HomePASAY CITY, Philippines – The PhP15M GTD (US$264,105.00) Main Event of the ongoing Asian Poker Tour (APT) 2022 Philippines continues to draw significant numbers as for the second straight session, the entries eclipsed the one hundred mark even as the (Event #6) NLH Super Deep Stack Turbo (S-DST) and the second of the three PhP65,000.00 (US$1,145.00) Single-Day High-Rollers (Event #7) are nearing their riveting climax here at the Grand Wing Casino, Newport World Resorts.
The usual norm is that a Day 1B usually attracts less participants as most choose to play the last qualifier, but with entries now at (as of this writing) at exactly 102 at the break of the 6th level with players still able to buy-in until the end of today’s session, there remains a strong possibility that Day 1A’s turnout of 104 could be exceeded.
Among the notables in action here in Day 1B are India’s Abhinav Iyer who took down the “Closer” event in the 2019 World Series of Poker (WSOP) and the 2019 APT Vietnam Ho Chi Minh Main Event crown as well as compatriot Kunal Patni, who is in search of his first APT after coming away with sixteen previous cashes–twelve of which happened in the Philippines.
WSOP Bracelet winner Abhinav Iyer (IND) in action in Day 1B
On the local front, Mike Takayama–the country’s only WSOP Bracelet winner–along with veteran campaigners in 2-time APT champion JR “Rhen Holz” Villanueva, multi-titled Joseph Sia and newly crowned POPL Head-Hunter titlist Royly “Chipblaze” Oracion were also among those chasing a slot in Day 2 of the competition on Sunday, September 11th.
In the meantime, Masayuki Susuki of Japan bested a Final Table that had the most number of countries represented thus far and triumphed in the Super Deep Stack Turbo (Event #6) and getting PhP350,000.00 (US$6,162.00). His Heads-Up opponent, Du Yeonjeong from Korea, received PhP233,300.00 (US$4,107).
Masayuki Suzuki (JPN) wins the Super Deep Stack Turbo event and clams his first overseas title
The end came when Suzuki, a 56-year-old from Shizuka, decided to go for it with K9s and was called by Du holding Qc7d.
The flop of Js34d2c still had Suzuki ahead with King-high but the turn produced a 9c. Du needed to spike one of the three remaining Queens in the deck, but instead a 3c formalized Suzuki’s win and ending the winning streak by the Filipinos in this leg. Lee Hyungwon–also of Korea–won third for 162,200.00 (US$2,855.00).
Suzuki picked up his first overseas win after emerging victorious in the All Japan Poker Championship on four occasions. His Final Table had a fellow Japanese, two Koreans, a Filipino, a Singaporean, a representative from The Netherlands, and a rare player from Mongolia.
The second of the Single-Day High-Rollers is now at its Final 8 after 37 entries. The winner of that event gets PhP740,100.00 (US$13,028.00).