HomePASAY CITY, Philippines – The most unlikely of results befell (Event #24) the 2-day No Limit Hold’Em (NLH) as one man successfully navigated not only the field of 83 entries enroute to the title but managed to knock out every single player in the Final 8, a feat that will go down in Asian Poker Tour (APT) history as a feat that will be talked about long after the APT 2022 Philippines concludes at the Grand Wing Casino, Newport World Resorts here.
Matthew Holley (USA) eliminated every single one of the players in the Final 8
That one man is Matthew Holley of the Northern Marianas Islands; a small stretch of islands parallel to the Philippines along the Pacific Ocean. It is listed as being part of the US Commonwealth so he officially listed the United States as the country he represents.
Holley had only three cashes in various events held in Macau and in the Philippines previously and had not won a single championship–until the poker gods bestowed him with super powers today.
The kicker to this tale is that not one single time was he ahead preflop against any of the secen he eliminated–including eventual runner-up Chua Yong Kwee of Singapore.
An astonished audience witnessing the demolition on the APT YouTube and Twitch channels–as broadcasted by veteran international sports anchor Noel Zarate and “The Malaysian Sensation” Victor Chong–saw Holley pull miracle after miracle but also displayed a lot of savvy in his triumph and his haul of PhP431,900 (US$7,572).
Chua, who had previously cashed in one of the side events leading up to his Heads-Up appearance here, had actually bridged the gap somewhat when he turned his being behind 1-4 in the stacks before the final duel into just a 1-2 deficit, but in the end got outdrawn when Holley completed a Back Door Flush to turn the Singaporean into his seventh scalp.
Holley busted out Japan’s Mototsugu Ando (8th), Hajime Watanabe (7th), Robert Kiss of the United States (6th). Samuel Hebege of Germany (5th), Japan’s Koji Asaka (4th), erstwhile Final 8 chip-leader Yoichi Uesugi from Japan (3rd) and Chua.
Meanwhile, Day 1A of the APT Championships Event got off to a decent start with a total of 60 entries (as of this writing) with registration still available until the end of Level 10 during the resumption.