HomeThe first two trophies of APT Philippines 2019 have been claimed today at Resorts World Manila. Both events saw an all international final lineup. Lifting up the first golden lion was Singapore’s Low Zi Cheng for his victory at the Dream Maker, then later in the evening, Japanese pro Iori Yogo shipped the High Rollers #1. The final table of both events streamed live on APT Twitch and APT YouTube where you can relive the last dash to the title.
Dream Maker
The Dream Maker ran a scheduled two days with 5 players out of 88 entrants returning for the final charge to the top. Up for grabs was the first bragging rights victory and a sizable P547,000 in cash.
In under one hour, the event was done and claimed with Singapore’s Low Zi Cheng defeating local player Christopher Mateo at heads up. Impressively, Cheng also won last year’s APT Philippines Opening Event making it for an annual back-to-back takedown. This latest win is now his single largest earning.
Low Zi Cheng – Dream Maker champion
Race to the title
During the short run to the finish line there were several moments worth mentioning. Entering chip leader Mateo rose to over 70 percent of the chips in play by exposing one of Cheng’s bluff then soon after, eliminating Hiroyuki Yoshimura in 5th place.
At four remaining, Cheng doubled up and grew further by sending Netnapit Muksatean out in 4th place. Cheng tightened the gap between him and the leader Mateo by shipping all of Samad Razavi’s chips. This brought about heads up with Mateo ahead by a thin margin.
Heads up
Heavy action followed with both players on attack mode. Cheng got burned on another failed bluff to create a 2:1 gap.
Heads up
Several hands later, Cheng risked it all with K♥ J♣ and won the race against Mateo’s A♥ 8♣ with the board K♣ Q♦ 10♣ Q♠ 7♦. This gave Cheng the lead for the first time. He closed it out with Q♦ 10♣ top pair over K♦ 8♣ mid pair on a board 4♠ 8♥ 10♦ 5♣ 6♣ with the shoves seen at the flop.
The Dream Maker opened the festival. This unique event was advertised as paying out only 5% of the field. It drew 88 entries at P16,500 each. The prize pool amounted to P1,280,400 (~USD 24,500) making for a very attractive payday for the winners.
Payouts
1st Low Zi Cheng – Singapore – P547,000
2nd Christopher Mateo – Philippines – P317,100
3rd Samad Razavi – UK – P196,300
4th Netnapit Muksatean – Thailand – P129,400
5th Hiroyuki Yoshimura – Japan – P90,600
High Rollers #1
The High Rollers #1 also ran a course of two days with 14 players returning today out of the 43 total entries. This was the first of six high rollers events offered in the series menu. Buy-in was P107,500 for a healthy opening prize pool of P4,171,000 (~USD 80,000). Out of that pot, 8 players cashed in with Japanese pro Iori Yogo pocketing the lion’s share P1,308,900 (~USD 25,000) for his victory.
Iori Yogo – High Rollers #1 champion
As soon as the final day kicked off, it was knockout city with players dropping rapidly . In just over an hour, the bubble burst on Bobby Zhang, then Markus Garberg fell in 8th place to pick up the first payout of the event. The final 7 players were moved to the feature table and the event streamed live in our APT media channels. Make sure to check that out for all the final action.
Despite a fast race to the money, it took another six hours before the champion emerged. Kicking off the final 7 roundup, Iori Yogo dominated with a monstrous stack well over 30 percent of the chips in play. However, despite this, dictating the early action were Kannapong Thannarattrakul, John Tech, and WSOP/WPT decorated pro Tobias Peters.
The final day’s entering chip leader Hirasawa Fumimasa fell in 7th. He was booted by another short stack, Argyle Alejandria. Yogo tried to end them both with K-Q but Alejandria’s pocket eights held against the overcards with Fumimasa all in with A-K.Linh Tran was bounced out next pushing with 7♦ 6♦ only to run into Thanarattrakul’s A♣ Q♣.
At five remaining, action slowed. Yogo maintained his lead and claimed a big pot against Tech. The board was K♦ 7♦ J♠ 9♠ 3♠, Tech had 10♦ 8♦ straight while Yogo had better with A♠ 6♠ nut flush. Tech’s drop in chips seemed to fuel him as he proceeded to claim multiple pots and eventually railed Thanarattrakul in 5th place to grab the leadership for the first time. Yogo answered back and reclaimed the top spot by finishing Alejandria in 4th place.
Three-handed
The three-handed round was a bulls battle with each one taking turns winning pots. At one point, Dutch pro Peters usurped the lead for the first time. As action continued, they evened up, Tech began to distance himself, then eventually sent Peters out with A♦ J♥ over K♦ J♣.
Heads up
Heads up round began with Tech backed by a massive 72 percent of the chips in play. Half an hour in, Yogo caught up and overtook by a small margin. From there it seesawed until Tech won a big pot with J♠ 6♣ trips on a board 8♣ K♦ 6♠ 7♣ 6♥ over Yogo’s K♣ 4♦ two pair. This brought the stacks back to when they began heads up.
Heads up
Yogo continued to drop to 20 percent of the chips in play however Tech still could not rein it in. Yogo’s uphill climb resumed leading to the first all in called moment. Yogo shoved with 3♦ 3♣ and Tech called with K♣ 5♣. Despite Tech’s two overcards, the board bricked and Yogo doubled up to a very big lead. It was all over on the next hand with Yogo shipping it with K♦ Q♣ over Tech’s Q♦ 9♠. The final board was 2♠ 7♠ 6♥ A♠ 10♣.
Payouts
1st Iori Yogo – Japan – P1,308,900
2nd John Tech – Philippines – P872,500
3rd Tobias Peters – Netherlands – P606,600
4th Argyle Alejandria – USA – P438,100
5th Kannapong Thanarattrakul – Thailand – P327,600
6th Linh Tran – Vietnam – P252,900
7th Hirasawa Fumimasa – Japan – P200,800
8th Markus Garberg – Norway – P163,600
Up next: Main Event – P10 Million Guaranteed
On the floor tomorrow (Friday, April 26) at 1pm is the Main Event with a P10 Million guarantee. Buy-in is P55,000. Have your chips in play by the first deal to be eligible for Bubble Protection. Click for all the Main Event info.
Full APT Philippines 2019 schedule
APT Player of the Series
With two events in the books, the APT Player of the Series race has officially begun. We will have the standings for you soon so be on the lookout for that.