APT Manila Classic Kicks Off With Philippines National Cup In The Spotlight

One of the most exciting live poker festivals in Asia this year is officially underway, as the return of the Asian Poker Tour to Manila commenced on February 7, 2025, at the Crowne Plaza Manila Galleria in cooperation with Metro Card Club. The APT Manila Classic 2025 runs until February 16 and will be headlined by the PHP 60 Million (~USD 1 Million) Main Event, set to take place from February 9 to 15.

APT Manila Classic 2025 Opening Day Highlights

The first trophy of the festival went to China’s Jun Weng after he came out on top of Event #2 PL Omaha Hi-Lo – 5 Card, also known as Big O. There were a total of 29 entries for the PHP 20,000 (~USD 344) buy-in and the top four finishers earned a piece of the PHP 495,552 prize pool. Geoffrey Tomes and two Australians ended up in the money – Antonio Seremet and John Caridad – but Weng took home the victory and PHP 183,552 (~USD 3,161).

In the opening PHP 100,000 (~USD 1,719) Single Day High Roller, a very solid field of 58 entries boosted the prize pool to PHP 5,011,200 (~USD 86,000) with the top eight spots paid. Josh Mccully was the first player out in the money with other notables such as Danilo Velasevic, Gediminas Uselis, Punnat Punsri and Andrija Robovic all following thereafter to make for a well-known batch of international poker pros. Sung Jin “SKY” Yun finished as the runner-up (PHP 1,087,000) to none other than John Tech, who claimed PHP 1,503,200 (~USD 25,890).

Another local victory was claimed by Marc Rivera in Event #6 Turbo High Roller, which cost PHP 50,000 (~USD 860) to enter. There were 21 entries with Sparrow Cheung, Chase Cokaliong and Yohei Kitazato all cashing but falling short of beating Rivera for the PHP 381,200 top prize (~USD 6,566).

Vietnam resident Hanh Tran from Austria won a trophy in the Lowball Mix Side Event, while Teyah Plamiano from the US took down the Women’s Event. Aforementioned Aussie Caridad missed out on an APT trophy once more when he finished second to Paul Ho in Event #7 Turbo PLO in a field of 39 entries whereas Thailand’s Pattarapol Wannarat won the final trophy of the night in Event #8 Super Hyper Turbo.

APT Philippines National Cup Day 1

The first starting day of the Philippines National Cup saw 144 entries pony up the PHP 12,000 buy-in with 21 players punching their ticket for the final day. Joseph Magnotti made it through with the shortest stack of 36,000 while Anthony Gabitan reached the top ten thanks to 220,000 in chips. David “Dave Spade” Erquiaga bagged up even more, 331,000 to be exact, but Singapore’s Dalvin Miguel Carvalho was listed as the chip leader with 601,000 – 20 times the starting stack.

In Flight 1B, another 139 entries were added to the tally and 20 players advanced. Thailand’s Nattawut Kwunsong claimed the largest stack of 530,000 with Kunal Patni (311,000) and John Matsuda (288,000) among the notables above the average.

The turbo heat 1C then boosted the attendance with an additional 115 entries to generate an overall field of 398 entries. Japan’s Katsuyuki Kondo topped the 17 survivors with 407,000, followed by Martin Gonzales (372,000), Raju Jaruplavath (311,000), and Junnie Pamplona (245,000).

With 58 contenders remaining for the final day, they have all locked up a portion of the PHP 4,034,764 prize pool. The min cash is worth PHP 18,000 whereas the winner can look forward to a payday of PHP 797,765, all of which will be decided upon on the second day of the festival. More on the conclusion of this event will be provided in the second daily recap tomorrow.