HomeThe tables are now empty, the chips have been stowed away, and the Asian Poker Tour Experience Manila 2016 has come to a close at the APT Poker Room in Waterfront Manila Pavilion Hotel and Casino. After nine days of poker action, the festival saw well over a thousand players representing 24 countries around the globe for an overall prize pool of P11 million.
Despite losing one of their pioneers, Sim Jae Kyung aka Simba, for a teaching position abroad, the Koreans stole the show throughout the festival, taking home eight of the side event trophies plus the championship Main Event trophy, which was captured by Gyeong Byeong Lee. Lee earned the biggest cash prize of P1,574,000. Japan also fared well with five trophies in the bag.
There were quite a number of Korean players who posted multiple cashes, such as SJ Kim winning the Ante Up for Charity event on his birthday and a second place finish at the Monster Stack event, losing to Lee Jong Yeol who bagged his first APT trophy of the year; Jae Chul Chang also did well, cashing in the Six-Handed Turbo with a 4th place finish, a 6th place finish at the Main Event, and a trophy at the Battle of the Nations team competition. Two-time APT Main Event champion Jeon Seung Soo earned some good profit with a 2nd place finish at the OFC Pineapple 24 max, a 2nd place finish at the Battle of the Nations, and a 5th place finish at the Main Event .
But it wasn’t just the Koreans posting some high marks, Singapore’s Lim Yah Loon claimed two side event trophies winning the NLH 1 Day event and the OFC Pineapple High Roller event. Loon nearly landed a third trophy at the Pot Limit Omaha High Roller, shorting out in second place. Canada’s Linh Tran also shelved another APT trophy for winning the Head Hunter event plus two additional cashes, a 5th place cash split at the NLH 1 Day event and a 4th place finish at the Main Event.
The man from Japan, Iori Yogo
The man who earned the most recognition however was Japan’s Iori Yogo who cashed in four events, namely, a 4th place finish at the Monster Stack, 2nd place at the WeLoveSport Deep Stack Turbo, 2nd place at the High Roller event, and a 1st place win at the 6 Handed event. With these achievements Yogo jumped into the first-ranked position of the APT Player of the Year 2016 standings, surpassing UK’s Samad Razavi.
High Rollers Champion, Michael Falcon
The closing day saw three players claim the remaining side event trophies. At the High Rollers event, Denmark’s Michael Kim Falcon and Japan’s Iori Yogo faced off for the P630,000 first place prize money. The last time these two players were in this same situation was at APT Cebu 2016 with Yogo scalping Falcon for the trophy at the Head Hunter event. This time however the roles would reverse with Falcon taking it all the way to the finish line, dusting Yogo in second place.
The 6 Handed Turbo turned up 39 entries for a prize pool of P378,300. The heads up match was reached when Jun Saito to was railed by Japan’s Iori Yogo in third place. Yogo then faced Englishman Sam Welbourne with the latter having the bigger stack. Yogo eventually overtook Welbourne in chips and finished him off with a wild final hand, Yogo with K♣ 9♣ and Welbourne with 7♣ 7♠ on a board of K♥ 4♥ 9♠ 7♥ 9♣.
Deep Stack Hyper Turbo Champion, Kosugi Wataru
The final event that wrapped up the APT Experience Manila 2016 was the Deep Stack Hyper Turbo event with 36 entries and a prize pool of P174,600. After Japan’s Kosugi Wataru eliminated Singapore’s Ho Bai Qiang as the bubble, the remaining five players opted to strike a deal. At the heads up round, Wataru defeated fellow countryman Taehyun Park to capture the last side event trophy and P47,600 in cash.
Congratulations to all the winners of the APT Experience Manila 2016! The APT would like to thank everyone for their continued support. Our next stop is the APT Cambodia 2016 running from June 15-23 at the Queenco Hotel and Casino in Sihanoukville, Cambodia. After that, we will be back in Manilla for the APT Philippines 2016 II at Resorts World Manila taking place from July 19-27, 2016. So mark those dates down and see you at the next APT!