APT Manila Classic 2025 Main Event Sets New Record

02/13/2025

For the second time in as many years under the new era of the Asian Poker Tour, the brand visited the capital of the Philippines and raised the bar once more by setting a new attendance record. The APT Manila Classic 2025 Main Event with a price tag of PHP 60,000 (~USD 1,031) attracted a huge field of 1,202 entries, which includes 202 entries through the online heats on partner site Natural8.

APT Manila Classic 2025 Main Event Day 2

APT Manila Classic Main Event bubble time – Photo by APT

This figure beat the 1,081 entries of last year by more than 11% and generated a prize pool of PHP 62,311,680 (~USD 1,072,158), which will be split among the top 175 survivors at the Crown Plaza Manila Galleria. The last player to leave empty-handed was Kenneth Anthony, who was forced all-in out of the blinds and fell to Spanish pro Javier Zarco. Anthony drew a Mystery Bounty envelope and received a PHP 25,000 Mini Main Event ticket.

Po-Shuo Huang tops APT Manila Classic Main Event Day 2

Zarco ended the day second in chips with 959,000, narrowly ahead of Nobuaki Sasaki (922,000) and trailing only Taiwan’s Po-Shuo Huang (1,168,000). New Austrian wizard Samuel Mullur (834,000), Niklas Warlich (834,000), Dylan Foster (700,000) and David Erquiaga (680,000) all bagged up top ten stacks.

Three former APT Main Event champions are still in contention including Mike Takayama (577,000), Moses Saquing (124,000), and Yohn Paredes (71,000). Their fellow compatriots Punnat Punsri, Lester Edoc, John Tech, Christopher Mateo, and Henrik Tollefsen all came up short and busted throughout the day. Punsri made up for the misery by scooping another APT Lion Trophy for his collection in a Side Event later in the day.

Many other notables advanced with healthy stacks such as Matthias Lipp, Vlada Stojanovic, Lars Kamphues, Florencio Campomanes, Daniel Smiljkovic, Thijs Hilberts, Seungmook Jung, and Martin Finger to name all but a few. They have all locked up a cash prize of PHP 94,000 (~USD 1,615), but everyone will be dreaming about the PHP 11,069,680 (~USD 190,201) top prize and ticket for the APT Championship worth ~USD 10,000 for November.

APT Manila Classic Main Event – Chip Counts

Side Event Highlights

As mentioned before, Punnat Punsri earned a trophy and it came in the rather unusual Hyper Turbo Atomic Pineapple, which you may only ever see in action at the APT as tournament format. Edward Yam joined the party with a triumph in Event #58 Super Hyper Turbo Bomb Pot and Japan’s Keita Yamashiro took down the NL 8 Game Mix.

#57 Hyper Turbo - Atomic Pineapple (Get 5 Cards, Discard 1 After Betting Preflop, Flop, Turn) (20,000 PHP)

Displaying his poker knowledge at other variants, Thai pro Punnat Punsri earned a trophy in the rather unusual Hyper Turbo Atomic Pineapple, which you may only ever see in action at the APT as tournament format. He outplayed a field of 29 runners for a payout of ₱183,552 (~$3,155).

Total Prize

$8,515

Entries

ITM

#	Payout	Player
1	$3,155 183,552 PHP	PP Punnat Punsri Thailand
2	$2,165 126,000 PHP	KL Kelvin Leung Hong Kong
3	$1,390 81,000 PHP	YC Yu Chung Chang Taiwan
4	$995 58,000 PHP	DB Daniel Benor Israel
5	$810 47,000 PHP	DA Daiki Aoki Japan

The UK’s Matthew Belcher added his second APT Lion Trophy for this festival two days after the first victory. Among the day’s larger turnouts was at Event #52 NL Hold’em. Taiwan’s Yi Hung Chen topped a field of 114 entries. The day’s biggest cash prize went to Singapore’s Bao Qiang Hao, who emerged victorious in Event #54 Single Day High Roller.

#50 Flip 'N Go Hyper (1 in 7 Advance to ITM @ 17:00) (6,000 PHP)

UK's Matthew Belcher added his second APT Lion Trophy for this festival two days after the first victory. He first flipped best in the Flipout Stage of Event #50, which attracted 49 players for the PHP 6,000 buy-in (~USD 104). Regular play action saw Belcher defeat Nateo Theppot in heads-up to scoop PHP 76,548 (~USD 1,317).

Total Prize

$4,220

Entries

ITM

#	Payout	Player
1	$1,315 76,548 PHP	MP Matthew Paul Belcher United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
2	$960 56,000 PHP	NT Natee Theppot Thailand
3	$620 36,000 PHP	MS Mirko Stojkov Australia
4	$465 27,000 PHP	RK Rikuhito Komichi Japan
5	$360 21,000 PHP	RK Rajeev Kanjani India
6	$275 16,000 PHP	CA Craig Anthony Cooper
7	$225 13,000 PHP	TT Thomas Teresi Iii United States of America

#52 NL Hold'em (50,000 PHP)

Taiwan's Yi Hung Chen topped a field of 114 entries in the PHP 50,000 buy-in (~USD 860) and claimed the biggest slice of the PHP 4,924,800 (~USD 84,000) prize pool worth PHP 1,239,800 (~USD 21,332).

Total Prize

$84,645

Entries

114

ITM

#	Payout	Player
1	$21,310 1,239,800 PHP	YH Yi Hung Chen Taiwan
2	$14,385 837,000 PHP	KT Kei Takazawa Japan
3	$9,350 544,000 PHP	GJ Gene Jin-i Chan Canada
4	$7,750 451,000 PHP	GL Gytis Lazauninkas
5	$6,240 363,000 PHP	KK Kunwoo Kim Korea (Republic of)
6	$4,935 287,000 PHP	SH Sai Hang Jason Chau Hong Kong
7	$3,765 219,000 PHP	DB Daniel Benor Israel
8	$2,835 165,000 PHP	RP Runch Pornraksamanee Thailand
9	$2,115 123,000 PHP	KP Kunal Patni India

Check the 17 Payouts & Results ...

#54 Single Day High Roller (100,000 PHP)

The biggest side event cash prize of Day 6 went to Singapore's Bao Qiang Hao, who emerged victorious in Event #54 Single Day High Roller. Commanding a buy-in of PHP 100,000 (~USD 1,719), this tournament attracted a field of 75 entries with 11 players earning a piece of the PHP 6,480,000 (~USD 111,497) prize pool. Five South Koreans cashed, but Ho prevailed against Thanisorn Saelor in heads-up to earn PHP 1,783,000 (~USD 30,679) for his bankroll.

Total Prize

$111,370

Entries

ITM

#	Payout	Player
1	$30,645 1,783,000 PHP	BQ Bao Qiang Ho Singapore
2	$21,775 1,267,000 PHP	TS Thanisorn Saelor Thailand
3	$14,250 829,000 PHP	NB Nicholas Bond United States of America
4	$10,965 638,000 PHP	SJ Sung Jin Yun Korea (Republic of)
5	$8,680 505,000 PHP	JL Jimin Lee Korea (Republic of)
6	$6,790 395,000 PHP	YK Youhyun Kim Korea (Republic of)
7	$5,345 311,000 PHP	KK Kiyoung Kim Korea (Republic of)
8	$4,175 243,000 PHP	XA Xin Ann Lim Malaysia
9	$3,180 185,000 PHP	JA Junghyun An Korea (Republic of)

Check the 11 Payouts & Results ...

February 13 has a mix of everything available to poker enthusiasts from near and far. Running alongside Day 3 of the Main Event is Day 1 of the Superstar Challenge, which comes with a hefty price tag of PHP 1.5 Million (~USD 25,774). The Zodiac Classic (PHP 100,000 / ~USD 1,719) also gets underway and the most attention may very well be on the iconic APT Players Party as of 10 p.m. local time.

For all of the results, live reports, and schedule, be sure to head to the links provided below.

Links:

Event Results
Schedule
Live Updates