APPT National (60,000 PHP)

The smoke has barely cleared from the elimination of Czechia's Philipp Zukernik when the tournament's shortest stack Guy Taylor of England has the action folded to him in the CO and raises to 200,000 (leaving a lone 25,000 chip in his holdings). It gets folded to Dutchman Joris Michl who makes the call from the SB.

The flop comes 7♥ 7♠ T♥ as Michl checks. Taylor flicks in the 25,000 chip and Michl calls.

The Englishman turns over K♥ T♦ for top pair but to his surprise, Michl shows A♦ A♠ .

Needing only one of the two remaining tens in the deck to double up, the last two community cards were the 2♠ and to rub it in even further, the A♣ is the river card for a full house for Michl.

The remaining four players are now all guaranteed PhP1,380,000 (~US$23,880).

Hand #5: Chip leader Chen Zhen raises from the +2 position to 100,000 and short stacked Guy Taylor of England decides to defend his BB.

The flop is 7♣ 8♥ 5♦ as Taylor checks. Chen CBets for 170,000 which is exactly what the Englishman has left so it goes to the middle in a call for this tournament life.

Chen shows A♣ 7♠ for top pair, top kicker while Taylor has 5♥ 3♥ for bottom pair.

The turn, however, is the 5♣ to give Taylor trips and the K♦ on the river made the double up official for the shortest stack coming into the Final Table. Chen hardly felt the hit.

APPT National

Dates: October 21-24, 2024

Buy in: PHP 60,000 (~US$ 1,038)

Guarantee: PhP 15,000,000 (~US$ 262,000)

Total Prize Pool: PhP20,847,240 (~US$358,815)

Entries: 398 (206 unique)

ITM: 60 players

Players remaining: 9

Chips in play: 11,940,000

Average stack: 1,326,667

Level 26: 25,000/50,000 (50,000 BB ante)

Flight A (October 21): 63 entries, 10 qualified

Flight B (October 22): 192 entries, 29 qualified

Flight C - Turbo (October 22): 143 entries, 22 qualified

Day 2 (October 23): 60 players (all ITM)

Day 3 (October 24): 9 players remaining

Guy Taylor of England raises from early position and gets a call all the way from the BB of Filipino pro Mark de la Cruz who defends.

The flop is J♥ T♦ 7♠ as de la Cruz checks. Taylor CBets 50,000 and is greeted with a check-raise all-in by the Filipino. Taylor's response is a call for his tournament life and his final 360,000.

De la Cruz tables K♣ Q♠ for an open-ended straight draw while Taylor shows A♣ J♠ for top pair, top kicker.

The turn is the 6♣ and the river is the 2♣ to reduce de la Cruz's stack to less than two BBs.

Here's a look at the top stacks before entering the next blind level:

In a series of raises leading up to both players going all-in preflop, England's Guy Taylor is in it for his tournament life holding A♣ Q♣ against a made hand by China's Chen Zhen with J♦ J♠ . Taylor has his last 262,000 in the middle of the table.

Then Taylor flops the nuts: 3♣ 5♣ J♣ . Since Chen flopped a set, he needs the board to pair to eliminate the Englishman. It doesn't happen as the turn is the Q♦ and the river is the K♦ .

Chen is still among the chip leaders of the tournament despite the hit.

Once among the chip leaders, England's Guy Taylor found himself in a rut and is struggling to stay in the hunt when Chen Zhen of China (easily the most active player at the table) made yet another move with action folded to him on the HJ by raising it to 40,000. Taylor countered with a 3-bet to 200,000 which is called by Chen.

The flop comes 3♥ 7♣ A♥ as Chen fires 111,000. Taylor opts to stuck in his remaining 119,000 and Chen makes the call.

Taylor shows 5♣ 5♦ while Chen has over-cards in K♥ J♦ .

The last two community cards are the 8♣ and 2♥ allowing the Englishman to garner a double up and move Chen out of the one million chip mark for the moment.

Here are the top ten in chips thus far: