei Ichinose from Japan won the High Rollers event whilst his girlfriend, Hazel Yuen Shan Chui from Hong Kong took down the Ladies of Poker title.
Real-life couple Kosei Ichinose and Yuen Chan Chui
win the High Rollers and Ladies of Poker events respectively on Valentines Day
“It is pretty special. This is our anniversary trip since we’ve become a couple,” said Ichinose. “Yeah, I am happy to win; and on the same day she won the ladies’ event, it is really satisfying.”
Ichinose outplayed six others who advanced to Day 2 of the high-stakes game and he did it in style as he entered the seven-handed play as one of the short stacked players with just 70,000 in chips. A total of 34 players signed up for the event with a buy-in of PHP 108,000.
The Japanese, who won a huge PHP 1,319,800 for his efforts, beat back-to-back APT Player of the Year Samad Razavi in the heads-up round.
Meanwhile, Yuen Shan Chui took home PHP 49,200 in the tournament exclusively for women. She beat 22 others on the way to her second APT Ladies of Poker event title after winning this same side event last year in Macau.
In the third side event of the day, the bounty-flavored DafaPoker Head-Hunter event Michael Falcon from Denmark beat a record-field of 179 runners to win the title worth PHP 352,200. The total number of participants in the tournament is the highest-ever for an APT side event in Cebu.
Michael Falcon takes down record APT Asian Series Cebu DafaPoker Head Hunter
Poker action continues Saturday, February 15th as the APT Asian Series Cebu Main Event Day 1A begins play at 1:00 p.m. One side event and two more satellite tournaments are also on tap later in the day. For complete details, view the APT Asian Series Cebu 2014 Events Schedule
