HomeA booming start led to a record-breaking day of 338 entries at the $50,000 Guaranteed Opening Event of the Asian Poker Tour Philippines 2016. This massive turnout easily surpassed the largest APT opening event of 302 entries set in 2014; and with a full house heating up the poker felt all throughout the day at Resorts World Manila, the total prize pool escalated to $81,960. The eventual winner will scoop up a sweet $20,240 and the first trophy of the festival.
APT Executive Tournament Director, Lloyd Fontillas expressed, “It is great to see such a monstrous field with many regulars, new faces, and an overwhelming number of foreigners coming out today. The APT and Resorts World Manila worked hand-in-hand to announce this event well in advance, and we are glad it has reached players from all around the world. Anticipation is definitely very high now that we’ve raised the ante on the Main Event to $3,300. The Opening Event is definitely the kick start into preparing for the Main Event and earning enough to pay your way if you finish in one of the top four spots.”
Flight A Results
Michael Falcon leads Flight A pack of the Opening Event
Kicking off the Opening Event was flight A which saw a total of 149 entries. By the end of regulation play, only 31 players remained with Denmark’s Michael Kim Falcon claiming the top rank with a commanding lead of 255,500 chips. Coming in second rank was Filipino Luke Pangan with 164,600 chips, and rounding out the top three was Canada’s Zack Lazarus with 115,900 chips. Other players who also crossed the six-digit chip mark were Mohammad Samara from Jordan with 104,600 chips, and Korea’s Lim Yo Hwan with 101,700 chips.
Although there were many other notable players and regulars in the field, the only ones who joined the leaders at bagging were India’s Kunal Patni with 93,700 chips, Canada’s Linh Tran with 85,400 chips, and Korean players Byeong Cheol Kim with 97,000 chips, John Kim with 71,900 chips, Simba Jae Kyung with 52,800 chips, and SJ Kim with 38,000 chips.
Flight B Results
Ben Martin on top of Opening Event Flight B
Flight B is where the numbers really ballooned, turning up a total of 189 entries. Emerging as the flight’s leader of the 45 survivors was UK’s Ben Martin with 232,200 chips. Accompanying him in the upper part of the chip rung were Filipino players Michael de Leon with 176,300 chips, Edilberto Gopez with 170,300 chips. and Manuel Mascunana with 123,500 chips. Vietnam’s Nguyen Pho Danh also crossed the six-digit mark with 131,300 chips.
With this flight filled with many notable players, quite a number of them also survived the day such as China’s Zhinning Chen with 99,800 chips, Hong Kong’s Kit Kwan Kwok with 93,900 chips, Japanese players Yoichi Uesugi with 65,100 chips, Tetsuya Tsuchikawa with 61,700 chips, and Iori Yogo with a low stack of 15,500 chips. Filipino players Ian Brion with 59,000 chips and Joven Huerto with 58,500 chips also made the cut.
Throughout the day there were many notable pros who graced the felt yet a large number of them were unable to hold on to their chips. Players such as Thailand’s Thong Botho, Norway’s Kai Paulsen, Korea’s Kimura Lee Jong Yeol, Japan’s Gerard Bringley, Singapore’s Feng Zhao, Vietnam’s Julien Tran, and Filipino players John Tech, Mike Takayama, Lester Edoc, and JC Sayo all ran dry.
For the remaining 76 players, we will resume at 1pm tomorrow where we find out who will take home the first trophy of the APT Philippines 2016.
Tomorrow’s Side Events
A big day of side events is in store for everyone tomorrow. At 2pm, the Pot Limit Omaha High Rollers will be underway with a $2,200 entry fee. At 3pm, the Battle of the Nations event kicks off with a $440 team entry fee. Then at 7pm, the Ante Up for Charity caps off the night with a $150 buy-in. For more information on those events, just head to the APT Philippines 2016 schedule.