HomeHaving won his first-ever APT championship title here in March then taking runner-up at the Championships Event days after, Metro Team Pro Lester Edoc returned to the APT Philippines Championships at Resorts World Manila clearly on a mission.
Lester Edoc defeats Jiajun Wang at heads up
Amidst a crowded rail of fans, the defending champion dominated the Final 8 round, knocking out half the field to capture his second-ever APT Main Event title and the PHP2,849,600 first prize.
Lester Edoc – Main Event champion
APT: How does it feel winning today and how different was this victory from the first APT you won in March?
Overwhelmed! I just cant imagine the blessings that keep on coming. To God be the Glory!!!
APT: Did you feel added pressure to win once you reached the Final 8 as the chip leader?
I felt less pressure because I have stack advantage at the final table.
APT: You’ve been crushing the big events in the country this year. What is the driving force behind this? It cant just be home court advantage.
Win or lose my drive is to play a perfect game and perform better than the past final tables I’ve played. Let luck help but I keep on developing my poker skills endlessly because every hand dealt in poker is not same.
APT: What was your strategy entering the final table?
Strategy was to gather as much information as I could from the players at the final table and also from the help of my poker team. Patience paid off in the end.
APT: Did anyone pose as a major threat prior to today and at the Final 8?
It’s a tough field and majority are Filipinos. I believe William played very well and was the major threat. Congrats mate for finishing 3rd!!!
APT: What were the toughest moments you faced today?
The heads up game. First let me congratulate Jiajun from China, good game! Well played bro! It took some time to adapt to his style of play it was quite tricky at some point. I had a good lead and I got lucky on the last hand.
APT: Congratulations on back to back victories Lester! Anyone you want to send a shoutout to?
Yes of course! To my sexy wife Ferlyn, my kids Zian & Zoji who keep on inspiring me, “I love you guys!! To Edoc Family, Relatives, and Friends, thank you for all the support. Lastly my biggest boost is the newly formed Team Metro Poker. Thank you to Boss RVS and the rest of the team.
Final 8 payouts
1st Lester Edoc – Philippines – PHP 2,849,600
2nd Jiajun Wang – China – PHP 1,899,900
3rd William Ysmael – Philippines – PHP 1,326,000
4th Jessie Leonarez – Philippines – PHP 965,500
5th David Chargualaf Sr. – Guam – PHP 729,700
6th Trygve Leite – Norway – PHP 570,300
7th Richard Marquez – Philippines – PHP 459,900
8th Czar Ian Marcos – Philippines – PHP 380,000
Edoc joins an exclusive group of players with two APT championship titles: Henrik Tollefsen, Jeon Seung Soo, Mike Takayama, Samad Razavi, Iori Yogo, and Sam Nee Aik Chuan.
Lester Edoc and Mike Takayama
You can watch Edoc’s final day road to victory at APT Twitch and APT YouTube. We have the Final 8 round uploaded on those channels.
Final 8 recap
The Final 8 bout kicked off with short-stacked Czar Ian Marcos as the first to fall. He was eliminated by Jiajun with 10♦ 10♣ over A♦ J♠.
Czar Ian Marcos, 8th place
Not long after, short-stacked Richard Marquez joined at the rail. Marquez lost an earlier pot to Jiajun then the rest of it to Ysmael. His final hand was 4♦ 5♦ which he raised preflop, called by two players. The flop 10♣ 9♦ J♦, Marquez checked, Ysmael fired, Leite folded, and back to Marquez who shoved. Big stacked Ysmael called with A♥ Q♥. On the turn 7♠ and river 3♣ Marquez missed his draw and fell in 7th place. Ysmael overtook Edoc as the leader.
Richard Marquez, 7th place
Trygve Leite entered the Final 8 just below average but after encountering a few costly pots, he shoved with 4♣ 3♣ on the small blind only to run into big blind Edoc’s A♣ K♥. He finished in 6th place.
Trygve Leite, 6th place
David Chargualaf Sr. didn’t have as colorful a day as in Day 3. Instead, he watched players shave down his big stack and was eliminated in 5th place by Ysmael with a flush over two-pair.
David Chargualaf, 5th place
With half the field dusted, the chip lead went back and forth between Edoc and Ysmael until the defending champion sent Jessie Leonarez packing up in 4th place. On a flop of 3♦ 9♦ J♠, Leonarez shoved with A♦ 2♦ and Edoc called with K♦ 10♦. Leonarez missed while Edoc landed the straight on the turn Q♥. The river 6♥ closed the hand and the field tightened up to the final 3 players.
Jessie Leonarez, 4th place
The three-handed round lasted several rounds. William Ysmael was unable to keep up and started seeing his stack eaten up by the antes. He managed to double up through Jiajun with a rivered straight, however it was short-lived. He fell to Edoc with two pair over a straight.
William Ysmael, 3rd place
With Edoc shipping in all of Ysmael’s chips, he amassad a 2:1 chip advantage at heads up against Jiajun Wang.
Stacks were still quite deep with the average at around 60bbs. What followed was a long battle to the winner’s stage. Along the way, Jiajun stole the chip lead; Edoc grinded it back, leading to one of the biggest pots seen between them.
With blinds at 50k-100k ante 100k, and a raised pot preflop, the cards felted A♦ 9♣ 2♥, Edoc bet 400k, Jiajun raised to 1M, Edoc called. On the 7♥ turn, both checked. Then on the river 3♣, Edoc led for 300k and Jiajun folded.
The final hand arrived with Jiajun all in with A♦ J♥ and Edoc challenging with A♥ 5♥. The flop 10♥ K♠ 4♣ kept Jiajun ahead plus giving him more outs for his gutshot. But when the 5♠ landed on fourth street, it was Edoc who improved and the rail erupted anticipating the coming victory. The river K♦ ensured it and Jiajun took runner-up.
Jiajun Wang, 2nd place
The Main Event drew in 306 entries for a smashing prize pool of PHP14,841,000. You can read up on the previous days action in the Live Updates.
Day 1A recap
Day 1B recap
Day 2 recap
Day 3 recap