HomeThe first trophy of APT Philippines 2022 was awarded to Norwegian pro / two time APT Main Event champion Henrik Tollefsen at the Mystery Bounty opener. Tollefsen overcame a rollercoaster three-handed round against John Flores and Ellezer Castillo to capture the title and the Php 583,300 first place cash prize. In addition, Tollefsen won Php 291,000 in mystery bounty rewards for a combined payout of Php 874,300 (~US$ 16,690). This was his fourth career APT trophy. He now leads the APT Player of the Series race. For 3rd placer Castillo, he collected the highest amount in bounty rewards making him the second highest earner.
The event kicked off at partner venue Resorts World Manila with 128 runners at Flight 1A and 126 turning up to Flight 1B for 254 total entries. Although most of the attendees were from the host country Philippines, a scatter of nationalities filled the tables including a good showing of players from Japan, Singapore, and USA. With buy in at Php 16,500 each, the guarantee was easily obliterated for a juicier Php 3,695,700 (~US$ 70,918) prize pool.
Dates: April 27 to 28
Buy in: Php 16,500 (~US$ 315)
Guarantee: Php 2,000,000 (~US$ 38,177)
Entries: 254
Payout pool: Php 2,425,700 (~US$ 46,300)
Mystery Bounty pool: Php 1,270,000 (~US$ 24,242)
ITM: 26 places
Final table payouts
1st Henrik Tollefsen – Norway – Php 583,300 + Php 291,000 bounties = Php 874,300
2nd John Flores – Philippines- Php 388,600 + Php 168,500 = Php 557,100
3rd Ellezer Castillo – Philippines – Php 270,200 + Php 347,000 = Php 617,200
4th Manish Lakhotia – India – Php 195,100 + Php 199,000 = Php 394,100
5th Federick Cruz – Philippines – Php 145,900 + Php 30,000 = Php 175,900
6th Joseroy Jeremias – Philippines – Php 112,600
7th Joshua Chargualaf – Guam – Php 89,400
8th Terence Dizon – Philippines – Php 72,900 + Php 52,000 = Php 124,900
The final day got rolling with 63 players hunting down several things – a spot in the money round, the Php 583,300 first prize, the bragging rights first title, and the Php 225,000 top mystery bounty rewards. Leading up to the bubble, big names fell including the massive stacked Flight B chip leader Ji Jian Feng, APT decorated Iori Yogo, Mike Takayama, and Mystery Bounty defending champion Richard “hot sauce” Marquez. Three hours in, the bubble burst at separate tables with Cheung Yun Rong eliminating Ryan Thomas White, and John Flores eliminating Czardy Rivera. This meant, the last place money was split between the fallen two and the first mystery bounty was split between the two winners.
Cheung Yun Rong
Once the money flowed, Christopher Mateo was the first player to draw a lucky Php 225,000 bounty reward then proceeded to fall in 22nd place. Flight A chip leader John Matsuda followed in 14th place, Brandon Mifsud in 13th place, and to form the final table, short stacked John Cordero busted to Flores in 9th place.
India’s Manish Lakhotia carried in the largest stack but it was shortest stacked Castillo that impressed. Castillo only had 8 BB entering the final table but after chipping up, he knocked out fellow shorties Joshua Chargualaf 7th) and Joseroy Jeremias (6th) to have enough to send Federick Cruz packing in 5th place. Cruz had A♠ J♥ that missed against Castillo’s 2♦ 2♣.
The four handed round saw Lakhotia’s stack swing until he was dropped in 4th place by Castillo. This led to a lengthy three-handed bout where Tollefsen came from behind to deny the two Filipinos. Tollefsen avoided elimination by landing two double ups but lost a chunk on the third showdown when Flores rivered a higher pair. He later scored a big pot against the leader Castillo on a board 5♦ K♦ Q♥ 9♠ 9♥ with J♣ 10♠ straight besting A♥ 9♦ trips. Shortly after, he took the lead but lost it on a double up to Flores whose A♥ 7♥ dominated his A♣ 6♣.
With blinds rising, average stack was just 20 BB. Castillo fell to Flores in 3rd place pushing 9♦ 7♦ that didn’t get past A♣ 8♦. Before heads up got underway, Flores and Tollefsen agreed to split the last two bounty rewards for an additional Php 123,500 each. When play resumed, Flores was ahead 2:1. The first called shove was a double up to Tollefsen who then took back the lead and never relinquished. One of the final hands was Tollefsen 7♦ 3♦ flush over Flores 9♣ 8♥ two pair on a board 10♠ 8♦ 6♦ J♣ J♦ with bets on the flop and river by Tollefsen. This sent Flores below 10 BB which he pushed with J♣ 10♣ that was dominated throughout by Tollefsen’s Q♦ 9♣.
Congratulations to Henrik Tollefsen! He is the first side event champion of APT Philippines 2022!!
