HomeThe two million guarantee was crushed with a large turnout of 302 runners and Hiue Le from Vietnam wiped out that huge field to win the RWM Poker Fiesta 2M GTD, the first side event in the APT-RWM Poker Finale 2014 at Resorts World Manila (RWM) in Pasay City, Philippines.
RWM Poker Fiesta 2M GTD Champion, Hieu Le
For his efforts, Hieu won PHP 499,500, a lion’s share of the total prize pool which amounted to nearly PHP 3 million. The adjusted first place payout was off a three-player deal agreed upon by Le and two other contenders, Benjamin Lim (Philippines) and Norbert Koh (Singapore) both of whom took home PHP 457,650 as per the APT guidelines. The trio along with 33 others placed in the money in the event with an PHP 11,000 buy-in.
One of the key hands late in the final table when play was three-handed was when Lim and Koh went all-in pre-flop. Lim’s A♠ 4♦ trailed Koh’s A♣ K♥ but the flop 4♠ 5♠ 4♣ immediately gave Lim the improbable trio and the lead. The turn 7♠ and river 10♥ didn’t change anything to give Lim the big stack at this stage of the tournament.
However, Koh’s bad beat deserve another; this time, to his favor. Moving all-in with A♦ 9♦, Koh found a caller in the big blind Lim, who had pocket kings. The flop 2♦ 5♥ 4♠ gave Koh additional outs and he got it right on the turn 3♠ as it completed the straight. Koh, at this point, was back in the game.
Koh couldn’t hold on to those chips however as it was Le who did him in late. Holding king-seven on a flop that featured K♠ 10♣ 9♠, Koh shoved only to see Le table king-ten for two pairs to bust out the Singaporean. When play was heads-up, Le and Lim quickly went at it and shoved pre-flop with the Vietnamese’s A♦ K♥ against Lim’s pocket sevens. The flop and turn was safe for Lim but not the river ace as Le ran away with the APT side event title.
Meanwhile, action in the High Rollers side event with a PHP 108,000 buy-in also started play Thursday with 35 players joining the high-stakes tournament and creating a prize pool of roughly PHP 3.3M. Cut-off was at the end of Level 11 and only eight players remained to battle the PHP 1.32M High Rollers champion’s purse. Only the top five will place in the money in this side event.
Douglas Olsson from Sweden and John Tech from the Philippines enter the Final Day, which is set on Friday (December 5) at 2:00 PM, ranked first and second in the chip counts with 207,000 and 196,500, respectively. Below is the complete list of survivors and their stacks:
High Rollers Chip Counts
1. Douglas Olsson (Sweden) – 207,000
2. John Tech (Philippines) – 196,500
3. Katsuhiro Muto (Japan) – 111,500
4. Eemil Tuominen (Finland) – 107,500
5. Yo Doi (Japan) – 93,000
6. Sam Nee Aik Chuan (Malaysia) – 59,000
7. Jay Tolon (Philippines) – 45,500
8. Andrew Nguyen (USA) – 34,500
Also coming out as APT side event champs were New Zealand’s Slade Fisher taking down the Pot Limit Omaha Hi event for PHP 301,000 and England’s Sam Razavi winning the Ante Up for Charity event for PHP 96,000.
Pot Limit Omaha Hi Champion, Slade Fisher
Ante Up for Charity Champion, Sam Razavi
Razavi’s win in the charity event was one for the books; first he busted out Feng Zhao on the ITM bubble despite trailing pre-flop with Queen-Seven against Zhao’s Ace-Nine. Zhao ranks second to Razavi in the 2014 APT Player of the Year race but Razavi padded up his lead at the top with the victory. Razavi also had jack quads in busting out two players in the final hand of the tourney.
A third of the prize pool of the charity event selected by RWM, or PHP 120,000, will be donated to The Philippine Christian Foundation, an organization whose mission is to improve the quality of life of impoverished Filipino communities.
Side events on the third day of the APT-RWM Poker Finale 2014 on Friday (December 5) are the Head Hunter (with PHP 16,500 buy-in) and Open Face Chinese Pineapple (with PHP 8,800 buy-in) tourneys scheduled at 1:00 PM and 2:00 PM, respectively. “One Hand” satellites to the APT-RWM Poker Finale Main Event, which starts on Saturday (December 6) and Sunday (December 7), are also available all-day long. For full schedule check the Event Schedule page.