HomeThe first trophy of the APT Championships Philippines 2017 has been claimed with Vietnam’s Huu Dung Nguyen winning the APT-RWM Opening Event USD 50K Gtd at Resorts World Manila earlier this evening. The opener attracted a large field of 318 entries for a ballooned prize pool of USD 77,110 that eclipsed the guarantee.
The two day event saw 88 players return to the felt today led by New Zealand’s Murray Poole and South Africa’s Nawal Jaftha. After the bubble burst with Japan’s Tomoyasu Arai dealing a crushing blow with his A♠ J♣ that counterfeited a player’s 4♣ 4♥ on a board of 10♥ 6♠ 7♥ 10♦ 7♣, both players (Jaftha and Poole) reached the money round with Jaftha out in 31st place and Poole swinging up and down until he was grounded out in 13th place.
Final 8 showdown
The Final 8 table was eventually established when Filipino Trifie Montebon Jr eliminated two players simultaneously with Q♦ Q♣ defeating pocket nines and ace-queen. Dominating the pack was Nguyen with double the stack of his closest competitor. Two Filipino players hit the rail first, Chirstopher Pulido followed shortly by Michael De Leon. Then next to fall was the lone lady, Singapore’s Corine Shi, in 6th place. Prior to the final table, Shi knocked out a few players nearly all back-to-back with one of those winning hands giving her a roaring quad queens. Australia’s Mike Colby took 5th with Germany’s Frank Hanisch claiming his third victim at the final table. Nguyen increased his stack further by ousting Montebon in 4th place.
At three-handed, Hanisch met his end with a full house over full house against the leader Nguyen. The board showed 5♠ 8♣ 3♦ 2♦ 5♥ with Nguyen shoving on the river holding a winning 8♥ 8♦ against Hanisch’s 2♥ 2♠. The heads up round had Nguyen with a massive chip advantage against Jacque Ramsden. Ramsden was able to double up but he still couldn’t stop the charging Vietnamese. The final hand saw Nguyen with A♥ 10♣ and Ramsden with K♠ 3♣. The board was A♠ 6♦ 4♣ 9♥ J♦.
APT-RWM Opening Event Champion, Huu Dung Nguyen
Nguyen won the USD 19,050 first place purse and the first trophy of the APT Championships Philippines 2017.
Among the notable players in the money were Kenji Kurashina (11th), Lim Yo Hwan (27th), Joven Huerto (35th), and Feng Zhao (36th) who was the first player to get paid.
Final table payouts
1st Huu Dung Nguyen – Vietnam – USD 19,050
2nd Jacque Ramsden – Ireland – USD 10,870
3rd Frank Hanisch – Germany – USD 7,330
4th Trifie Montebon Jr – Philippines – USD 5,170
5th Mike Colby – Australia – USD 4,160
6th Corine Shi – Singapore – USD 3,320
7th Michael De Leon – Philippines – USD 2,620
8th Christopher Pulido – Philippines – USD 2,080
You can watch the Final 8 action archived in the APT Twitch channel and the APT YouTube channel.
Lim Yohwan wins the record-breaking Ante Up for Charity event
Ante Up for Charity Champion, Lim Yo Hwan
The Ante Up for Charity event for the benefit of the Cancer Warriors Foundation, Inc. had a swell turnout of 74 entries, the largest ever seen at the APT. This produced a generous USD 3,700 donation to aid children (kids/adolescents) with cancer, their families, and survivors. The rest of the cash, USD 7,400 in total, was the designated prize pool with nine players paid. Coming out on top was Korea’s Lim Yohwan who defeated Japan’s Hajime Iwakura at the heads up round to earn the USD 2,050 first place cash prize and the second trophy of the series.
Vietnam’s Hieu Trung Le leads the Sam Razavi Champions Cup
The Sam Razavi Champions Cup (invitational) was the featured event of the day however it turned up only 39 champions out of the 448 eligible players. Despite that, the field was tough with several past APT champions Iori Yogo, Julius Malzanini, Gerard Bringley, Alexis Lim, Hisashi Ogi, Shinichiro Tone and of course, the player the event was named after, Samad Razavi, hustling it out on the felt.
After sixteen rounds, regulation play was halted with 9 players remaining led by Vietnam’s Hieu Trung Le with a very massive stack of 572K. The rest of the pack was way behind with Tone sitting in second position backed by a 244K stack and Dhanesh Chainani in third with 224K. Also making it through were Malzanini, Kim Jung Whan, William Kang, Nick Blackburn, Yuri Ishida, and Razavi.
Players will return at 1pm tomorrow for the race to the champion’s title and the first place purse of USD 7,570 out of the USD 18,920, prize pool. Five players will get paid.
The Final 8 of this event will be broadcasted live with a 30 minute delay in the APT Twitch channel and APT YouTube channel.
83 entries for the Main Event Mega Satellite
Many players turned up today for the Main Event Mega Satellite, each one looking to secure a cheaper seat to the Main Event on Saturday, April 29th. There were 83 entries in total, and in the end, there were eight happy players headed for the big one this weekend.
We have a lot more in store for you at the APT Championships Philippines 2017, head to the event page for all the information.