Big winners and other highlights at the APT Poker Weekend Series Manila 2016

For the past nine days, lots of exciting poker action was taking place at the Asian Poker Tour’s latest festival, the APT Poker Weekend Series Manila 2016, held at the Waterfront Manila Pavilion, in Ermita, Manila, Philippines. With a big Main Event field and fifteen side events, many well-recognized pros and APT regulars not only ran deep but also claimed some of the trophies. Among the attendees were the top two players in the APT Player of the Year 2016 race, both of them running deep in several events. Here are some of those highlights.

Korea’s John Kim topped the Main Event

Team Korea celebrated the crowning of one of their own countrymen, John Kim, who topped the Main Event field of 216 players to capture his first championship title and the PhP1,132,000 ($24,391) prize money. Kim defeated the Japan’s Gerard Bringley, the defending champion of the weekend series, at the heads up round. Kim’s deepest APT Main Event run was back in February 2016 where he placed 6th. He is an APT circuit regular most known for his domination at the APT Open Face Chinese Pineapple events, having already claimed four titles under his belt.

Vietnam’s Linh Tran on fire with another victory

Vietnam’s top player, Linh Tran, was fresh off a massive victory at the APPT 10 Manila 2016 Main Event and instead of taking a break to celebrate, he jumped right into the APT High Rollers event two days after. Tran was clearly on fire, defeating a field colored with many Asian circuit pros, to earn the first place prize of PhP730,000 ($15,720). Tran also ran well at the Main Event, finishing in 12th place.

Filipino pro Mike Takayama goes 1-2-3

Filipino pro Mike Takayama got very close to winning three events. He won the Deep Stack Turbo 1 event for a nice chunk of PhP421,900 ($9,083), placed 2nd at the Pot Limit Omaha and finished in 3^rd at one of the last events of the series, the NLH P500K Guaranteed.

Korea’s Lim Yohwan runs deep in two events

Although Korea’s Lim Yohwan aka Boxer didn’t win any of the APT events, he did run deep in two of the toughest events. He placed 3rd at the Opening Event and ran one spot shy of the title in the High Rollers, falling only to Linh Tran.

Japan’s Iori Yogo continues to rule the APT Player of the Year 2016 race

Japanese pro Iori Yogo has been at the top of charts in the APT Player of the Year 2016 standings for the past few months and UK’s Samad Razavi has had to play catch up. Although Razavi claimed one of the trophies at the series, winning the No Limit Hold’em 2 event, and ran deep in three other events, his accrued points were not enough to reach the leader Yogo who also cashed in several events. Yogo entered the series blazing in with a 3rd place finish at the Opening Event, then followed it up with a 6th place finish at the Head Hunter, and capped off his run at the festival with a runner-up finish at the NLH P500K Guaranteed. The final tally shows Yogo with a lead of 529 points over Razavi.

Two Filipino young guns cash at the Main Event

There were two Filipino young guns that ran deep and cashed at the Main Event. John Sayo made it into the final day and finished in 16th place while Kim Michael Enriquez finished in 18th place.

Read more: The Young Guns of the Philippines

The rise of newcomers Abdulla, Uthirapathy, and Thoo

There were three newcomers who rocked the APT felt and are making their presence felt in the Asian circuit, Singaporeans Ceesvin Abraham Abdulla and Jaivin Uthirapathy, and Malaysia’s Ming Ken Thoo.

Abdulla was the only player in the festival to capture two event trophies. He won the Head Hunter event and the Open Face Chinese Pineapple event. As for Uthirapathy, he placed 6th in the Main Event however two months ago, he entered the Asian circuit and finished in the runner-up spot at the Poker King Cup National Philippines Main Event. For Thoo, he placed 5th at the Main Event but prior to that, he posted many cashes including a 41st place finish at the APPT 10 Manila 2016 Main Event and a 10th place finish at the APPT 10 Seoul Main Event.

More: All Side Events Results