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RVS CUP 2017: First career victory for Christopher Chua

From November 16 – 20, avid poker players from all over the Philippines took to the felt for the Metro Card Club’s biggest and richest event of the year – the RVS CUP Philippine Poker Championship 2017. While the Metro has long been the most popular card room in the country, what packed the house at each of the starting days was the PHP5 Million (~US$98,500) guaranteed prize pool along with its highly affordable PHP5,000 (~US$100) entry fee.

After the initial four-day rush had cleared, the verdict was in. The event attracted a massive 1,176 entries with 125 of them guaranteed a cut of the fat purse. Among all the players that had their hands in the cookie jar, the most envied was Christopher Chua who took home the largest chunk. Chua bested the 27 player field of the final day to win the PHP1,500,000 (~US$29,500) champion’s prize.

Impressively, this was Chua’s first-ever live tournament career victory, and his biggest live score to-date. He now joins the exclusive list of winners that include Lester Edoc (2014), Richard Marquez (2015), and Anacleto Quijano (2016).

Christophe Chua
Christophe Chua

Final Table results

Last night, the final table was formed with 10 players in the lineup. This was led by Korea’s Seok Uk Hong, considerably the most threatening player in the event. Hong decimated numerous players in Day 2 to enter the final day as the chip leader. Due to this, the locals endearingly coined him “Bruce Lee”. Hong continued his strong performance at the final table, owning the leadership status once again. He finished in a respectable 4th place.

Another Korean player was also at the round, Ji Won Seo. Alike Hong, he too was a strong force at the final table that when he fell in 3rd place, the rail erupted with the RVS CUP champion certain to be from the home country.

The most decorated player at the final table was pro Czardy Rivera. Ranked 9th in the country, Rivera ended his run in 7th place.

Here are the Final Table results:

Payouts

1st Christopher Chua – Philippines – PHP1,500,000
2nd Bienvenido Guevarra – PHP762,500
3rd Ji Won Seo – Korea – PHP390,000
4th Seok Uk Hong – Korea – PHP200,000
5th Manuel Mascunana – Philippines – PHP130,000
6th Christopher Pasion – Philippines – PHP90,000
7th Czardy Rivera – Philippines – PHP70,000
8th Jan Morris Bolotaolo – Philippines – PHP60,000
9th Delfino Ty – Philippines – PHP50,000
10th Reynaldo Concepcion – USA – PHP40,000

Notable players in the money

With the RVS CUP 2017 pooling in a very huge field, it was of no surprise to see it dominated by local players. Among the notable players who reached the money round but missed the final table were past RVS CUP champions Lester Edoc (61st) and Richard Marquez (67th). Also earning a piece were Euryd Rivera (78th), Emmanuel Segismundo (94th), and Jessie Leonarez (104th).

One of the country’s top-ranked players, Mike Takayama, also performed well; he took command of Day 1C, made it into the final day, and tapped out in 25th place.

In addition to the locals, the foreign contingent was also well represented with many seeing the money. Among that list were two decorated players, Neil Andrew Raine (68th) and Jeon Seung Soo (82nd).

Article by Triccia David

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Tricia David

Tricia David has long experience as a recreational poker player and has been covering poker events since 2010 for numerous outfits in Asia. She spent one year working part time with Poker Portal Asia then became editor and lead writer for all event coverage of the Philippine Poker Tour (PPT). Under the PPT, she overlooked content for their website, and produced live updates on all their events. In addition, she served as the live and online events website content writer for the Asian Poker Tour. Currently, she does live events reporting in Asia for online news site Somuchpoker and is also one of their news contributors.

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