HomeThe Final Table of the APT Asian Poker Series Cebu Main Event was set early evening on Monday with Korean SJ Kim leading the way with nearly a million in chips after he wrested the chip lead from fellow big stack Henrik Tollefsen of Sweden.
“Nothing special. I did nothing special, really.” Kim modestly answered when asked if he remembered any big hand that brought him the big stack of 972,000.
Main Event Final Eight Chip Leader, SJ Kim
Kim and Tollefsen were responsible for many of the huge pots played Monday and they were in the same table in the latter part of the day—which meant even more big pots and fireworks when they did clash.
In one Kim vs. Tollefsen hand, the Korean had pocket aces to the Norwegian’s big slick in a board that featured a king on the flop. Kim won a nice pot off Tollefsen and he remained the chip leader the rest of the day.
Challenging Kim and Tollefsen in the final table are Japan’s Iori Yogo, Sweden’s Roger Spets, USA’s John Graham, Korea’s Kim Dongkyu and the Philippines’ Edwin Marzan and Ian Brion.
In January this year, local pro John Tech bagged the Cebu main event title and the Filipinos left in the field– Marzan and Brion– admitted they want to play well in the final table so they can represent the country well and duplicate Tech’s feat.
“Making the final table is not my target. I am looking for the big one,” Brion confidently said when asked of his second final table appearance in an APT main event in 2015. Last April, Brion placed third in the APT Philippines 2015 Main Event.
The final table bubble was burst when Filipino Mark Ortiz shoved his final 100K or so with A♥ Q♠ but got a caller in Yogo, who had A♣ J♣. The Japanese immediately grabbed the lead post-flop 5♣ 10♣ J♦ and the turn 7♦ 4♥ officially ended Day 3.
The Final Eight of the APT Asian Poker Series Cebu Main Event
APT Asian Poker Series Cebu 2015 Main Event – Final Table Chip Counts
Seat 1: Kim Dongkyu (Korea) – 127,000
Seat 2: SJ Kim (Korea) – 972,000
Seat 3: John Graham (USA) – 271,000
Seat 4: Henrik Tollefsen (Norway) – 738,000
Seat 5: Roger Spets (Sweden) – 316,000
Seat 6: Edwin Marzan (Philippines) – 147,000
Seat 7: Iori Yogo (Japan) – 500,000
Seat 8: Ian Brion (Philippines) -117,000
Action on Day 3, which started play with 25 players, picked up early and often as seven players were eliminated within an hour or the first level—including Filipino Anthony Reyes, who is the unfortunate “bubble boy” in this main event.
APT Asian Poker Series Cebu 2015 Main Event – In The Money
9th – Mark Ortiz (Philippines) – PHP 218,000
10th –Azusa Maeda (Japan) – PHP 186,000
11th – Jason Powers (USA) –PHP 175,000
12th – Thomas Lee (Canada) – PHP 175,000
13th – Takuya Yamashita (Japan) – PHP 150,000
14th – Chen Hao (China) – PHP 150,000
15th – Jose Drilon (Philippines) – PHP 150,000
16th – Linh Tran (Canada) – PHP 132,000
17th – Thomas Ward (New Zealand) – PHP 132,000
18th – Douglas Olsson (Philippines) – PHP 132,000
The final eight will return Tuesday at 1:30 PM to continue their battle for the APT title and the PHP 1.82M top prize for the champion.
Three more side events are on tap the same day; the NLH2 event with PHP 19,800 buy-in at 1:00 PM, the High Rollers event with PHP 108,000 and the Deep Stack Turbo event with PHP 5,500 buy-in at 4:00 PM. For complete schedule, check Event Schedule page.