The Asian Poker Tour Kickoff 2016 Main Event concluded with Thailand's Thong Botho overcoming a field of 134 entries to claim the first place purse of P1,660,000 ($34,667) and the first-ever APT Championship Ring.
Thong Botho wins APT Kickoff Main Event
As a newbie to the APT, Botho entered the final table of 8 as the chip leader. He kept his lead for most of the day, until four-handed, when he faced three decorated players, Germany’s Julius Malzanini, Japan’s Tetsuya Tsuchikawa, and Korea’s Seung Soo Jeon. Malzanini and Jeon were previous APT titleholders and Tsuchikawa was the 2014 WPT National Philippines Main Event champion.
Knowing who he was up against, Botho played cautiously and looked for spots to capitalize in. Botho became the overwhelming chip leader after winning two key hands against Malzanini. When Malzanini was eliminated from the field, Botho entered three-handed with almost 2/3 of the chips in play. With his stack, he dominated the table by shoving at every orbit. After eliminating Tsuchikawa 3rd place, he entered the heads up stage against Jeon with a massive 11:1 chip lead. Despite doubling up Jeon once, Botho was not phased because in less than fifteen minutes, it was all over. He railed Jeon and claimed his first-ever APT Main Event championship title.
Payouts (in PhP):
1st Thong Botho – Thailand – P1,660,000
2nd Jeon Seung Soo – Korea – P972,000
3rd Tetsuya Tsuchikawa – Japan – P673,000
4th Julius Malzanini – Germany – P491,000
5th Dong Hyun Kim – Korea – P406,000
6th Byeongcheol Kim – Korea – P335,000
7th Terry Gonzaga – Philippines – P276,000
8th Jim Bonanno – Guam – P231,000
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.
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