HomeAfter four days of intense competition, APT Philippines II 2019 will soon crown the tour’s newest MAIN EVENT champion. Last night, the final 8 players emerged, all of them in search of their first major APT title.
Top: Arvhin Malinab, Tetsuya Enoki, Kosuke Tajima, Hubert Spiess – Bottom: Sim Jae Kyung, Tou Ta Wei, Khoo Kah Hock, John Paredes
Final 8 by chip count
Arvhin Malinab – Canada – 4,070,000 (135 bb)
Tetsuya Enoki – Japan – 2,725,000 (91 bb)
Kosuke Tajima – Japan – 2,225,000 (74 bb)
Sim Jae Kyung – Korea – 1,155,000 (38 bb)
Hubert Spiess – France – 1,060,000 (35 bb)
Tou Ta Wei – Taiwan – 565,000 (18 bb)
Khoo Kah Hock – Malaysia – 540,000 (18 bb)
John Paredes – Peru – 535,000 (17 bb)
Cards in the air at 130pm today. The game will stream live on APT Twitch and APT YouTube.
Resuming blinds: 15K – 30K ante 30K (Level 26)
Time remaining: 28:36
Average stack: 1,609,375
Chips in play: 12,875,000
The Main Event attracted a Philippines series record-breaking 515 entries for a prize pool of PHP 24,977,500 (~USD 480,000). The money was reached in Day 3 starting at 52nd place. You can read up on the past action via our Live Updates.
The biggest cuts will be claimed today with the eventual champion awarded the APT Main Event Trophy, the APT Championship Ring, and PHP 5,185,500 (~USD 99,500) in cold hard cash.
Final 8 payouts
1st PHP 5,185,500
2nd PHP 3,456,900
3rd PHP 2,403,200
4th PHP 1,735,800
5th PHP 1,298,100
6th PHP 1,001,900
7th PHP 795,600
8th PHP 648,200
Final 8 brief review
Arvhin Malinab – Final 8 chip leader
Entering the final day with the largest stack is Arvhin Malinab with 4,070,000 in chips. Malinab grabbed the lead quite early in Day 3 and was the first player to cross into a million. Down to the final three tables, Malinab cracked Mai Anh’s pocket aces with pocket queens set on the flop. At the final 10, he eliminated Lester Edoc in 10th place. Malinab will earn his largest live tournament cash no matter where he places.
Second ranked Tetsuya Enoki is an APT circuit regular with several tour side event titles under his name. To reach 2,725,000, two of his largest pots were the bust of Emmanuel Segismundo with the flush over a set then later a double up through Kosuke Tajima with a straight on the flop.
Third in chips is Kosuke Tajima with 2,225,000. Kosuke maintained a very healthy stack throughout the day even sat in the leader’s seat at one point. However, after he lost a large chunk to Enoki that sent his stack from 80 bbs to 19 bbs, he quickly went back to work and recovered to to finish in great shape. Kosuke had one of the most impressive runs of Day 3. To end the day, Kosuke railed Xiaosheng Zheng in 9th place with pocket queens over pocket jacks.
Malinab, Enoki and Kosuke were the only players to bag over average stack. Completing the top half of the final 8 is Sim Jae Kyung aka Simba with 1,155,000. Simba entered Day 3 as chip leader and struggled with his erratic stack until he bounced back in a three-way all in with pocket kings staying ahead of pocket queens and pocket jacks. Simba’s deepest APT Main Event run was 4th place at APT Jeju 2013.
The bottom half of the final 8 is led by Hubert Spiess with 1,060,000 in chips. Halfway through the day Spiess dropped below 20 bbs then a couple of double ups drove his stack out of the danger zone. Wherever he finishes, it will be his largest live payday and deepest APT Main Event run.
Completing the final 8 lineup are Tou Ta Wei (565,000), Khoo Kah Hock (540,000), and John Paredes (535,000). All three are below 20bbs. Wei is one of the strongest players of the final 8 with a long list of deep runs earned through the years. At Day 3, he delivered the first double knockout with pocket sixes improving to a set. He also shipped a big one off Segismundo with a gutsy second pair call that paid.
Fok Khoo, this is his deepest APT Main Event run and wherever he places, he will be pocketing his largest live tournament cash. One of Khoo’s biggest hands was snap-calling Xiaosheng Zheng’s shove holding 2♣ 4♣ draw on the turn. It connected for a flush to deny Zheng’s two pair.
And bringing up the pack is Paredes who survived with a short stack all day. Paredes’ has been an APT finalist three times; his deepest APT Main Event finish was 4th place in October 2016.
Good luck to all the players! We await the emergence of the next APT Main Event champion!
You can read up on the previous days action in our Live Updates.
Day 3 brief recap
Day 3 got underway with 66 players returning from Day 2. The bubble burst at the fall of Gavin Flynn to Emmanuel Segismundo with A♠ K♣ unable to improve against K♠ K♥. Once the money flowed, bust outs were rampant. The unofficial final 10 was formed in the eighth hour. First to fall was two-time APT Philippines 2018 Main Event champion, Lester Edoc, with A♣ Q♠ missing the board against Arvhin Malinab’s 7♦ 7♠. Several hands later, Xiaosheng Zheng fell in 9th place to Kosuke Tajima with Q♠ Q♦ dominating J♥ J♣.