APT Asian Poker Series Manila Main Event: Day 2 Recap

China’s Yao Hui Leads the Rollercoaster Day 2 of the APT Asian Poker Series Manila Main Event It was a rollercoaster day 2 at the APT Asian Poker Series Manila 2015 Main Event with 181 players returning to Resorts World Manila for another grueling battle at the felt.

Grueling may actually be an understatement as many fell, and by the end of tournament play, only 51 survived. In command at the end of day 2 was a very determined man from China, Yao Hui. Hui had it rough. He entered the day in the upper twenty of the chip count but later, found himself on the losing end of several pots until he was crippled down to an ailing stack. Having no choice but to find a spot to double up in, he took a gamble with his 10-7 offsuit and got exactly what he was looking for. From that moment onwards, he began to grind his way, winning numerous pots until his stack was one to be feared at his table. By the end of the night, Hui climbed to the leader’s seat when he won a pot against Filipino player, Wendell Garcia, bringing him to 342,500 chips.

Chip Stacks Swinging

Right behind Hui were several players who also had held the chip lead at some point during the day. Filipino player Marc Rivera was ahead at the dinner break, followed closely by the three day one leaders, Noel Araniel, Canada’s Linh Tran, and Singapore’s Yah Loon. All of them sported over 200k chips. After filling up their bellies, the tides quickly changed. Rivera doubled up two players, Araniel was losing his stack, Loon was at a standstill, while Tran was gaining momentum. Stacks were noticeably swinging up and down with chips moving in every direction, except at Kai Paulsen’s table. The chips seemed to be attracted to the Norwegian that in just one hour, he had 280k chips, giving him the chip lead. Shortly after, his table broke, and in jest, Paulsen exclaimed “why?”

An other busy day at Resort World Manila (Photo APT)

At another table, Filipino player Wendell Garcia was also on the move. He railed India’s Piyush Gupta with a bad beat when his pocket tens landed a set over Gupta’s pocket queens and was in great shape to take the lead with one more sizable pot. But as we said, it was a rollercoaster ride and it was not nearly over. Lithuanian player Martynas Valantiejus woke up with pocket aces and doubled up against Nicholas Gorman’s (USA) big slick. This sky rocketed Valantiejus immediately into the chip leader’s seat with over 300k chips.

Several hands later, Valantiejus further escalated when he railed Canada’s John Prevedoros with a rivered flush bringing him to 392k chips. Running second was Garcia with 300k chips. With one hour left in day 2, Valantiejus high was short-lived. He lost a pot against Korea’s Jae Chul Chang then took a further beating when Gorman retaliated and reclaimed some of his lost chips. During the hand, Valantiejus put Gorman’s tournament life on the line on a ten-high board, but Gorman snap-called and won with his pocket aces. Valantiejus wasn’t the only one losing chips in the final hour. Paulsen also lost several pots when he doubled up two short stacks, one of whom was Japan’s Iori Yogo. Yogo moved all in with his short stack holding pocket eights and survived against Paulsen’s ace-king. While all this was creating much excitement, India’s Raghan Bansal and Vietnam’s Le Ngoc Khanh were creeping up over 300k landing them the second and third spots respectively in the chip ladder by the end of tournament play.

Tracking Previous Champions

With many casualties throughout the day, the field downsized to half in the fourth hour taking with it previous champions such as Henrik Tollefsen (Norway), Gerard Bringley (Japan), and Filipino champions Neil Arce and Mike Takayama. Left in the field with a chance for a second title were Singaporean Feng Zhao and Filipino pro John Tech. Both players survived the day with Zhao at the very bottom of the rung with 16k chips while Tech bagged 176k chips. Keeping an eye on them throughout the day, Zhao climbed to around 150k chips but lost momentum in the late stages. Tech, on the other, had a very critical yet daring hand against Min Soo Kim. Tech shoved on a board showing 5d-8d-8c-Js-Jd. Kim tanked for a long time but eventually folded while flashing his Qd. Tech revealed his bluff, he had pocket sevens. With that win, his stack rose to just under 200k.

Other Notable Pros

Among the survivors of day 2 are some notable pros such as Singaporean pro Bryan Huang Diwei, Filipino pro Lester Edoc, Korea’s Sim Jae Kyung, New Zealander Tomas Ward, and Sweden’s Roger Spets.

Only 36 players will be seeing a profit so we expect another tough day ahead for all the qualifiers as they battle it out not just for ITM but also for a final table berth.

Side Events

With many fallen players, the side events were booming both inside and outside of the poker room with trophies eventually awarded at evening’s end.

In the WeLoveSport.com Deep Stack Turbo, Filipino player Michael De Leon overcame a field of 133 entries to claim the first place purse of PHP165,000. (On a side note, Azusa Maeda placed ninth and added 50 more points to his APT POY stats.)

 Manuel Mascunana (Philippines) won the Deepstack Turbo Event

At yesterday’s side events, Manuel Mascunana (Philippines) took down a field of 160 entries at the MegaSportsWorld Deep Stack Turbo earning himself PHP198,100, American player Joshua Cordova collected PHP207,300 after winning the Pot Limit Omaha event, and in the NLH 1 event, Pavel Plotnikoy padded his wallet an additional PHP338,300 after defeating Fredoy Kwek Jin Wei in the heads up round.

Stay tuned for more updates on the APT Asian Series Manila 2015 Main Event and ongoing side events.

Qualifiers and table seating assignment for Day 3: Download