HomeThe last festival of the year for the Asian Poker Tour had a thunderous start with 220 rushing in to take part in the APT-RWM Opening Event at Resorts World Manila. This big draw more than obliterated the P1M guarantee driving the prize pool way up to P2,134,000 (~US$40,600).
The event paused for the night when the final 8 players was reached. Bagging up the chip lead was Chi Hung “Logan” Ho with 581,000.
Chi Hung “Logan” Ho
Also making it through was the highly decorated Filipino pro Mike Takayama with 425,000.
Mike Takayama
Final 8 players
Chi Hung “Logan” Ho – 581,000
Mike Takayama – 425,000
Czar Ian Marcos – 336,000
Marco Almerez – 291,000
Tomohiro Tanaka – 219,000
Rio Kitaoji – 188,000
JC Sayo – 134,000
Si Yang Phua – 25,0000
The opener kicked off at 1pm and after seven hours of competition, the money round was reached starting at 37th place. Decorated APT opener champion Julius Lagman was first to the cage. Others that followed were Valeriy Pak (36th), William Ysmael (31st), Martin Gonzales (21st), Bobby Zhang (20th), and Michael De Leon (15th).
Action resumes at 1pm on Wednesday, November 28. Blinds will roll back to a minimum of 30x the big blind. That should drop down to about 4K/8K ante 8K with average stack at 275,000. The winner of this event will pocket the PHP 445,800 first prize and take the helm in the APT Player of the Series leader board.
Phachara Wongwichit wins the Super High Rollers
In a stunning turn of events, Phachara Wongwichit came from way behind to deny Lester Edoc a second Super High Rollers title. Wongwichit earned his first-ever APT career title along with PHP 953,700 (~US$18,000).
The Super High Rollers event attracted only three players: Edoc, Wongwichit, and Soobum Kim. Each one forked out the PHP 500K buy-in for a prize pool of PHP 1,453,700.
After just the third level of the day, Edoc had built himself a massive stack against his two opponents.
The lesser of the two was Kim who attempted a comeback with three successful double ups however on his fourth try, Edoc shut him down with 8♥ 8♠ over 3♦ 3♣.
This brought about the heads up round with Edoc backed by an enormous stack of nearly 5:1 against Wongwichit.
After two double ups, Wongwichit evened it up. His first double up was exposing Edoc’s bluff. Wongwichit min-raised to 8k, called by Edoc. On the flop 6♥ 5♥ 5♣ and 2♦ turn, both checked. On the A♣ river, Edoc checked, Wongwichit bet 15k, Edoc jammed, and Wongwichit called for his tournament life. Edoc 8♠ 9♥ bluff, Wongwichit A♠ Q♠ two pair.
The next double up, blinds were up to 2500/5K ante 5k. Wongwichit limp-called Edoc’s 13k raise. The flop came 2♠ A♣ 6♣. Edoc c-bet 12.5k, Wongwichit raised to 34k, Edoc called. On the 9♦ turn, Edoc check-called a 70k bet. Then on the river A♥, Edoc check-called Wongwichit’s shove. Wongwichit shipped it with A♦ 6♥ full house.
Not long after, a deal was reached giving 2nd place money back of PHP 500,000. Action continued with both players taking turns gaining in chips. Wongwichit jumped to a big lead of nearly 6:1 after a winning flush 9♥ 8♠ over Edoc’s 3♦ 9♦ bluff on a board 6♥ 4♥ 5♥ J♥ A♣.
The final hand arrived with Edoc all in holding 6♣ 7♣ on a turn board 10♦ 8♠ 5♣ 5♥ against Wongwichit’s K♦ 5♦ trips. The river 3♠ closed the tournament and the first winner was crowned.
That concluded the first day of the APT Finale. The Main Event begins tomorrow, Wednesday, November 28. Day 1A kicks off at 1pm. Bubble protection in effect. Buy-in is PHP 55,000.
For Pot Limit Omaha enthusiasts, there will be a PLO Hi event starting at 2pm. Buy-in is PHP 16,500.
Full APT Finale Philippines 2018 schedule