APT Philippines Kicks Off With Record-Breaking Numbers
Two days ago, the Asian Poker Tour set a new record with a massive 338 entries for the APT Philippines 2016 $50,000 Guaranteed Opening Event. Their previous Opening Event record was back in 2014 with 302 entries. This certainly had everyone smiling, especially that the prize pool jumped to over $80k. The Opening Event is one of the APT’s most popular events. The buy-in is an affordable $275 with unlimited re-entries, and there are two flights offered in the first day, flight A at 1pm and flight B at 5pm.
There were 149 entries for the first heat and a massive 189 entries for the final heat. By bagging time, there were 76 players remaining with one of APT’s regulars, Denmark’s Michael Kim Falcon, holding the chip lead.
338 players in the Opening Event (Photo APT)
At the final day, the chip leader took a heavy beating and bowed out before the money while well-known Filipino players such as Christopher Luke Pangan and Edilberto Gopez were on the rise. Vietnam’s Linh Tran and Zack Lazarus amassed big stacks as well along with Korea’s Lim Yo Hwan, China’s Zhinning Chen, and UK’s Ben Martin. Gopez, Chen, Lazarus, and Hwan would make their way into the final table however, for Tran, one costly losing hand, big slick, was all it took to see his stack spiral down, sending him out in 16th place. For Martin, his stack got jabbed twice by Filipino player Julius Lagman, and failed to go any further than 11th place. Pangan bubbled to the final table of eight.
Final Table
The final table saw Gopez take the early fall in 8th place while his scalper, China’s Lin Hung Chang, fell in 7th place. USA’s Nick Gorman settled for 6th place, and lone female in the table, Filipino Vilma Goldman, took 5th place. And then it was all about Lagman. Lagman eliminated Hwan in 4th place with trip jacks to earn him over half the chips in play. Although he doubled up both of the remaining players, Lazarus and Chen, he continued to dominate the table. He finished off Lazarus in 3rd place with his ace-seven suited landing trips, and then he faced off against Chen ahead in chips. After a deal was struck, they played for the title, and in less than ten hands, Lagman’s pocket tens persevered against Chen’s king-four suited to claim the trophy and the first place cash prize of $18,210.
Julius Lagman (Photo APT)
Other APT Record-Breaking Events
Running alongside the final day of the Opening Event were several other APT Philippines 2016 side event. The Battle of the Nations event, an event inducted into the APT schedule in December 2015, saw 60 players in the roster, equivalent to 30 teams. That is a record high. In the Ante Up for Charity event, there were a total of 62 entries, also breaking its past record. The Battle of the Nations resumes today but the charity event concluded late last night with APT’s quadruple crown POY champion UK’s Samad Razavi claiming the trophy.
Sam Razavi (Photo APT)
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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