Asia live event briefs: Okada Manila Millions and 2022 APPT Open Manila announced; APL New Year Event qualifiers running; Zheng Tianhao wins CPG Masters

Live events are picking up in the Philippines with PokerStars LIVE Manila announcing two events at the turn of the new year – Okada Manila Millions and APPT Open Manila. In Korea, live games have been running nonstop in December with the Asia Poker League hosting qualifiers to the New Year Main Event. During the series, Seungmin Yu won the brand’s Winterfest X-Mas Championship. In China, premier poker organizer China Poker Games concluded its CPG Masters festival with Zheng Tianhao locking up his first major title. We’ve got all those stories for you down below. 

PokerStars LIVE Manila: Okada Manila Millions from January 3 to 9

Early this month, poker players in the Philippines filled the tables of PokerStars LIVE Manila for the first live event held by the brand in nearly two years. With Covid cases in the country on a sustained low, the brand is set to kick off the 2022 calendar season with another fun live series. Coming up fast is the Okada Manila Millions taking place from January 3 to 9. For those interested in participating, proof of vaccination is required. 

The festival serves up 15 events with buy ins from ₱ 2,500 (~US$ 50) to ₱ 25,000 (~US$ 500), and is highlighted by the ₱ 3 Million guaranteed Main Event. Make sure to get there on opening day as the series gets rolling with the Kickoff ₱ 300K (~US$ 6,000) guaranteed. For players sporting thick bankolls, you can look forward to six events of buy ins from ₱ 10K and up. For purists, five Freezeout events are scheduled with the ₱ 25K NLH Megastack Freezeout as the most expensive. Closing out the series is the NLH Superstack featuring a ₱ 500K guarantee and a special satellite tournament to the APPT Open Manila Main Event. 

Guaranteed Events

Main Event
Dates: January 3 to 9
Buy in: ₱ 3,500 (~US$ 70)
Guarantee: ₱ 3,000,000  (~US$ 59,900)
Day 1A – 1F: January 3 to 8
Day 1F Turbo: January 8
Day 2: January 9

Note: Multiple re-entries allowed; each Day 1 will play down to 5% of the field; ITM is at 12% of the field with a payout minimum of ₱ 7,000. The Main Event winner will receive a seat to the APPT Manila Main Event worth ₱ 65,000 (deducted from the prize pool). 

Kickoff Event
Date: Monday, January 3
Buy in: ₱ 3,000 (~US$ 60)
Guarantee: ₱ 300,000 (~US$ 6,000)
Note: Multiple re-entries allowed

NLH Superstack 
Date: Sunday, January 9
Buy in : ₱ 6,000 (~US$ 120)
Guarantee: ₱ 500,000 (~US$ 10,000)
Note: Multiple re-entries allowed

Other Events

Buy ins from ₱ 10,000 (~US$ 200) to ₱ 25,000 (~US$ 500)

Monday, January 3: ₱ 10,000 NLH Knockout Turbo Freezeout [₱ 2K Bounty]
Tuesday, January 4: ₱ 10,000 NLH Turbo Freezeout
Wednesday, January 5: ₱ 10,000 NLH Turbo – Single Re-entry
Thursday, January 6: ₱ 10,000 NLH Hyper Turbo Single Re-entry

Friday, January 7: ₱ 10,000 NLH Knockout [Bounty ₱ 5K] – Single Re-entry
Friday, January 7: ₱ 20,000 NLH Shot Clock – Single Re-entry

Saturday, January 8: ₱ 15,000 NLH Freezeout
Saturday, January 8: ₱ 25,000 NLH Megastack Freezeout (~US$ 500)

Buy ins from ₱ 2,500 (~US$ 50) to ₱ 8,000 (~US$ 160)

Tuesday, January 4: ₱ 2,500 NLH – Single Re-entry
Wednesday, January 5: ₱ 2,500 PLO Knockout [Bounty ₱ 500] – Single Re-entry
Thursday, January 6: ₱ 5,000 NLH Shot Clock – Single Re-entry
Sunday, January 9: ₱ 8,000 NLH Freezeout 

Special Event
Sunday, January 9: ₱ 5,800 Satellite to APPT Open Manila Main Event 

PokerStars LIVE Manila: APPT Open Manila 2022

More exciting news from the PokerStars LIVE Manila dugout. After a two season interruption, the brand’s highly revered APPT Open Manila festival is set to resume with games taking place from March 22 to 28. While the official schedule has yet to be announced, here is what we know so far: 

APPT Open Kickoff: March 22 to 23 – ₱ 15,000 (~US$ 300)
APPT Open National: March 23 to 25 – ₱ 20,000 (~US$ 400)
APPT Open High Roller: March 25 to 26 – ₱ 150,000 (~US$ 3,000)
APPT Open Main Event: March 25 to 28 – ₱ 40,000 (~US$ 800)

Asia Poker League: New Year Event and Seungmin Yu wins APL WInterfest X-Mas Championship

Throughout the month of December, players in Korea have been treated to plenty of exciting live games courtesy of the Asia Poker League. Currently ongoing are Day 1 qualifiers to the APL New Year Main Event featuring a whopping KR₩ 700 Million (~US$ 589,700) guarantee. Qualifiers have been running at various pubs every weekend around the country since December 4 and will be offered until January 29. Following this, the New Year Event officially opens on February 2 and will conclude on February 6. For those unable to qualify, no need to fret. Three starting days will also be offered during the festival. 

Main Event

Guarantee: R₩ 700,000,000 (~US$ 589,700)
Buy in: 9 tickets
Entries: 1,100 cap
Day 2: Saturday, February 5, 2022
Day 3: Sunday, February 6, 2022

In addition to the main, the New Year Event offers nine varied games, each one extending a guarantee from KR₩ 10 Million (~US$ 8,4200) to the Super High Roller KR₩ 110 Million (~US$ 92,670). Players can expect Badugi, Bounty, Deepstack, and Turbo Events. 

In other APL news, wedged in the middle of the ongoing APL New Year Event Day 1 qualifiers was the APL Winterfest running from December 17 to 19. Highlighting the mini series was the X-Mas Championship KR₩ 100 Million (~US$ 84,200) guaranteed. Seungmin Yu defeated Ji Tae Maeng at heads up for his first known live victory and a career high score of KR₩ 23,000,000 (~US$ 19,376). In third place was rising star Hyungyu Park who reached his seventh final table this year. In February, Park placed 2nd at the APL Korea Main Event in Gangwon-Do then won the World Class of Poker Main Event in March to pocket a combined KR₩ 109,000,000 (~US$ 96,800). 

Winterfest X-Mas Championship

Guaranteed Prize pool: KR₩ 100,000,000
Entries: 220
ITM: 25 places

Final table payouts

1st Seungmin Yi – KR₩ 23,000,000
2nd Ji Tae Maeng – KR₩ 20,300,000
3rd Hyungyu Park – KR₩ 10,000,000
4th Kang Hee Soo – KR₩ 7,800,000
5th Kim Chae Bin – KR₩ 6,000,000
6th Jintae Yang – KR₩ 4,800,000
7th Park Hyun Woo – KR₩ 3,800,000
8th Lee Woo Sang – KR₩ 3,000,000
9th Choi Sok Hwan – KR₩ 2,400,000 

Other series winners: Jaeho Lee (NLH Turbo for KR₩ 5,200,000), Seong Jin Ko (NLH Turbo Bounty for KR₩ 6,500,000), Byeong Jun Ko (Monster Stack for KR₩ 8,500,000), and Gun Hyung Nam (Limit Badugi 6-Max for KR₩ 2,750,000).

China Poker Games: Zheng Tianhao wins CPG Masters Main Event

Premier Chinese poker brand China Poker Games concluded its final event of the year with the CPG Masters running from December 10 to 16 in Hainan Island. Unlike its annual championship event, the festival is recognized as the brand’s high roller series with sixteen games scheduled. Highlighting the action was the Main Event with 626 pulling up seats for a prize pool of ~CN¥ 12,500,000 (~US$ 1,961,600). Zheng Tianhao emerged victorious for his first ever major title and a career high CN¥ 2,000,000 (~US$ 314,090) payout. Other big winners were Mao Zhuojie (Free Trade Port Cup) and Wang Zexuan (High Roller). 

Buy in: CN¥ 22,000 (~US$ 3,450)
Entries: 626
Prize pool: ~CN¥ 12,500,000 (~US$ 1,961,600)
ITM: 81 places

Final table payouts

1st Zheng Tianhao – CN¥ 2,000,000
2nd Wang Heng – CN¥ 1,200,000
3rd Ji Chunhui – CN¥ 788,000
4th LIn Sicheng – CN¥ 600,000
5th Li Yong – CN¥ 460,000
6th Sun Shijie – CN¥ 380,000
7th Huo Fengkui – CN¥ 310,000
8th Zhang Yuyu – CN¥ 250,000
9th Pan Qi – CN¥ 200,000