Two days ago, the Asian Poker Tour opened its doors for its fifth poker festival of the calendar year, the APT Experience Manila 2016. This is the first installment of the series running from Saturday, May 14 until Sunday, May 22, 2016 at the APT Poker Room in Waterfront Manila Pavilion Casino and Hotel. With a slew of poker events running all over the Asian region throughout May, the APT launched this series on a weekend to cater to the “weekend warriors” looking to get some quick games in the country along with an opportunity for them to experience the charm of Manila while on their visit.
Final Table ( Photo APT)
The P1M Guaranteed Welcome Event kicked off the festivities with 230 entries – flight A with 128 entries and flight B with 102 entries – and with a buy-in of P6,600, the prize pool swelled past the guarantee for a total of P1,338,600. After the qualifying day, the field compressed down to only 53 players for the final day, and after a long battle, it was was Korea’s Jae Wook Shin who defeated fellow countryman Youngsub Song to seize the trophy and the first place cash purse of P335,000 ($7205).
Shin entered the final day as the overall chip leader while Song was not too far behind. Both players had their fair share of scalping heads at the final table with Shin delivering the first blow to Japan’s Yoichi Uesugi in 8th place. Next one to go was Kosugi Wataru in 7th place, eliminated by Filipino player Aristotle Sigua, although a majority of his chips actually went to Song on a previous hand. Filipino player Joseph Sia was Song’s first elimination at the final table, ending his run in 6th place; and then Malaysia’s Adimus Putra was ousted by Sigua in 5th place. Song claimed his next head when he eliminated USA’s Nick Gorman in 4th place with quad aces against a flush, then Shin matched him up when he burned Sigua in 3rd place with trips against trips with Shin holding the higher kicker. The heads up round had pots swing back and forth until that one big one landed. Shin doubled up with his pocket kings against Song’s ace-five suited, and crippled down Song. On the final hand, Song had pocket aces but it was still not enough to get back in the game as Shin’s queen-four offsuit connected with a straight.
Jae Wook Shin (Photo APT)
This is Jae Wook Shin’s second victory in May having won the P3M Metro Summer Special Main Event at the start of the month.
We will have more stories for you on the APT Experience Manila 2016 so check back with us in the coming days.
Final Table Payouts:
1st Jae Wook Shin – Korea – P335,000
2nd Youngsub Song – Korea – P192,800
3rd Aristotle Sigua – Philippines – P131,200
4th Nick Gorman – USA – P93,700
5th Adimus Putra – Malaysia – P76,300
6th Joseph Sia – Philippines – P61,600
7th Kosugi Wataru – Japan – P49,500
8th Yoichi Uesugi – Japan – P40,200
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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