HomeWith the final three trophies awarded to its happy victors, the Asian Poker Tour concluded its eighth event of the year, the APT Poker Weekend Series Manila 2016. The nine-day festival ran from August 9th-17th at the APT Poker Room in the Waterfront Hotel & Casino attracting an overall total of over 1400 entries, 350 unique players, 23 countries represented, and an overall prize pool reaching nearly PhP16.2 million.
John Kim is APT Poker Weekend Series Manila 2016 Main Event Champion
From the starting deal to the final cards dealt, there were many thrilling moments witnessed throughout the series. The first one that deserves all the glory is Korea’s John Kim, the newest APT Main Event champion. Kim overcame a very tough hurdle at the tournament, defeating the defending champion of the weekend series, Japan’s Gerard Bringley. It was an impressive performance from both players entering the final day as the top two chip leaders then facing off at the final heads up round. Kim outlasted a field of 216 entries to ship in a massive PhP1,132,000 in cash and his first Main Event title. Additionally, Japan’s Aso Seitaro went on a back-to-back Final 8 appearance having placed 7th at the series and 4th last month.
Another big crowning achievement was at the High Rollers Event which saw a turnout of 43 players for a prize pool that swelled to over P2M. There were many Asian circuit pros in attendance with Canada’s Linh Tran rising to the top. Tran also cashed at the Main Event finishing in 12th place.
There was one player who bagged two trophies and it was a newcomer to the APT scene, Singapore’s Ceesvin Abdulla. Abdulla won his first trophy at the Head Hunter event then shelved a second one at the Open Face Chinese Pineapple event.
Sam Razavi and Iori Yogo, top two in the current APT POY standings
The APT Player of the Year 2016 race saw lots of mobility both in numbers and in players climbing up the ranks. Since May 2016, two players have dominated the race with Japan’s Iori Yogo overtaking UK’s Samad Razavi that month. Two APT festivals later, Yogo is still sitting high above, and in this series, he surged even further ahead after placing 3rd at the Opening Event, 6th at the Head Hunter event, and 2nd place at the NLH P500K Guaranteed. As for the defending champion of the APT POY race, Razavi, he also made up some ground cashing in four events. He won the No Limit Hold’em 2 event, placed 4th in the OFC Pineapple event, another 4th in the Deep Stack Turbo 1 event, and 5th in the NLH P500K Guaranteed.
While those two players are way ahead of the rest, Main Event champion Kim and Korea’s Lim Yohwan showed the biggest jumps in ranking. Kim zoomed up from the 11th spot at the start of the series to the 5th spot. He now leads the APT POY Regional race for Korea ahead of Kimura Lee Jong Yeol by just one point. For Yohwan, he shot up from 15th to 11th after placing 3rd in the Opening Event and 2nd in the High Rollers.
Filipino Elmer Kalaquian steals away with the NLH P500K Guaranteed title
NLH 500K GTD Champion, Elmer Kalaquian
The NLH P500K Guaranteed resumed today with 32 players returning for the race to the trophy. Leading the bunch with the largest stack was Korea’s Byung Il Park who could not dodge today’s heat and burned out before seeing any dividends. On the complete opposite end of the rung was Filipino Elmer Kalaquian who defeated Iori Yogo at the heads up round to run away with the trophy and the biggest pot of the day, PhP123,800. Kalaquian held the chip lead at the heads up round after Filipino pro Mike Takayama was railed, but doubled up Yogo when his pocket fours didn’t improve against pocket queens. The final hand was a dominating one for Kalaquian with his pocket kings way ahead of Yogo’s pocket eights. This is a massive win for Kalaquian who not only denied Yogo a trophy in the series, but also denied Takayama (3rd place), Renniel Galvez (4th place), and Samad Razavi (5th place) a second trophy at the festival.
Japan’s Naruyasu Ota wins the 6 Handed Turbo w/Antes
6 Handed Champion, Naruyasu Ota
The second to the last event of the festival, the 6 Handed Turbo w/Antes, saw 28 players for a prize pool of PhP271,600. After the bubble burst, Japan’s Oyama Masaharu and Korea’s Dong Hyun Kim fell next leaving Japan’s Naruyasu Ota and Korea’s Jeon Seung Soo at the heads up round. Ota won a big pot with his 7-9 straight to take the lead in chips then sailed to victory with his 6-8 landing two pair against Jeon’s A-8. Ota earned the PhP116,800 first place purse and the event trophy.
Korea’s Jang Han Wool wins the Hyper Turbo
Hyper Turbo Champion, Jang Han Wool
The last event of the series, the Hyper Turbo, saw 22 entries for a prize pool of PhP106,700. Hung Sheng Lin finished in 4th place, cashing in his second event of the series. Peter Wittmann took third place, while Peru’s Yohn Paredes and Korea’s Jang Han Wool battled it out for the trophy. With a massive chip advantage, Wool got the better of Paredes and picked up the last trophy of the festival including the PhP45,900 first place cash.
With all the awards finding their owners, the APT PWS Manila 2016 officially wrapped up and closed its doors. You can relive the series by watching the daily highlights and some of the recorded events in the APT YouTube channel. There are also blow-by-blow action moments of the Main Event in the Live Reporting section of the website.
The APT would like to congratulate all the winners and thank everyone for supporting the festival. Our next stop is the APT Philippines III on September 14-22, 2016 at Resorts World Manila in Newport City, Philippines. See you all there!