Last week, the Asian Poker Tour Philippines 2016 ended its nine-day poker festival at Resorts World Manila. For those who weren’t there, from the first event to the last event, there were many fun and exciting moments worth a review.
1. The $50,000 Guaranteed Opening Event had a record –breaking 338 entries, crushing the previous record of 304 entries set in 2014. The prize pool grew to $81,960. Filipino player Julius Lagman claimed the victory and pocketed $18,210.
Julius Lagman (Photo APT)
2. The APT and RWM have signed a new two-year exclusive agreement to be fulfilled by the end of 2017. APT is expected to deliver a minimum of four APT events at the venue. The next event is scheduled for September 14-22, 2016 for the APT Manila.
Jeff Man and Hakan Dagtas (Photo APT)
3. Korea’s Seung Soo Jeon won the Main Event earning his highest payout of $116,100. This is Jeon’s second APT Main Event title and he is the second player to have achieved this with Norway’s Henrik Tollefsen being the first. Jeon is having a great start to his year having placed 2nd at the APT Kickoff 2016 Main Event and then a 7th place finish at the PokerStars Live Manila $1M Guaranteed Main Event back in March.
In addition to Jeon capturing his second title, there were 18 APT Main Event champions in attendance at the festival. That was the highest gathering of APT champions ever seen in one room.
18 Main Event champion (Photo APT)
4. Quadruple crown APT Player of the Year UK’s Samad Razavi cashed in four events, one of which included a trophy for the Ante Up for Charity event. Razavi currently leads the APT POY charts and has an over 300 point advantage over second-in-rank Japan’s Iori Yogo.
Sam Razavi (Photo APT)
5. Bryan Huang added another win to his stats. The Singaporean pro took down the Head Hunter event; however, before doing so, he had to get past his father, Ng Yow Hui, who was also at the final table. Huang scalped him in 4th place and took the $100 bounty.
Bryan Huang (Photo APT)
6. Online tournament player, Switzerland’s Alain Walder, was the only player to win two trophies at the festival. Walder won the No Limit Hold ‘em 1 Day event and the Deep Stack Hyper Turbo. Now residing in Asia, Walder played his first-ever live game during APT Vietnam where he finished 5th at the Welcome Event.
Alain Walder (Photo APT)
7. Since the start of 2016, Malaysia’s Ying Lin Chua has been on a winning streak. He won the WPTN Philippines Main Event in January at Solaire Resort and Casino, and then he captured the Red Dragon at the end of February. At the APT, he won the Monster Stack event and earned $15,910 to add to his growing wads of winnings.
8. Another fellow Malaysian himself a side event trophy, previous APT Main Event champion, Lim Yah Loon. Loon entered the APT circuit in October 2015 for the APT Asian Poker Series Manila where he proceeded to win the Main Event. Since then, he has been seen at almost every APT event. At this recent festival, he won the Pot Limit Omaha Hi event and earned $8,450.
9. Hong Kong’s Sparrow Cheung was also seen at the APT where he took down a small field of 9 players for the High Rollers event scooping up a $28,300 payout. This was a great moment for Cheung as he missed a trophy earlier in the week by one spot at the APT No Limit Hold ‘em event 1 Day event.
The next APT stop is the APT Experience Manila 2016 running from May
Louis Hartwell
Graduated in Media Communication at the University of Lausanne, Louis Hartman is a co-founder of somuchpoker.com. He began his career in Cambodia as freelance journalist. In same time he was making his living by playing poker every night at that time. Intense learner, he read dozens of poker strategy books to improve his skills during many years. With a strong interest about poker "behind the scene" in Asia and his communication skills, Louis launched Somuchpoker in 2014.
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