HomeDay 2 of the APT Philippines 2015 Main Event had 123 hopefuls when play started and only 27 remain in contention for the much-coveted Asian Poker Tour title. Play re-starts on Tuesday (April 21st) at 2:00 PM for Day 3 at the Resorts World Manila in Pasay City, Philippines.
After three competitive starting days and a cutthroat Day 2, it was the consistent and aggressive play of Vietnam’s Ha Duong, which got the attention of both the surviving players and the poker enthusiasts railing the main event.
Chip Leader Going Into Main Event Day 3, Ha Duong
After Day 2, The Vietnamese hauled in 755,000 in chips thanks to heady power plays that allowed him to grab the chip lead in the latter levels of play. Duong was responsible for at least three bust-outs of the day; his pocket nines against Inge Forsmo’s A♠ K♣, which hit nothing on a board of 5♠ 5♣ 3♦ 4♣ 7♣; his pocket jacks against Henrik Tollefsen’s A♣ K♥, which again hit air on a board of 6♦ 4♦ 3♦ Q♣ 9♦.
He also had a few speculative calls—going to war with 10♥ 7♥—and was up against Anthony Marasigan’s Q♠ Q♦. Like clockwork, Duong paired on the flop 3♣ 9♠ 7♣ and then tripped on the turn 7♦ that allowed him to eliminate Marasigan and add more stacks.
At this point, Duong’s stack grew to around 300,000 and apparently; he was just getting started as that stack more than doubled by the end of the day.
Perhaps not as large as Duong’s stack but as successful were; John Tech (Philippines) with 630,000; Feng Zhao (Singapore) with 552,000; Julius Malzanini (Germany) with 432,000; and Yoichi Uesugi (Japan) with 402,000. All five will lead the remaining survivors in Day 3 of the main event. For complete chip counts for Day 3, check the APT Team’s Live Update page.
The total runners for this tournament was set at 211 entries creating a prize pool of $409,300 with the lion’s share of $102,600 going to the champion. Tuesday’s Day 3 will play down to the last eight for the Final Table set on Wednesday (April 22nd).
WLS Deep Stack Turbo Champion, Cai Xiujuan
Meanwhile, Cai Xiujuan of Singapore won the WeLoveSport Deep Stack Turbo event for $4,690 also on Tuesday.
Two more side events are on tap on Tuesday (April 21st); the Monster Stack NLHE with $770 buy-in and the Deep Stack Turbo with $165 buy-in with $165 buy-in at 3:00 PM and 6:00 PM, respectively. For details, check the Event Schedule page.