HomeDay 1A of the APT Philippines 2017 II Main Event came and went with 50 players making their way to the felt at Resorts World Manila. By the end of the schedule eight rounds, only 27 of them remained with Australia’s Ram Sanati Farajash as the leader with 222,000 in chips.
Main Event Day 1A Chip Leader, Ram Farajash
The first heat of the featured event got underway fairly slow but by mid-day, the tables were buzzin’ with many notables and numerous past APT Main Event champions in attendance. While several champions made the cut into Day 2 such as two Shinichiro Tone, Huu Dung Nguyen, and two-time winner Jeon Seung Soo, a few weren’t as fortunate. That list included Gyeong Byeong Lee, SJ Kim, Yah Loon, and Iori Yogo. Luckily there is still a second heat for them to get back in the running.
Other notable players joining the leader and the champions at bagging were Ian Lee – the second largest stack of the day, followed by Steffen Endres and Sung Ho Kim. Further down the rung were Dhanesh Chainani, Yohn Paredes, and Andy Li Xueyan who recently finished 4th at the APT Korea Incheon 2017 Main Event. Since the APT Philippines in July, Xueyan has been one of the hottest running players at the APT.
Day 1A qualifiers will have an overnight break before they head back to the felt for Day 2 on Tuesday, September 19th. The next heat of the Main Event is Day 1B which will be taking place on Monday, September 18th at 1pm. This will be the last entry flight to the main.
Chip counts can be found in the APT Facebook page.
Korea’s Sung Min Oh wins the NLH Two-Day event
Running alongside Main Event Day 1A was the conclusion of the NLH Two-Day event that got underway on Saturday, September 17. This event saw a turnout of 51 entries with each player ponying up the USD 1,100 entry fee for a very healthy prize pool of USD 49,470. After a grueling battle for the glory, Korea’s Sung Min Oh emerged victorious defeating Japan’s Tetsuya Tsuchikawa at the final heads up round. Oh shipped in the USD 15,000 first prize and the fourth trophy of the festival.
NLH Two Day Event Champion, Sung Min Oh
The first day of the event closed with 22 players bagging up chips. Spain’s Juan Carlos Martin led the pack and was trailed closely by Singapore’s Andy Li Xueyan. By the time the field compressed to nine players, Xueyan was out of the running and Martin was still the leader. Martin lost his lead to Estonia’s Liis Erit, the only female player that joined the event, after she eliminated Hideaki Ohashi in 9th place.
With the final 8 now headed for the RFID feature table, it was bubble time with only 7 players guaranteed a profit. You can catch all of the Final 8 action in the APT Twitch channel and at the APT YouTube station. You can also read up on our recap below.
Final 8 recap
Entering the final 8, three players were running very low in fuel; Mike Steinbacher had 8 bbs, Julian Hasse with just below 8 bbs, and Jim Bonanno with 10 bbs. The rest were sporting hefty stacks, enough to go on for many rounds.
Action began with Erit taking down the first pot to give her a quarter of the chips in play. That was quickly followed by a much needed double up to Hasse whose 9-9 held against Tsuchikawa’s overcards. While the other two short stacks kept a low profile, the heavier stacks battled for pots leading to the money bubble bursting. The unfortunate bubble player was Okamura Keisuke.
- Oh raised to 20K , button player Keisuke called. The flop came 8♥ 10♣ Q♣, Oh bet 25K, Keisuke raised to 75K, Oh moved all in, Keisuke called. Oh 8♦ 8♠ set and Keisuke A♣ 6♣ nut flush draw. The turn 7♠ and river Q♦. Oh eliminated Keisuke with his full house.
With the fall of Keisuke, everyone was now in the money. Hasse fell next with Tsuchikawa taking back the chips he lost to him earlier. This time it was Hasse’s A-K overcards that were no good against Tsuchikawa’s 9-9. Tsuchikawa also delivered the next bust out with Steinbacher taking 6th place. This was Steinbacher’s second final 8 appearance of the series.
The elimination of Martin in 5th place witnessed the biggest pot of the event shipped to Erit. It was a brutal hand with Erit trapping Martin that in turn sent him packing.
- Martin raised to 27K on utg and Erit called on the big blind. The flop came 10♦ 2♠ 6♣, Erit check-called Martin’s 33K bet. On the K♣ turn, action was the same with Erit check-calling 50K. On the 7♠ river, Erit checked, Martin moved all in, and Erit check-called. Martin had A♠ Q♣ air against Erit’s K♦ 2♥ two pair. Erit shipped in 45 % of the chips in play.
Throughout the final 8, the very short stacked Bonanno was seen all in a total of twelve times. During those shoves, he was granted one double up plus several other small pots. His thirteenth shove however sent him out in 4th place with Tsuchikawa picking up his remaining chips.
The three-handed round lasted for quite some time with Erit crossing the million marker first. Oh stole it away, winning two double ups against her. While the first one didn’t cost her too much, the second one was a killer that left her down to 6 big blinds. Oh won with 10-10 over 6-6. With not much left to play with, Erit was eliminated in 3rd place.
Heads up round: Oh vs Tsuchikawa
The heads up round kicked off with Oh nearly up 2:1. Tsuchikawa grinded his way to bring it close to even, then when he overtook, a deal was discussed and reached. From there, Oh dominated, winning a huge pot with his K-8 higher two pair over Tsuchikawa’s K-7 two pair on a board of 2-7-8-3-2. The final hand had Tsuchikawa with A♥ 6♦, Oh with Q♠ 9♣ and the board running 3♣ 2♥ K♥ Q♦ 4♦.
Payouts
1st Sung Min Oh – Korea – USD 15,000 (deal made)
2nd Tetsuya Tsuchikawa – Japan -USD 12,200 (deal made)
3rd Liis Erit – Estonia – USD 6,430
4th Jim Bonanno – Guam – USD 4,950
5th Juan Carlos Martin – Spain – USD 3,960
6th Mike Steinbacher – USA – USD 3,710
7th Julian Hasse – Germany – USD 3,220
