HomeIn just four hours, the new APT Main Event champion emerged! Christopher “bigtime” Mateo entered the final 8 showdown in command and proceeded to crush the competition to capture his first-ever major career title and P4,376,000 (~USD 84,400). This is Mateo’s largest live tournament score and he won it right on home soil. With this win, he has now claimed the top spot in the APT Player of the Series leaderboard.
APT Player of the Series leaderboard
Christopher “bigtime” Mateo – Main Event champion
APT Philippines 2019 – Main Event – kicked off on April 26 at Resorts World Manila and ran a total of five days. It attracted a thunderous 503 entries (P55,000 buy-in) setting a new APT Philippines record turnout and prize pool of P24,395,500 (~USD 470,700). The final 8 players returned today to battle it out for the prestigious title. To relive the action, just head to APT Twitch or APT YouTube. We’ve got that uploaded for you. You can also read the brief recap below.
Final 8 recap
After a grueling 13-hour Day 3 that saw the field downsize from 70 runners to the final 8, Christopher Mateo was the man in charge. He amassed nearly one-third of the chips in play by cracking aces and used it today to eliminate 4 players on his path to victory.
The first two players to bite the dust at the final table were Jessie Supnet (8th) and Marvin Rettenmaier (7th). Both players were axed by eventual runner-up Lu Zhenghao. For Supnet, he entered the day as the shortest stack and couldn’t bring it up any further. He shoved on the small blind with J♠ J♦, was called by Zhenghao on the big blind with A♦ 6♠, an ace showed up on the window
Jessie Supnet
Rettenmaier lost a large chunk of his chips to Su Tianhong when pocket jacks ran into pocket kings. Zhenghao then shut out the German pro with A♠ 9♦ over Q♥ J♠.
Marvin Rettenmaier
Mateo’s first casualty was Keichiro Sugimoto (6th) whose short stack stayed under par. He risked it all holding 7♠ 7♦ only to fall to K♣ K♠.
Keichiro Sugimoto
Third placer Vamerdino Magsakay helped trim the field by knocking out Jung Seungmook (5th). Seungmook first lost two sizable pots to Mateo to drop down to 11 bbs. He then shoved with 10♣ 9♣ but couldn’t get past K♦ Q♦.
Jung Seungmook
With half the field gone, Zhenghao picked up a big pot against the leader on a five-bet uncalled shove preflop. However, a portion of it was lost when he doubled up Magsakay with top pair behind top two pair. Mateo, on the other, rose to 60% of the chips in play by ending Tianhong in 4th place with A♥ 10♥ over A♣ 3♠.
Su Tianhong
The three-handed round didn’t last long. The shortest stacked Magsakay became Mateo’s next victim. On a completed board J♦ 2♣ 4♦ 6♠ K♦, Magsakay check-raised all in on the flop with J♣ 7♣ and was snap-called by Mateo with Q♦ Q♥.
Vamerdino Magsakay
This brought about the heads up round. Mateo and Zhenghao immediately agreed on an ICM deal with P100,000 set aside for the winner. As soon as the duel began, it was instant action.
Zhenghao sniffed out a bluff to take the lead for the first time the entire Main Event however it was short-lived. Mateo reclaimed it and sped off from there. Despite Zhenghao doubling up his short stack twice, it was not to be. The final hand arrived with Mateo booting Zhenghao with A♦ 10♦ over K♣ Q♣ on a board 9♥ A♥ Q♦ 5♦ 5♥.
Lu Zhenghao
Congratulations to Christopher “bigtime” Mateo for his well-deserved victory!
Final 8 payouts
1st Christopher Mateo – Philippines – P4,376,000 (ICM deal)
2nd Lu Zhenghao – Singapore – P4,100,000 (ICM deal)
3rd Vamerdino Magsakay – Philippines – P2,357,100
4th Su Tianhong – China – P1,702,500
5th Jung Seungmook – Korea P1,273,200
6th Keichiro Sugimoto – Japan – P982,600
7th Marvin Rettenmaier – Germany – P780,300
8th Jessie Supnet – Philippines – P635,700
You can catch up on the previous qualifying days action via our Live Updates. Read up on how the last eight players earned their spot into today’s final heat, see who made the money, who bubbled, and other great hands that were witnessed.
Full APT Philippines 2019 results