HomeAfter five days of Main Event action at the Asian Poker Tour Cebu 2016, a champion was crowned and it was Alex Ward from the United Kingdom. Ward had to overcome a field of 144 entries and a very tough final table to capture the first place cash prize of P1,783,000, the championship trophy, and the APT Championship Ring.
APT Cebu 2016 Main Event Champion, Alex Ward
Alex Ward’s run for the title began with a big double up against chip leader Korea’s John Kim. It was a wild and crazy hand that had both players cradling a full house with betting at every round. Ward won with his 8♥ 8♦ on a board of 2♠ 2♥ 3♠ 8♠ K♠ crushing Kim’s 3♥ 3♦. Incidentally, Ward had a similar hand at day 3 when he eliminated a player in a set over set situation. Shortly after, he crossed the million chip mark and had a dominating lead. He stack grew even more when he eliminated Filipino pro Lester Edoc in 8th place.
Second-in-chips, Denmark’s Michael Kim Falcon was also on the rise. He eliminated Singapore’s Sheila Chung in 7th place with his pocket threes connecting with a set, dusting her pocket kings. Next to fall was John Kim who could not recover from his earlier loss to Ward, and was eliminated in 6th place.
At five-handed, the game slowed down significantly with the short stacks, Peru’s Yohn Paredes and Filipino JC Sayo, doubling up. Korea’s Ji Young Kim, the lone lady left in the field also started chipping up through the leaders Ward and Falcon. With chips going back and forth, Ward began to lose multiple pots while Falcon seemed to be taking control of the table. With blinds running high, Falcon eventually eliminated Paredes in 5th place with his K♠ Q♦ besting Paredese’s Q♣ 5♣. With over half of the chips in play at Falcon’s corner, Ward was able to shave off some of it when he attempted to steal Falcon’s blinds by shoving all in but was called instead. Ward had Q♠ 2♦ and Falcon had 8♠ 9♠. Ward’s hand held up and his stack was back in fighting form.
Ward then eliminated Sayo in 4th place and amassed a massive stack when he won with his 7♦ 10♣ against Falcon’s 3♠ 7♠ on a board of 7♣ 5♣ 4♥ 8♥ A♥. They were all in at the flop. Not long after, he took the rest of Falcon’s chips and faced Ji Young Kim at the heads up round. Ward was ahead with 2M chips versus her 850k chips. The tides quickly shifted when she doubled up with her A♥ 8♦ against Ward’s K♦ 10♣. This double up sent the crowd cheering. However, the thrill was short-lived because two hands later, Ward reclaimed the lead with his K♣ 2♣ landing two pair against Kim’s K♦ 3♥ top pair on a board of Q♦ K♥ 2♥ 10♠ J♥. It was all over when Ward’s J♥ 10♠ landed a pair on the board defeating Kim’s A♦ K♥.
Congratulations to Alex Ward for capturing the Main Event title!
Check out the action of the Final Eight at APT’s Live Updates page.
Final 8 Payouts:
1st Alex Ward – UK – P1,783,000
2nd Ji Young Kim – Korea – P1,044,000
3rd Michael Kim Falcon – Denmark – P723,000
4th JC Sayo – Philippines – P527,000
5th Yohn Paredes – Peru – P437,000
6th John Kim – Korea – P360,000
7th Sheila Chung – Singapore – P297,000
8th Lester Edoc – Philippines – P248,000