The Asian Poker Tour kicked off the month of February with a couple of first-time destinations. The first one was in Tokyo, Japan which concluded mid-month. The second one is APT Taiwan 2019 in Taipei currently ongoing at the Chinese Texas Hold’em Poker Association – CTP Club from February 20 to March 3.
Yesterday, the Main Event concluded with Hong Kong’s Chow Cliff defeating fellow countryman Alan King Lun Lau for the inaugural title. This was a historic moment with the Main Event setting a record prize pool for the country. The pot ballooned to TWD 15,219,300 (US$ 493,000), the largest-ever seen in Taiwan. We’ve got a recap for you below along with the latest side event winners including Japan’s Azusa Maeda lifting two trophies.
Chow Cliff wins Main Event
The Main Event ran a total of six days, from February 21 to 26. The first three days were dedicated starting days attracting a huge field of 449 entries. Late registration stayed open for one more hour in Day 2 with another 74 signing up to bring the overall total to 523. This number more than smashed the TWD 5 Million advertised guarantee, tripling up to TWD 15,219,300 (US$493,000). This was an incredible result considering the buy-in was TWDS 33,000 (US$1,070), the highest ever in Taiwan.
After six days of competition, Hong Kong players dominated the action with five of them making it to the final 9 table. The most decorated was Alan King Lun Lau who drove his stack up to the heads up round against Chow Cliff. A deal was struck awarding Lau the larger cut but the glory and the bragging rights first APT Taiwan Main Event title was still up for grabs.
In the end, it was Cliff who powered through landing a huge double up that Lau wasn’t able to overcome. Cliff claimed his first live tournament major victory and TWD 2,443,800 (US$79,300). For runner-up, Lau received TWD 2,800,000 (US$90,900).
A total of 53 players shaved a piece of the pot. Among them were Jacky Wong (10th), Park Yu “Sparrow” Cheung (11th), Tzai Wei Phua (14th), Lim Yohwan “Boxer” (17th), Ying Lin Chua (25th), Soo Jo Kim (26th), Go Mori (33rd), and Philip Wang (34th).
Final 9 Payouts
1st Chow Cliff – Hong Kong – TWD 2,443,800 (deal)
2nd Alan King Lun Lau – Hong Kong – TWD 2,800,000 (deal)
3rd Co Chung Chuen – Hong Kong – TWD 1,458,200
4th Jeonggyu Cho – Korea – TWD 1,053,200
5th Lo Hung Leuk Mattheus – Hong Kong – TWD 787,600
6th Li Min Jie – China – TWD 607,900
7th Kwon Chung Kong – Hong Kong – TWD 482,700
8th Wan Wei Han – Taiwan – TWD 393,300
9th James Jagger – UK – TWD 327,800
High Rollers results
In addition to the Main Event, several side events have completed. The first two days saw the Super High Rollers and the Kitty Kuo Invitational High Rollers 6 Max.
Jack Nai Yuan Hu topped the 19 runners of the Super High Rollers defeating Park Yu “Sparrow” Cheung at heads up. Among the attendees of that event were Winfred Yu, Marvin Rettenmaier, Jack Salter, Wen Ling Gao, and Daniel Tang.
Payouts
Prize pool: TWD 3,686,000 (US$119,700) – Buyin: TWD 215,000 (US$7,000)
1st Jack Nai Yuan Hu – Taiwan – TWD 1,,570,000 (deal)
2nd Sparrow Cheung – Hong Kong – TWD 1,200,000 (deal)
3rd Gergely Kulcsar – Hungary – TWD 562,000
4th Raymond Wu – Taiwan – TWD 354,000
The Kitty Kuo Invitational was a special event, added in during the last week prior to the start of the festival. Buy-in was TWD 262,000 (US$8,500). The event pulled in 15 runners among them was Aussie Millions 2018 Main Event champion – Toby Lewis. Lewis wouldn’t reach the heights though. Instead, rising to the top was Australian pro Adrian Attenborough defeating Gergely Kulcsar at heads up. Attenborough shipped TWD 2,073,400 (US$67,300). For runner-up Kulcsar, he padded up another TWD 1,018,500 (US$33,000) to his earlier winnings.
Payouts
Prize pool: TWD 3,637,500 (US$118,200) – Buyin: TWD 262,000 – Entries: 15
1st Adrian Attenborough – Australia – TWD 2,073,400
2nd Gergely Kulcsar – Hungary – TWD 1,018,500
3rd Russell Thomas – USA – TWD 545,600
In addition the very high buy-in event above, there were a few High Rollers events that wrapped up.
The first one was the High Rollers Single Day event with 70 entries paying up TWD 54,000 (US$1,700) The event was claimed by China’s Dong Guo. He faced Alan King Lun Lau at heads up. A deal was struck that abruptly closed the tournament. With more chips behind, Guo was awarded the win and TWD 699,700 (US$22,700) but Lau took the bigger cut of TWD 900,000 (US$29,200).
Payouts
1st Guo Dong – China – TWD 699,700 (deal)
2nd Alan King Lun Lau – TWD 900,000 (deal)
3rd Yun Sheng Sun – China – TWD 444,900|
4th Lee Shao Hung – Taiwan – TWD 321,300
5th Alex Lindop – UK – TWD 240,300
6th En Ching Wu – TWD – Taiwan – 185,500
7th Vincent Li – Hong Kong – TWD 147,300
8th Phachara Wongwichit – Thailand – TWD 120,000
9th Zhang Yifan – China – TWD 100,000
10th Xiaoyin He – China – TWD 83,300
11th Natalie Teh – Malaysia – TWD 83,300
12th Jack Nai Yuan Hu – Taiwan – TWD 69,400
The second High Rollers event had a larger buy-in of TWD 86,000 (US$2,800). This attracted a bigger field than the earlier HR event with 89 heating up seats for a prize pool of TWD 6,906,400 (US$224,400). The event ran for two days. It came down to the final two players, Canada’s Ian Modder and Philippine’s Marc Rivera. Modder powered through the tough fight to ship the lion’s share TWD 1,845,700 (US$60,000).
Top 8 Payouts
Prize pool: TWD 6,906,400 – Buyin: 86,000 – Entries: 89 – ITM: 15 places
1st Ian Modder – Canada – TWD 1,845,700
2nd Marc Rivera – Philippines – TWD 1,230,500
3rd Yifan Zhang – China – TWD 855,400
4th Michael Seymour – Australia – TWD 617,800
5th Luke Martinelli – Australia – TWD 462,000
6th David Wang – Australia – TWD 356,600
7th Wei Cheng Yin – Taiwan – TWD 283,200
8th Wen Ling Gao – China – TWD 230,700
Other Side Events results
Dream Maker event
The festival opened up with a new one on the plate – the Dream Maker event. This was a concept proposed by venue owner, Hsing “David” Tai. The idea was to pay out top 5% of the field for a sizable bankroll to the winners. The event dragged in 118 entries with each one paying TWD 8,800 (US$286) to enter. The event ran for two days with Hong Kong’s Cheung Chung Ching winning it after defeating Brazil’s Patrick Liang. Chung shipped TWD 265,200 (US$8,600).
Payouts
1st Cheung Chung Ching – Hong Kong – TWD 265,200 (deal)
2nd Patrick Liang – Brazil – TWD 255,700 (deal)
3rd Chien Chiao Tseng – Taiwan – TWD 180,400 (deal)
4th Christian Cheng – Taiwan – TWD 95,000
5th Tseng Chun Hsiung – Taiwan – TWD 68,200
6th Hsu Li-Ta – Taiwan – TWD 51,200
Azusa Maeda wins two events
Japan’s Azusa Maeda captured two trophies at the series. He won the No Limit Hold’em 1 event and the Pot Limit Omaha Hi event. At the NLH 1, Maeda overcame a field of 157 runners which so far was the largest side event turnout. He pocketed TWD 316,300 for his victory. At the PLO Hi, Maeda bested the 99 runners and shipped TWD 223,800.
Somuchpoker will continue to provide results on the ongoing festival with the Championships Event underway. Stay tuned!
Article By Tricia David
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.
Follow Me:
