Meet the Final 8 of APT Championships Philippines 2017 Main Event

Final 8 Main Event lineup of the APT Championships Philippines 2017 includes  Mike Takayama and SJ Kim.

For several days, the APT Championships Philippines has been filled to capacity with a record breaking 442 entries to the Main Event. The featured tournament had a US$1,100 buy-in for a massive prize pool of US$428,740. There were many well-known pros and notable players from all over the world in attendance with some of them reaching the money round.

Last night, the Final 8 was revealed with many of them well experienced in running deep in large events. They will return to the felt today for the race to the US$105,530 first prize.

Final 8 players

Asakura Yasuyuki – 2,140,000 chips

Japanese player Asakura Yasuyuki holds the chip lead with 2,140,000. While not much is known of him, he seems to be accustomed to large fields as proven at the ongoing event. He stormed through each day, consistently landing at the top of the chip counts. Last year, Yasuyuki ran deep at the Manila Megastack 6 Main Event placing 5^th out of the enormous 646 entries.

Mike Takayama – 1,990,000 chips

Filipino pro Mike Takayama is the most decorated player in the Final 8. Not only does he have countless trophies claimed each year, mostly in the Philippines, he also has an APT Main Event title under his belt where he earned his biggest score of US$79,041. Takayama topped last year’s GPI ranking for the Philippines. He is running second in chips with 1,990,000.

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More: Mike Takayama: The Iconic Enigma of Philippine poker

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Akashi Kosaku  – 1,870,000 chips

Another Japanese player in the Final 8 lineup, Akashi Kosaku, is an experienced tournament player who has run deep in a couple of Main Events. In September 2015, he finished 11^th at the WPTN Jeju Challenge and prior to that, he placed 9^th out of 256 entries at the APPT Seoul in April 2014. Kosaku comes in third with 1,870,000.

Keith Seah – 1,290,000 chips

Singaporean Keith Seah is next on the chip count with 1,290,000. Seah doesn’t have many cashes but he did post a couple of good Main Event finishes a few years back. His largest score of US$9,660 was at the APT Philippines No Limit Hold’em event placing 2^nd out of 146 players.

SJ Kim – 1,165,000 chips

SJ Kim is currently the hottest running player from Korea. Last year he claimed a whopping ten victories with one of them at the APT Finale Macau Main Event where he shipped in US$83,433. Kim is a well-known pro, a regular in the APT circuit looking to ship in his first six-digit score. At the ongoing APT Main Event, Kim topped Day 2 and will enter the Final 8 heading the bottom half of the chip count.

William Te – 1,065,000 chips

William Te is Filipino poker player who hasn’t recorded many tournament cashes but making it into the Final 8 is a big accomplishment in itself. This is his first appearance in a Final 8 of any major tournament.

Noel Araniel – 830,000 chips

Noel Araniel is an active player in the local Filipino circuit. Araniel has a knack for running deep in big field events with many small cashes and several local trophies on his shelf. He is however still looking to bag the big one to overtake his largest score of US$7,241 which he won at a PokerStars Live Manila NLH Super Deepstack event.

Anton Del Rosario – 695,000 chips

Rounding out the Final 8 is Anton Del Rosario with 695,00 chips. Del Rosario is a well-known football player in the Philippines. He has been spotted at several major poker events in the country but this is the deepest he has gone. The past few days at the Main Event has shown he can kick it with the big players.

The Final 8 resumes today at Resorts World Manila. Somuchpoker will have those results for you as soon as it concludes.

Among the notable players who cashed were Ying Lin Chua in 12th place, Linh Tran in 18th place, Michael De Leon in 20th place, Imran Khan in 26th place, Chanting “Peggy” Chen in 27th place, and Euryd Rivera in 40th place.

Article by Triccia David