HomeWhen Day 1A of the APT-RWM Poker Finale 2014 Main Event ended, it was Sam Nee from Malaysia who took the chip lead among the 38 players who survived the day from the original 115 entries who signed up for the PHP 50,000 buy-in highlight tournament of the eight-day poker festivities at Resorts World Manila (RWM) in Pasay City, Philippines.
Sam Nee had the best chip-haul in Main Event Day 1A
For his impressive and consistent effort for the entire day, Nee will bring 165,500 in chips to Day 2, which is set on Monday (December 8). The Malaysian’s impressive exploits on the felt were recorded in APT’s Live Updates page; among them, his bullying tactics against Michael Falcon, whom he got a nice chunk of chips from. In this particular battle, Nee tank-called a Falcon bet on the turn then jammed it on the river against Falcon, who was forced to fold.
Nee was active all afternoon/evening, stealing raised pots pre-flop but his best move came against Jan-Eric Schwippert, who at this point was one of the big stacks, in Level 9 (blinds: 300/600/75) in a pre-flop raising war that ended up with both players shoving their stack.
Schwippert A♠ K♥ needed help against Nee’s 9♠ 9♦ and it was off to the races. The board ran out 2♦ 2♠ 10♦ Q♠ 4♦ and Nee climbed to roughly 135,000 in chips after the hand while Schwippert dropped to 3,000 and eventually busted out of the tournament.
Nee capped off his mighty Day 1A run with an easy bust-out of a short-stacked player— courtesy of bullets– during the final three hands of the day to take officially take over with the best haul for the opening day of the Main Event.
Completing the top five in chip counts are Mika Takayama (Philippines) with 133,200; Tsuji Yasuyuki (Japan) with 128,800; Chow Mun Fei (Malaysia); and Eric Sia (Philippines) with 97,100.
Other notable pros who will join those chip leaders are Eemil Tuominen (Finland) with 66,700; Raiden Kan (Hong Kong) with 65,900; Euryd Rivera (Philippines) with 55,900; Dhanesh Chainani (Singapore) with 40,900; Yosuke Sekiya (Japan) with 52,500; Linh Tran (Canada) with 66,800; Czardy Rivera (Philippines) with 39,000; Andrew Gaw (Philippines) with 30,600; and Andrew Nguyen (United States) with 10,800, among many others. For complete list of all qualifiers, go to the Day 1A Chip Counts page.
Meanwhile, Australian Bede Connelly won the No Limit Hold’em side event also on Saturday winning PHP 367,700 for his efforts.
No Limit Hold’em 1 Champion, Bede Connelly
Day 1B of the APT-RWM Poker Finale Main Event is scheduled to start at 1:00 PM on Sunday (December 7) with two side events also on tap. The Mix Game PLH/PLO event with PHP 16,500 buy-in is set at 3:00 PM. For the first time in APT history, there will be a Deuces Wild Turbo side event, which is set at 7:00 PM. For full schedule, check the Event Schedule page.