HomeAfter eight hours of nonstop action, the Asian Poker Tour Manila 2016 awarded its first trophy of the festival to Filipino player Emmanuel Segismundo for his victory at the Welcome Event 1M Guaranteed. Segismundo overcame a field of 127 entries to earn the title and the first big payout of P247,900.
Welcome Event Champion, Emmanuel Segismundo
The day began with 30 survivors from yesterday’s flights returning to the APT Poker Room in the Waterfront Manila Pavilion Hotel and Casino. With only 18 players bound to see a payout, the room quickly erupted with short stacks shoving and getting burned. Among those who fell were USA’s Nick Gorman, Korea’s SJ Kim, and Filipino players Richard Marquez and Alexis Lim. As for Vietnam’s Pham Bao, he didn’t have much to worry about in the early stages, coming in as the overall chip leader with a massive arsenal that cleared over 3.5 times the average stack. Once the money round was reached, action continued its rapid pace with more players hitting dead ends.
Quick Review of In the Money Bust Outs
Japan’s Kengo Ohashi had pocket kings but it didn’t hold up against a player’s A-7; Japan’s Naruyasu Ota put it all on the line with A-Q but fell to Segismundo’s pocket kings; Filipino George Salud spiked an ace on the river to send the last woman standing, Vilma Goldman, out of the running; Japan’s Mitsuru Sano missed the board; Bao’s K♦ Q♥ top pair sent him tumbling out against Segismundo’s A♥ K♣ that landed a flush on the river Q♣ 2♣ 9♣ 4♥ 6♣; and big-stacked Harold Ruaya met his demise when his aggressive play still couldn’t push out Korea’s Chul Ho Bae. Ruaya had A♦ 4♠ and Chul had 9♥ 8♥. Ruaya shoved at the turn on a board that completed to 3♥ 7♠ 2♥ 9♠ 2♦.
Just before the final 8 players were moved to the RFID feature table, short-stacked Samad Razavi was denied a double up with Salud’s A♥ 8♠ besting K♠ Q♦, then Chul eliminated Japan’s Hiroyuki Suehara with 9♦ 9♠ improving to a set against Suehara’s J♣ J♥.
Final 8 players
Entering the final 8 stage, Segismundo may have been the man in charge with the largest stack of the bunch but after he doubled up Frenchman David Perreau, he lost the status momentarily to Chul. If there was anyone at the final table who came out swinging, it was definitely Chul. He banked a massive double up against Salud in a cooler hand of A♠ A♥ against K♦ K♣, then continued to rule the felt, eliminating two short stacks simultaneously, Salud and Japan’s Ryo Nishihara. Chul and Segismundo also bumped heads in a couple of hands with the first one going to Chul, A♣ Q♣ winning on a board of J♠ A♥ 6♣ K♦ J♣, and the second to Segismundo with his J♣ 8♠ pair on a board of J♥ 6♥ 9♦ 5♦ Q♦. Segismundo retook the chip lead status in this hand.
While everyone was taking stabs at the pot, Perreau’s stack saw little action. He eventually moved all in with A-7 and was up against Filipino Nominel Maturan with pocket tens. The board ran a dramatic J-K-7-A giving Perreau two pair but with a queen showing up on the river, Maturan eliminated Perreau in 6th place with a straight. Immediately after that hand, another cooler hand graced the felt, Filipino Jan Bolotaolo with pocket kings doubling up Padilla who held pocket aces. Bolotaolo was downed next in 5th place with 5♣ 5♦ falling to Maturan’s A♠ J♦, then Segismundo ended Chul’s aggressive run for the title in 4th place with K♣ J♥ overcoming A♥ 4♥ on a board that ran Q♥ 2♦ 2♠ K♦ 7♦. Segismundo shipped in a stack well over 1M in chips and from there, catching up to him was pretty much impossible.
The three-handed match saw Segismundo collect more pots, until both Maturan and Padilla went all in against each other a few times with Padilla getting the best of it. At heads up between Segismundo and Padilla, Segismundo had an advantage of over 2.5:1 in chips. It didn’t take long for Segismundo to ship it all in with his K♥ 9♠ granting him the trophy against Padilla’s A♣ 2♦ on a board of 3♠ 9♣ Q♥ 5♠ K♣.
You can catch all the action of the Final 8 on the APT YouTube channel.