Rising Filipino star Maxwell Philippe Rosete has once again proved to be a strong contender against the local scene after bagging the Asian Philippine Poker League title last Sunday. Rosete cashed in on his career-best cash of Php 3,203,000 (~US$ 54,251) for topping the 396-entry field Main Event. The inaugural APPL festival at Dowinn Casino, Manila, ran from September 26 – October 2, 2022 for seven days of action, covering eight tournaments in total.
2022 has been a big year for Rosete as he previously banked his biggest score of Php 395,048 (~US$ 7,540) after clinching the Philippine Poker Tournament victory just earlier this May. The local runner has since made several final table finishes but ended up a few places short of the trophy. With his recent win, Rosete took to social media to share his appreciation for his mentors as well as advice for those aspiring to likewise succeed in the game.
“To my colleagues, find a circle that would help you in your down times, find a circle that would motivate you, find a coach that would help you improve your game. Invest in yourself watch vids listen to the top pros go get yourself a sparring partner throw infos to each other, im telling you its all worth it in the end.”, wrote Rosete.
APPL is a fairly new brand entering the live Philippine tournament scene and is hosted by Qreum Company in partnership with local poker room, Wild Aces. The fresh operator kicked off its first festival with a buzzing Php 16,000,000 (~US$ 272,350) guaranteed Main Event, along with the Php 1M guaranteed Kick Off as its opener. Arrival of Korean nationals to take part in the ambitious guarantee was unfortunately shorthanded as the tournament garnered a slight overlay. With four flights on schedule, Day 1A and Day 1B combined only racked up 97 entries which alarmed bells for the local poker community as well as for the operators. Considering the bad weather conditions may have been a likely reason, the brand did manage to attract more runners in its last qualifying day to see only four players short of their expected 400 entries.
APPL Main Event Final Table Recap
The final eight representing five different countries, returned to the felt and was led by Malaysia’s William Teoh with a massive chip lead of 87 big blinds. Next to follow was Singapore’s Jonathan Kher with 49, and down to Maxwell Rosete with the shortest stack of 12 big blinds. The first level of play instantly saw stacks flying left and right with Korea’s Choi Jong Chan as the table’s first casualty. Choi four-bet jam 
smack into Kher’s 
and exited quickly in 8th. The following hand, Philippines’ Czar Ian Marcos found himself in trouble after flopping two-pair 
up against Rosete’s 
nut straight on 
. The runout turned blank and Marcos was crippled down to a micro stack of 2 big blinds.
With the double up, Rosete was sitting with a playable stack and opened 
on the small blind against chip leader Teoh’s big blind. Teoh three-bet and called off Rosete’s four-bet jam with 
after finding the proper odds to potentially eliminate his opponent. Favorably for Rosete, his pocket pair held with no difficulty, plummeting him to one of the biggest stacks on the table. From then on, Rosete maintained his lead and continued to pick numerous small pots to amass over 50% of the chips in play with five left in the running.
Short stacks consequently busted one by one, Rosete delivering the last three eliminations to eventually seal the deal. By heads up play vs Kher, Rosete had a 9:1 chip advantage and did not hesitate to call off his opponent’s jam with 
. Kher revealed 
slightly behind as the board ran 
. Rosete’s seven-high was good enough to bust the Singaporean in runner-up finish and capture the Php 1 million (~US$ 16,327) pay jump after five hours of final table gameplay.
Date/s: September 28 – October 2, 2022
Buy in: Php 44,000 (~US$ 748)
Entries: 396 (Day 1A – 26, Day 1B – 71, Day 1C – 167, Day 1D Turbo – 119, Day 2 – 13)
Prize pool: Php 16,000,000 (~US$ 272,350)
ITM: 50 places
2022 APPL Main Event Final Table Results
| Rank | Player | Flag | Prize (Php) |
| 1st | Maxwell Philippe Rosete | Philippines | 3,203,000 |
| 2nd | Jonathan Kher | Singapore | 2,243,800 |
| 3rd | William Teoh | Malaysia | 1,442,400 |
| 4th | Jonas Rothmund | Germany | 956,800 |
| 5th | Cheong Yun Rong | Singapore | 736,400 |
| 6th | Jeric Letrero | Philippines | 609,900 |
| 7th | Czar Ian Marcos | Philippines | 511,400 |
| 8th | Choi Jong Chan | Korea | 415,800 |
