Mike Takayama - SOMUCHPOKER

– General Information –

Mike Takayama is a Philippine professional poker player with a decorated career that spans over a decade.

He is a WSOP gold bracelet winner, taking down the US$1,000 Super Turbo Bounty NLHE event for US$198,568 in 2018. He was the first playerfrom the Philippines to win a World Series event.

To date, Takayama has US$ 2.26+ million in live tournament winnings, putting him 2nd in the Philippines’ All-Time Money List.

– Key Career Dates –

• 2010: He starts cashing in live tournaments in the Philippines.
• 2018: He wins his first WSOP gold bracelet after finishing first in the US$1,000 Super Turbo Bounty No Limit Hold’em event for US$198,568. That is also the biggest single live tournament cash of his career to date.

– Mike Takayama’s Career –

Mike Takayama was born in the Philippines, and came from humble beginnings. He was a professional pool player until poker captured his attention. Early in his career, in his early 20’s, he impressed the local community with his performance in an invitational event where he placed first and won a brand new BMW car. Since then, Takayama has become one of the most formidable players in the Philippine poker scene and one of the most consistent ITM finishers in Asia.

Takayama was awarded the 2018 PokerStars Asia Player of the Year title. He was the first Filipino to have ever won this award. Among his deepest runs this year were runner-up at the APPT Macau Poker Cup 28 – Baby Dragon event followed later that month by a victory at the Manila Super Series 5 – Main Event earning the highly coveted PokerStars Players Championships (PSPC) Platinum Pass.

For the next few months, his deep runs continued to accumulate, and in the summer, he sought bigger dreams and took on the World Series of Poker (WSOP) for the first time. Unlike his glories on home turf, what he experienced was scores of frustrations to the point where he nearly packed up for home.

Encouraged not to give up, Takayama turned it around winning a small tournament at the Aria. Five days later, he achieved what only others dream of each year. He became the first home-grown Filipino to win a WSOP bracelet. He overcame a field of 2,065 players at the US$1,000 Super Bounty NLHE tournament and pocketed US$ 198,568, the largest score of his career. Another US$ 29,265 was added to his earnings for cashing at the Main Event in 421st place.

Returning home, Takayama was unstoppable. He placed 3rd at the Metro 2M Guaranteed Event then runner-up at the APPT Manila No Limit Hold’em High Roller Shot Clock & BB Ante event where he pumped in another US$42,500 to his career earnings. In August 2019, he came in 3rd in the PHP65,000 Main Event at APPT Manila for US$95,006.

With the Coronavirus pandemic easing, he was able to travel back to the US for the fall WSOP of 2021. He made a final table finish in the US$1,500 No Limit Hold’em/Pot Limit Omaha 8-Handed mixed game event, eventually busting in 5th place for US$ 48,428.

In 2022, Takayama put up a strong performance in the APT Philippines III where he won four titles and cashed eight events, earning him his third APT Player of the Series Award. He also won the Main Event of the Asia Poker Championship in Manila for a hefty $112,553 payday, his first six-figure score since the WSOP scoop in 2018. In August of the same year, Takayama travelled to Cambodia for the World Poker Tour (WPT) Prime where he won two High Roller events for a total payout of $200,100.He closed the year in Prague where he won a title at the European Poker Tour (EPT) for $77,163.