HomeThe last qualifying heat of the APT Philippines 2017 II Main Event brought in a much bigger crowd than the opening flight with 82 players scattered throughout the tournament floor of Resorts World Manila. After the scheduled eight rounds of play, the event wrapped with a solid six tables still running and 54 players filling up those seats.
There were quite a number of players with stacks fairly the same height but there were a couple who edged them by just a bit more. Vietnam’s Anh Nguyen finished at the top of the rung with 172,500 in chips and trailing just behind him was Japan’s Kiyohito Takeda with 172,000 in chips, literally just one purple chip away from tying up.
Main Event Day 1B Chip Leader, Anh Nguyen
In addition to the leaders, the qualifiers included past Main Event champions Iori Yogo, John Tech, Takumi Samejima, Soo Jo Kim, Czardy Rivera, Lim Yah Loon, Gyeong Byeong Lee, , and two-time champion Mike Takayama. They will join the three leaders that made cut in Day 1A.
Other notable players also earning their spot into Day 2 were Kai Paulsen, Yoichi Uesugi, JC Sayo, Hung Sheng Lin, Lester Edoc, Yuri Odagiri, and 2017 APT Player of the Year leader Tetsuya Tsuchikawa.
Although we hadn’t planned on any hand reporting for the day, we did catch a nutty triple up with the festival’s Opening Event champion, Eugene Co, as the happy receiver. It was a three-way showdown with Co all in holding 9♣ 9♦ and facing elimination at the hands of two players both with A-A. Since he did have outs, there was a chance to improve and that’s exactly what happened. The board ran 10♠ 3♥ K♥ 9♥ 5♣ for a winning set to Co. Co finished the day with 98,900 in chips.
Today’s 54 qualifiers will merge with the 27 Day 1A qualifiers for Day 2 starting at 1pm on Tuesday, September 19. We will have live updates on some of that action so be on the lookout for that right here.
Japan’s Hideki Azuma wins the NLH One-Day 2
Late last night, another side event champion emerged with Japan’s Hideki Azuma defeating fellow compatriot Taiichiro Yoshikawa at the heads up round of the NLH One-Day 2 event. Azuma claimed the USD 5,350 first place purse and his first-ever APT trophy.
NLH 1 Day Event 2 Champion, Hideki Azuma
It was a hustlin’ and bustlin’ day at the NLH One-Day 2 event with Azuma having to navigate through a field of 108 entries. With only 18 players seeing a profit, the first player off to the cage was Patrick Jolas Guerrero who picked up his second cash of the series. Another player also on his second collection was Anton Del Rosario finishing in 10th place.
At nine remaining, Azuma had a game-changing hand that sent his stack soaring straight to the top seat. Azuma doubled up with 10♥ 10♦ over Kuroda Yukihiro’s A♠ K♣ on a board of 10♠ 8♥ K♠ 3♥ 5♥. From there, he coasted to the heads up round.
For eventual runner-up Yoshikawa, he sat with a very healthy stack throughout the final table. He picked up chips by sending a few players to the rail, the list included Yukihiro in 3rd place to enter the heads up round ahead of Azuma. After several small pots exchanged, both players found themselves in a showdown with Azuma at risk.
- Azuma all in with A♦ 2♦ and Yoshikawa all in with K♦ Q♦. The board bricked running J♠ 9♦ 6♠ 2♥ J♥. Azuma doubled up to 3.5:1 in chips.
Shortly after, the final hand came down with Azuma’s 5-5 victorious against Yoshikawa’s 9-4.