HomeThe APT Poker Weekend Series Manila took off to a well-fed start with the PHP5,500 buy-in No Limit Hold ‘em Re-buys and Add-on Event seeing a total 37 entries, 27 re-buys, and 24 add-ons, bringing the total prize pool up to an impressive PHP426,800. In the end, it was Kim Enriquez from the Philippines who gained momentum in the late stages of the final table to eventually scoop up all the chips and claim the PHP170,800 first place cash prize including the first trophy of the series.
NLH Re-Buys Champion, Kim Michael Enriquez
As the only Filipino player at the final table, Enriquez faced some well-known players such as Hideki Takafuji (Japan), Gerard Bringley (Japan), Richard Mari (UK), and Samad Razavi, the reigning APT Player of the Year from 2012-2014. With each of them having varying poker playing styles, Enriquez was fairly quiet with his below average stack until he doubled up against Mari with his A♦ K♦ connecting with a nut flush against Mari’s set of sevens.
Not long after, he found his groove and eliminated two more players, including Razavi whose A-Q could not find a partner to keep him alive against Enriquez’s pocket tens. At three-handed, he railed Mari with his pocket aces to face Lasse Alavi Laaksonen (Finland) at the heads up round with a dominating 8:1 chip lead. In just two hands, he sealed the win with a sweet full house holding Q♦ J♦ on a board that ran 7♥ J♣ J♥ 5♣ Q♠.
Payouts in PHP
1st – Kim Enriquez (Philippines) 170,800
2nd – Lasse Alavi Laaksonen (Finland) 106,700
3rd – Richard Mari (UK) 64,000
4th – Jess Donald Bishop (Australia) 46,900
5th – Shoji Shimabukuro (Japan) 38,400
At the High Rollers event, there were a total of 31 entries recorded with 6 players remaining at the end of tournament play. With only five of them seeing the money, they will be resuming at 3:30pm tomorrow at the bubble stage.
Chip leader going into Day 2 of the High Rollers event, John Tech
Here are the current chip standings:
John Tech (Philippines) 161,500
Tomoya Baba (Japan) 154,500
Lester Edoc (Philippines) 142,000
Florencio Campomanes (Philippines) 140,200
Marcuss Liow (Malaysia) 125,000
Brian McAllister (Australia) 48,600
Early in the game Byeonhcheol Kim (South Korea) held the chip lead with over 100,000 by level 3. He chipped more throughout the day but was unable to hold on to it and fell without reaching the final table. Other notables who also hit the rail were Julian Hasse, Mike Takayama, Kai Paulsen, Kosei Ichinose, and Norbert Koh.
Congratulations to Kim Enriquez for bagging his second APT trophy! Good luck to the survivors of the High Rollers Event!
See you tomorrow for Day 1A of the Main Event which kicks off at 1pm. There will also be a No Limit Hold ‘em event at 3pm and the Last Chance Main Event Mega Satellite at 6pm.
For more information, head to the Event Schedule page.