Heat Check: Cards Fly For APT Philippines 2015 Main Event Today

As hot as the summer season in the Philippines, the heat is expected to turn up a notch at the poker felt when the APT Philippines 2015 Main Event kicks off today, Friday at 1:00 PM at the Resorts World Manila (RWM) in Pasay City, Philippines. A large crowd is expected to come to start their journey with hopes that today is the beginning of their run to the prestigious Asian Poker Tour title.

For the unlucky souls who fail to advance from today’s play, they can still try again in Day 1B on Saturday and/or Day 1C on Sunday.

Singapore’s Feng Zhao, who already played some of the side events earlier in the week, is the defending champion in this event winning the APT Philippines 2014 Main Event about a year ago. The Singaporean took home $126,500 in his title run which saw him beat a field of 208 runners.

Zhao is expected to be joined by some, if not all, of the top contenders in the 2015 APT Player of the Year (2015 APT POY) including the home country bets’ Lester Edoc, Martin Gonzales and Jojo Tech; three-time APT POY winner Sam Razavi of the United Kingdom, Iori Yogo of Japan, Jae Kyung Sim of Korea; Norbert Koh of Singapore; Kai Paulsen of Norway; and Christian Haggart of Canada, among many others.

The APT Live Updates team will be on hand to cover all the action from Day 1A all the way to the Final Table. Follow the felt wars in our Live Updates page.

Aside from the main event, one side event growing in popularity is on tap today with the Open Face Chinese Pineapple tournament ($275 buy-in) scheduled at 3:00 PM. Satellite tourneys to the main event is available as well with “One Hand” satellites set from 1:00 to 6:00 PM and the mega satellite at 6:00 PM. Check Event Schedule page for more information.