HomeThe Asian Poker Tour awarded two trophies today at the APT Philippines 2017!
The first one went to one of the country’s star players, Emmanuel Segismundo, who rose to the top of the heap in the Opening Event and the second one went to Japan’s Tetsuya Tsuchikawa for his victory at the Ante Up for Charity event. Here’s a recap on both of those events:
Emmanuel Segismundo reigns at the Opening Event
Opening Event Champion, Eman Segismundo
It was a heated day at the APT arena with the 44 remaining players out of the 136 total entrants returning to the Winford Hotel & Casino. With only 18 places paid, the game was nothing short of brutal.
To give you the scope of the action, the day’s entering chip leader, Del Ty, had some difficulty at the felt. In addition to losing chips by arriving late, he couldn’t get any momentum going, and exited well before the money round. Peerapong Jitwiwat who owned the second largest stack ran pretty well at the onset but as it got closer to the cash, he too had difficulty and busted out without any profit. Other notables who joined at the rail were Terry Gonzaga and Flo Campomanes.
The money began flowing when Tetsuya Tsuchikawa’s pocket kings eliminated a player in 19th place with ace-king drawing bricks. From there, bust outs were rampant and the Final 8 was reached with Joven Huerto denied a spot, falling in 9th place at the hands of Mark Jerick Almusajin.
Final 8 round to victory
The Final 8 round saw Michael Capinpuyan’s fluctuating stack finally get corked in 8th place. Tsuchikawa was eliminated in 7th place with K-Q pair unable to catch up to Naveen Tiruvalluri’s set of eights. Segismundo claimed his first final table victim by railing Joon Park in 6th place with a dominating 10-9 straight over Q-6 trips on a board that completed to K-Q-Q-J-7. The 5th place spot went to Gerardo Lubas III when the board turned his pocket sixes to a dead hand with two higher pairs on the community line.
With half the field out of the way, Almusajin jumped into a huge lead in a cooler against Christopher Gavan. It is well to note that Gavan entered the Final 8 as the dominating chip leader. He lost that lead with his K♦ K♠ running into Almusajin’s A♥ A♣. Although Gavan staged a strong comeback, he was still sent out in 4th place by Segismundo.
At three-handed Tiruvalluri doubled up through Almusajin when his J♥ 2♦ spiked a higher flush on the river against 10♥ 8♥ on a board of 5♥ Q♥ 4♥ A♦ 7♥ but it was all for naught as he tumbled out in 3rd place sending all his chips to Segismundo. The fateful hand was A-J drawing blanks against pocket jacks.
The final duel between Segismundo and Almusajin didn’t last very long. Almusajin putting his life on the line with 2♣ 2♠ and ran right into Segismundo’s 10♦ 10♠.
Final 8 payouts
1st Emmanuel Segismundo – Philippines – PHP330,000 (deal made)
2nd Mark Jerick Almusajin – Philippines – PHP259,300 (deal made)
3rd Naveen Tiruvalluri – India – PHP150,600
4th Christopher Gavan – Philippines – PHP109,900
5th Gerardo Lubas III – Philippines – PHP90,900
6th Joon Park – Korea – PHP74,900
7th Tetsuya Tsuchikawa – Japan – PHP61,800
8th Michael Capinpuyan – Philppines – PHP51,700
Tetsuya Tsuchikawa takes down the Charity Event
Ante Up for Charity Champion, Tetsuya Tsuchikawa
The Ante Up for Charity event for the benefit of the Rotary Club of Makati North (RCMN) “Feed a Child, Build a Nation” feeding program generated a PHP32,500 fund towards the organization. The rest of the cash went towards the prize pool which was fought over by the 13 players in attendance. At the bubble round with four players remaining, Tetsuya Tsuchikawa avoided elimination with a very lucky catch against chip leader Alexis Lim. Tsuchikawa had J♠ J♦ and Lim with K♣ K♠. The board ran Q♣ J♣ 4♣ 2♠ A♦. This catapulted the Japanese pro to the top and from there, he kept his stature.
Sung Ho Park bubbled in 4th place with Tsuchikawa delivering the pain. Park had J♦ J♥ and Tsuchikawa with A♦ 9♥. The board fell 3♠ 9♣ 7♥ A♥ 10♠. Brian McAllister settled for the first payout in 3rd place with pocket twos falling to Lim’s pocket nines.
The heads up match came and went in a flash with Lim all in holding K♦ J♣ up against Tsuchikawa’s 10♦ 10♣. The board spread 2♦ 5♥ 7♥ A♦ 10♥ and Tsuchikawa claimed the title plus the PHP32,500 first place purse.
Interestingly, as Joseph Sia pointed out, both side event winners – Segismundo and Tsuchikawa – closed it out with the highly active pocket tens.
Payouts
1st Tetsuya Tsuchikawa – Japan – PHP32,500
2nd Alexis Lim – Philippines – PHP19,500
3rd Brian Mcallister – Australia – PHP13,000
You can watch the thrilling Final 8 action of both events in APT Twitch.
We also have daily video highlights for you in the APT Youtube page so check those out as well.