APPT Manila: Jinlong Hu wins Kickoff; three side events conclude

APPT Manila 2019 has always been a special event on the Asian tour and with this year’s event having relocated to beautiful new surroundings at Okada Manila’s hotel and casino resort, the event has a stage to fit its prestige. The series got underway a few days ago and we now have the early winners from the opening four events to bring you.

Event 1 – ₱16,000 APPT Kickoff – Winner: Jinlong Hu

The APPT Manila festival always looks to get things underway in style, and this opening event certainly ticks that box. The ₱16,000 (US$313) Kickoff had a ₱3,000,000 (US$58,756) guarantee attached which was obliterated by the 924 players who bought in. The total prize pool rose to ₱12,906,432 (US$252,779) for this tournament, which began on July 26^th. The field size set a new record as the largest ever seen at an APPT opening event.

The final table saw the Philippines well represented with four players, with Vietnamese, Malaysian and South Korean players also making the final table, along with two Chinese players.

As things came down to the sharp end of the final table and the final three players were fighting for the title, Korean Yo Seb Rhee was locked in a three-way tussle with Chinese players Yuanjie Chen and Jinlong Hu. Before long, Rhee would fall out of contention and make his way to the rail, leaving an all-Chinese heads up duel for the title. Despite the stoic efforts of Chen, Hu could not be denied what was his second PokerStars LIVE title. The 26-year-old from Nanchang took the title and a career topping score of ₱2,675,000 (US$52,391) which comfortably eclipsed his entire career cashes before the tournament began.

Here are the final payouts:

1^st – Jinlong Hu (China) – ₱2,675,000 (US$52,391)
2^nd – Yuanjie Chen (China) – ₱1,645,000
3^rd – Yo Seb Rhee (South Korea) – ₱1,000,000
4^th – Joshua Soo Tjan (Malaysia) – ₱735,000
5^th – Elmer Kalaquian (Philippines) – ₱495,000
6^th – Moses Saquing (Philippines) – ₱360,000
7^th – Duy Nguyen (Vietnam) – ₱297,000
8^th – Jose Drilon (Philippines) – ₱257,000
9^th – Jose Cheung (Philippines) – ₱220,932

Event 2 – ₱8,000 Turbo NLH Freezeout – Winner: Charalampos Lappas

82 players stepped up to contest event 2 of this series, each paying ₱8,000 (US$157) and ultimately generating a prize pool of ₱559,962 (US$10,967). Having begun on the same day as the record-setting Kickoff, it is no surprise to see a much smaller field size for event 2. The top prize was still certainly worth playing for however, even though it ended up being chopped at the heads-up stage.

The final two competitors vying for this title were Alex Torrefranca from the Philippines and Greek player Charalampos Lappas. Having navigated their way through a tough, yet smaller field in this one-day event, the two players quickly agreed on a chop, with Lappas taking the official victory and claiming an extra two thousand pesos.

The final payouts are as follows:

1^st – Charalampos Lappas (Greece) – ₱127,000 (US$2,487)
2^nd – Alex Torrefranca – (Philippines) – ₱125,000
3^rd – Jiankeng Pan – (China) – ₱67,200
4^th – Taehoon Tan – (New Zealand) – ₱56,000
5^th – Yuichi Kanai – (Japan) – ₱44,800
6^th – Meng Long – (China) – ₱39,200
7^th – Park Sungwoon (South Korea) – ₱33,600
8^th – Tsai-feng Liu (Taiwan) – ₱28,000
9^th – Marius Zalpys (Lithuania) – ₱22,400

Event 3 – ₱55,000 NLH Deepstack – Winner: Nobuhito Ogo

Event 3 marked the first big buy in event of the series, with players having to pay ₱55,000 (US$1,077) to get involved. With 48 entries, the prize pool went on to reach ₱2,304,720 (US$45,139) with ₱829,700 (US$16,250) set aside for the champion. Only six players would go on to reach the money, banking a minimum of ₱161,320 (US$3,160).

The final six players were soon brought down to three, with the subsequent elimination of Sunyun Su in 3^rd bringing us to heads-up play. From there, India’s Sahil Agarwal tried to impose himself on proceedings but found Japan’s Nobuhito Ogo to be immovable in his pursuit of victory. Ogo eventually managed to wrap things up, taking the top prize and champion’s title.

Here are the final payouts:

1^st – Nobuhito Ogo (Japan) – ₱829,700 (US$16,250)
2^nd – Sahil Agarwal (India) – ₱530,100 (US$10,382)
3^rd – Sunyun Su (China) – ₱345,700 (US$6,771)
4^th – Yikun Feng (China) – ₱253,500 (US$4,965)
5^th – Liu Yanyang (China) – ₱184,400 (US$3,612)
6^th – Pete Yen Han Chen (Taiwan) – ₱161,320 (US$3,160)

Event 4 – ₱8,000 NLH Knockout Freezeout – Winner: Gang Tao

The fourth event in this year’s APPT Manila series was another ₱8,000 (US$157) buy in Hold’em event, this time with bounties for knockouts included. This meant that the overall prize pool grew to ₱950,094 (US$18,608) with a further ₱163,000 (US$3,192) set aside for bounty payouts. The event saw a very strong turnout of 163 entries.

As the tournament progressed into the later stages, it seemed for a time as though Japan’s Nobuhito Ogo may go back to back, having just won event 3 and then making his way onto the final table of event 4 too. This is a great achievement of course, but sadly for Ogo he could not hit the pinnacle of this event as he had in event 3. His challenge would eventually come to rest in 8^th place.

The elimination of China’s Zheng Wang in 3^rd place set the stage for the heads-up contest, with Japan’s John Matsuda facing off against China’s Gang Tao. Despite the best efforts of Matsuda, Tao took command of the battle and soon finished his opponent off to bag the title and ₱242,300 (US$4,746) in prize money. Here are the final payouts:

1^st – Gang Tao (China) – ₱242,300 (US$4,746)
2^nd John Matsuda (Japan) – ₱161,500
3^rd – Zhen Wang (China) – ₱104,500
4^th – Duy Manh Ho (USA) – ₱80,800
5^th – Richard Marquez (Philippines) – ₱66,500
6^th – Yoshihiro Inoue (Japan) – ₱56,400
7^th – Patrik Barnay (France) – ₱45,100
8^th – Nobuhito Ogo (Japan) – ₱35,600

Coming next

▪ APPT National (July 28-31, 2019) – Buy-in ₱33,000 (₱5M GTD)
▪ APPT Super High Roller (July 31-August 1, 2019) – Buy-in ₱500,000
▪ APPT High Roller One Day Event (August 1, 2019) – Buy-in ₱150,000
▪ APPT High Roller (August 3-4, 2019) – Buy-in ₱200,000

Somuchpoker will cover the event until its final day. Stay tuned for more updates!

Article by Craig Bradshaw