APPT Manila opens with a huge bang; Tsolomon Ochir wins the Kickoff
The Asia Pacific Poker Tour (APPT) is in Manila, and it seems, so are a large number of players from all over the region. Through the years, APPT Manila has proven to be one of the most highly desired events and with this edition of the series offering over P37 Million in guaranteed prizes and a total of five PokerStars Players No Limit Hold’em Championship (PSPC) Platinum Passes each worth US$30,000, players have arrived early ensuring not to miss out on any of the action.
Running from August 4 to August 12, the nine-day series set off with a huge bang. The opening event – APPT Kickoff – attracted an enormous 844-entry field for a prize pool that soared to an extremely juicy P11,052,180 (~US$208,200). Out of the 102 players that earned a piece of the pot, the most envied was Mongolia’s Tsolomon Ochir. Ochir emerged victorious, defeating Korea’s Gyeong Tae Yoo at heads up.
For his achievement, Ochir was awarded the first of the five coveted Platinum Passes and will be on his way to the Bahamas in 2019. In addition, he pocketed P1,541,000 (~US$29,000), which was practically double his current live earnings. This was certainly a huge payday for his first live tournament victory.
Among the high number of notable players that ran deep were John Tech (11th), Viet Hung Nguyen, (21st), William Ysmael (28th), Vincent Li (37th), Dhaval Mudgal (40th), Mohammad Samara (47th), Cao Ngoc Anh (62nd), and Aditya Sushant (74th).
Final table payouts
Prize pool: P11,052,180 – Buyin: P15,000 – ITM: 102 places
1st Tsolomon-Erdene Ochir – Mongolia – P1,541,000 (deal made)
2nd Gyeong Tae Yoo – Korea – P2,200,000 (deal made)
3rdTamon Nakamura – Japan –P883,000
4th Jesus Rivera – Philippines – P638,000
5th Andrianto Wijaya Tan – Indonesia – P430,000
6th Wei Cheng Yin – Taiwan – P330,000
7th Xiaisheng Zheng – China – P254,000
8th Liping Song – China –P220,000
9th Jiankeng Pan – China – P187,000
Upcoming Events
With the series off to a booming start, the next big events on the list are:
APPT National – P5,000,000 guaranteed – August 5-8
Megastack (Shot clock & Big blind ante) – August 7-8
Main Event – P20,000,000 guaranteed – August 9-12
Saturday SuperStack – P3,000,000 guaranteed – August 11-12
All of these events have one added value PSPC Platinum Pass up for grabs.
The APPT National has already begun with the first starting day drawing in another knockout attendance. So far there are 321 entrants, which means the guarantee has been crushed once again, and will balloon further with Day 1B yet to be played.
Aside from the events offering the pass are a variety of tournaments ranging from P5,000 up to P250,000. Among those are two High Roller events both utilizing the shot clock and big blind ante:
Single Day High Roller – P200,000 – August 8
APPT High Roller – P250,000 – August 11-12
You can view the full APPT Manila schedule below.
Article by Tricia David
