HomeAs we said, it would be another big day of payouts and photo moments on the ceremonial awarding stage. The APT Philippines 2017 wrapped up another three side events at the Winford Hotel & Casino with Andy Li Xueyan, Yoichi Uesugi, and Vi Vee Goldman rising to victory at their respective events. All final tables were featured in the RFID felt so you can watch all the action in the APT Twitch channel. Below is a short review on all of those events.
Andy Li Xueyan unbeateable at the Main Event Warm Up
Main Event Warm Up Champion, Andy Li Xueyan
The second side event of the APT Philippines 2017, the Main Event Warm Up, dragged in 40 players to the felt. With each one ponying up the PHP27,500 entry fee, the prize pool climbed to a healthy PHP970,000. Since this was a scheduled two-day event, the first day saw the field trim down to the final ten players, however with only 5 eventually getting paid, the final day would be painfully fruitless for half of them.
Getting into the action at the final day, the Final 8 players were moved to the RFID featured table after the fall of two players, Lee Ji Hoon and Iori Yogo. Entering as the chip leader was Singapore’s Andy Li Xueyan who continued to amass an enormous stack after sending Yoichi Uesugi out of the running with his 6♥ 5♥ doing the dirty work against K♥ K♣ on a board of 7♦ 6♠ 5♦ 10♦ Q♠. All the chips went in at the flop.
When it reached the money round of five players, four hungry Koreans were all eager to gobble up Xueyan’s chips. His might however was too tough and his stack was simply impenetrable. The final hand came down with Jang Geng Ji holding A♠ 9♠ and Xueyan with A♥ J♠ . The board ran 2♣ K♠ 10♠ 4♦ 6♦. Xueyan won the PHP 388,000 first prize and the event trophy.
Payouts
1st Andy Li Xueyan – Singapore – PHP 388,000
2nd Jang Geun Ji – Korea – PHP 242,500
3rd Soo Jo Kim – Korea – PHP 145,500
4th Sangjun Lee – Korea – PHP 106,700
5th Saejin Lee – Korea – PHP 87,300
Good hunting for Yoichi Uesugi at the Bounty event
Head Hunter Champion, Yoichi Uesugi
The Head Hunter event saw 45 bounty hunters make their way to the APT battlefield and with each one contributing PHP 20,000, the prize pool amounted to PHP 648,000. The agenda for the day, eliminate as many players as possible and get paid a quick PHP 5,000 for each head delivered. As expected, action was swift with many delivering the axe multiple times. But by the time the money round was reached with five hot hunters on patrol, action slowed down significantly.
Stephen Nathan headed to the cage first, railed by Hung Sheng Lin with K♣ 8♣ flush against 9♥ 9♠ on a board of 6♣ 6♥ 8♥ A♣ Q♣. Fabricio Oliveiro lost a couple of costly pots and moved all in with 9-8 suited but Masato Nikawadori had his number and finished him off with K-Q suited when the board bricked.
Then at three-handed, Lin went from the largest stack to down to nearly nothing after getting pummeled by Nikawadori in one frustrating hand. On a flop of Q♥ 3♣ J♣, Nikawadori shoved and Lin called. Lin held Q♦ 7♠ top pair and Nikawadori with A♥ K♣ overcards. The turn A♠ was not what Lin wanted to see, and with the 5♥ river, he had to pay out a huge double up. Shortly after, he busted out in 3rd place still reeling from the defeat.
The final heads up round between Nikawadori and Yoichi Uesugi had both players fairly even in stacks. After nearly an hour of chips moving back and forth, Uesugi gained the edge and began to grind down Nikawadori. The final hand arrived with Nikwadori all in holding Q♣ J♦ and Uesugi with K♥ 9♣. The community board fell 3♠ 5♠ 4♥ K♣ 8♥ and with that, Uesugi capped off the event claiming Nikawadori’s bounty and his own for being the Head Hunter champion.
Payouts
1st Yoichi Uesugi – Japan – PHP 259,200
2nd Masato Nikawadori – Japan – PHP 162,000
3rd Hung Sheng Lin – Chinese Taipei – PHP 97,200
4th Fabricio Oliveiro – Brazil – PHP 71,300
5th Stephen Nathan – UK – PHP 58,300
Vi Vee Goldman crowned the Queen of the felt
Ladies of Poker Champion, Vi Vee Goldman
The Ladies of Poker event didn’t attract very many female poker sharks to the tables however there were still a handful that came out to have some fun. Among the four women was one of the APT’s regular female players, Vi Vee Goldman. Goldman went on to defeat Gabriela Oliveira at the heads up round to claim the title.
The final hand is worth a mention as it was a doozy of a hand. Goldman raised to 1500 preflop and Oliveira called. On the flop of K♠ K♣ A♣, Oliveira checked, Goldman bet 1900, then after tanking for some time, Oliveira moved all her chips in the middle. Although Goldman had Oliveira covered in chips, she did go into tank before making the call. Oliveira A♠ J♠ and Goldman J♣ 8♣. The turn fell 10♦ and river 10♣ for a victorious flush to Goldman.
Payouts
1st Vi Vee Goldman – Philippines – PHP 17,700
2nd Gabriela Oliveiro – Brazil – PHP 9,500
We have daily highlights of the ongoing festival in the APT YouTube channel so make sure to be on the lookout for those videos.