HomeThe first two winners of APT Finale Taiwan 2019 emerged this evening with Singapore’s Bingzhi Yap taking down the Monster Stack 1 and Chen Yi Liu dominating the Ladies of Poker. We’ve got those results and recaps below. All players that cashed also earned points to the APT Player of the Series leader board. You can view the points via the link below.
Bingzhi Yap overcomes a swinging heads up at the Monster Stack 1
The two-day Monster Stack series opener concluded today with Singapore’s Bingzhi Yap winning a ping pong heads up match against Taiwan’s Shou Dien Chen to pocket NT$ 515,100 (~US$ 16,900) and the first trophy of the series. This was Yap’s first-ever live title and largest recorded payout. He opens the APT Player of the Series race in front of the chasing pack.
At opening day, the NT$ 16,500 buy-in Monster Stack triggered 152 to action for a prize pool of NT$ 2,211,600 (~US$ 72,500). Only 39 players held on to enter the final day led by Keon Yong Ma. Nearly two hours in, it was bubble time. Choi Eng Loong doubled up two players to send his stack southward then out. His A♣ J♥ was dominated by Kenji Hata‘s A♠ K♣ throughout.
From there, the final 26 players raced for the gold. Along the way notable players in the money before the final table were: Neil Raine (10th), Delfino Ty (13th), Chou Chien Fa (20th), Zheng Xiaosheng (23rd), and Che Li Lin (24th).
APT regular Kai Paulsen cashed in 8th place, the day’s entering chip leader, Keon Yong Ma, took 4th, and Hong Kong’s Chi Chung Ho departed in 3rd place. Ho had a hard mountain to climb being flanked by two big stacks. He proceeded to lose a pot to Chen with A♦ Q♦ missing the board while Chen’s Q♣ 10♦ found a partner ten. Ho managed to double his 6 bb stack but it didn’t hold on his next shove with A♣ 6♣ falling the Chen’s 8♥ 8♠.
Heads up followed with Chen ahead of Yap 3.95m to 1.550m. Leadership switched on Yap’s first double up with 9♣ 5♣ full house over A♣ 3♣ two pair. Chen proceeded to apply pressure to regain the lead and bring Yap further down but Yap would not be broken, He scored two double ups to take reclaim the lead. The final hand soon arrived. Chen A♣ Q♦, Yap K♣ K♦, the board 3♥ Q♥ 3♠ K♣ 9♥ for a crushing full house.
Final 8 payouts
1st Bingzhi Yap – Singapore – NT$ 515,100
2nd Shou Dien Chen – Taiwan – NT$ 343,600
3rd Chi Chung Ho – Hong Kong SAR – NT$ 238,900
4th Keon Yong Ma- Taiwan – NT$ 172,500
5th Shinya Nakai – Japan – NT$ 129,000
6th Mean Feng Huang – Taiwan – NT$ 99,600
7th Pang Long Chun – Hong Kong SAR – NT$ 79,100
8th Kai Paulsen – Norway – NT$ 64,400
9th Wei Chu Liang – Taiwan – NT$ 53,700
Chen-Yi Liu commands the Ladies of Poker
The return of the Ladies of Poker to the APT lineup brought in 22 fine card sharks to the felt and at NT$ 7,700 (~US$ 150) each, they battled for a piece of the NT$ 149,400 (~US$ 4,900) prize pool. After nine hours of action, the massive stacked Taiwan’s Chen-Yi Liu closed it out to win her first-ever live title and NT$ 73,100 (~US$ 1,400).
Prior to Liu’s triumph, Miyuki Kunihiro and Kazumi Tamano doubled up during the bubble round then both banged heads with Kunihiro winning 6♦ 7♦ over 5♣ 5♦ on a board K♥ 8♥ 6♥ 10♦ 9♣. This ended Tamano one spot shy of the cash.
With the remaining four ladies guaranteed a return, the hunt for the title continued. Molly Hsiao doubled up with a straight to Kunihiro’s pocket jacks but hands later, it was Hsiao with the straight to reclaim her earlier loss. Down in chips, Hsiao was railed by Emi Hibuse to earn the chip lead. Hibuse proceeded to pay two double ups, one to Kunihiro with A♠ 7♠ winning over K♦ J♣, and the other to Liu with A? 2? spiking an ace on the river to crack pocket queens.
Hibuse recoverd by landing a double up of her own with A♠ A♦ against Liu’s A♥ K♣. But chips were not loyal to her. As quick as it came, Hibuse ran into Liu again and this time her A♣ 4♦ failed to improve against K♣ K♠. This sent her down to one big blind and was soon out in 3rd place.
Heads up started off very lopsided and stayed that way throughout. Liu had a 6:1 advantage. Kunihiro managed to double up multiple times but with the big blind ante structure eating her up, she couldn’t bring down Liu’s towers. The final hand was Kunihiro 7♦ 6♠, Liu A♥ K♠, the board was 5♣ K♥ 6♣ 2♥ 8♣.
Top three
Payouts
1st Chen-Yi Liu – Taiwan – NT$ 73,100
2nd Miyuki Kunihiro – Japan – NT$ 39,200
3rd Emi Hibuse – Japan – NT$ 22,800
4th Molly Hsiao – Taiwan – NT$ 14,300
Head Hunter Day 1 results
86 rushed the felt for the NT$ 11,000 buy-in Head Hunter event and with NT$ 2,000 awarded for every head scalped. The cash pot amounted to NT$ 66,200 (~US$ 21,700) paying out the top 15 places. After the bubble burst with CJ Chen railing a player with pocket queens undefeated by A-9, it was a rush to the final 8 to wrap up the first day.
Bubble bursts!
Final 8 chip counts
Seat 1: Masaki Hori – Japan – 53,000
Seat 2: Song Daewoong – Korea – 100k
Seat 3: Lee Kun Han – Taiwan – 27,000
Seat 4: Clarence Ngay – Singapore – 41,000
Seat 5: Chi Jen Chen – Taiwan – 233,000 (chip leader)
Seat 6: He Zong Chi – Taiwan – 172,000
Seat 7: Ori Kossonogi – Israel – 92,000
Seat 8: Wang Tzu Wei – Taiwan – 142,000
Chips in play: 860,000
Average stack: 107,500
Blinds: 1500 – 3000 ante 3000 (countdown 13:09)
Final day: 1pm start
1st prize: NT$ 176,900 (~US$ 5,800)
Payouts 9th – 15th
9th Junya Kubo – Japan – NT$ 18,400
10th Corbin Benjamin – USA – NT$ 15,400
11th Chen Yu Jen – Taiwan – NT$ 15,400
12th Po Cheng Yang – Taiwan – NT$ 12,800
13th Kim Jitae – Korea – NT$ 12,800
14th Kim Kwanjung – Korea – NT$ 12,800
15th Edward Yam Chun Ho – Hong Kong SAR – NT$ 10,700
12 Days of Poker Christmas Promo winners
