Out of Nowhere, Saquing Leads Day 1B

In Day 1B of the Asian Poker Tour (APT) Philippines 2013 Main Event, it was Moses Saquing who came out on top of the field that drew 108 players here at Resorts World Manila.

Main Event Day 1B Chip Leader, Moses Saquing

Saquing’s stack of 83,400 ranked first among the 62 players who qualified from Day 1B but that pales in comparison to Day 1A’s leader Cho Young Woo, who had a 163,200-chip haul. Nevertheless, Saquing is one of the chip leaders when Main Event play resumes Monday at 1PM. Others who performed well in Day 1B were SJ Kim (81,025), Nam Le (77,900) and Lawrence Sanjay (70,400).

Some key hands for Kim and Le came late in the day.

For Kim, one crucial play involved a hand against Norbert Koh in Level 8. With A 7 5 9 4 on the table Kim moved all-in on the river and Koh couldn’t make himself to commit giving the huge pot to the Korean.

Same as Kim, Le got some good pots late in the last level. Facing Lester Edoc in the battle of the blinds, Le bet on all streets including a 4,150 river bet with a board of 5 4 8 2 J. Edoc got out of the way and Le got to 77,900 in this hand.

For Saquing, he’s the surprise chip leader as he came out of nowhere in taking that #1 position after Day 1B.

After two Day 1s of the Main Event this is how the overall Top 10 stacks up:

1. Cho Young Woo (Korea) – 163,200
2. Stephen Chidwick (United Kingdom) – 106,850
3. Do Hoang Anh (Vietnam) – 94,750
4. Sam Razavi (England) – 91,950
5. Ian Brion (Philippines) – 86,325
6. Andrew Gaw (Philippines) – 85,600
7. Moses Saquing (United States) – 83,400
8. Norkhalid Pimping (Philippines) – 81,100
9. SJ Kim (Korea) – 81,025
10. Nam Le (United States) – 77,900

The Main Event has a total of 101 survivors and they will battle in another 8 levels of poker action at 1-hour per round. With the total number of entries ramped up to 205 the prize pool is set at $497,120 with the champion getting the lion’s share of $124,000.

Other notable pros who made it to Day 2 are PokerAce ambassadors JC Tran (69,225), Joe Hachem (63,375) and Steve Gee (9,300); APT Philippines 2010 champion Michael Cua and APT Philippines 2009 Main Event champion Neil Arce (54,050).

In the pair of side events yesterday it was Johnson Tan who won the Pot Limit Omaha event for $5,160 beating the field of 60 players and Cecilio Hodreal who ruled the MegaSportsWorld Deep Stack Turbo event with 84 entries for the 1st place prize of $3,310.

APT Philippines 2013 Pot Limit Omaha Hi Champion, Johnson Tan

APT Philippines 2013 MSW Deep Stack Turbo Champion, Cecilio Hodreal

Aside from Day 2 of the Main Event, other side events on tap Monday are the Poker Hero Asia Freezout at 3PM and the Pot Limit Omaha Turbo at 6PM. Click here for full schedule of the APT Philippines 2013.