APT Manila Classic: Tomoki Terashima Tops Main Event Flight A; Kunal Patni Crowned Bounty Champion

On the third day of the Asian Poker Tour’s APT Manila Classic 2025 at Crowne Plaza Manila Galleria in the Philippines, the first starting day of the ₱60 Million (~$1.03 Million) guaranteed kicked off. Several other side events crowned a winner and the Super High Roller set a new record for the APT. Here are the highlights.

APT Manila Classic Main Event Flight A

With four flights available, Day 1A produced a total of 218 entries for the PHP 60,000 (~USD 1,031) Main Event. The flight ran a total of ten levels of 60 minutes and at bagging time, only 67 players advanced. Up top was Tomoki Terashima from Japan claimed the top spot with 347,300, with Lithuania’s Andrius Janca the only one coming close at 338,000.

Dutchman Thijs Hilberts made it through third in chips with 292,600 and three former APT Main Event champions were among the survivors. This includes the two local pros Christopher Mateo (206,400) and John Tech (84,700), as well as Yohn Paredes (169,800).

Other notable survivors securing a Day 2 spot were recent mixed game winner Rex Hunt Ai who bagged a ton with 230,400, Gediminas Uselis (191,800), Jason Wong (188,700), Dylan Foster (181,800), Edward Yam (156,300), Wei Wei Lin (155,100), Seungmook Jung (130,000), and Abhinav Iyer (124,000).

Along with the 202 online entries from Natural8, the overall field is up to 420 entries already with another three live Day 1 in Manila to come.

Kunal Patni Among The Side Event Winners

As far as the Side Events were concerned, plenty of big names came out to showcase their talents and there were a handful of notable winners among them.

Kunal Patni was third in chips when the Mystery Bounty Hunter Sponsored by Natural8 recommenced with 55 players out of 377 entries remaining and they were all competing for a share of the  ₱4,180,176 (~$71,000) in prize money.

Patni entered the final table as the chip leader and closed out another APT victory when he defeated Day 1A chip leader Yuki Miyakura from Japan in heads-up. More than one quarter of the total prize money went to the Indian poker pro, as he collected ₱ 815,176 in cash and ₱300,000 in bounties for a total haul of ₱1,115,176 (~$19,184). Among the notable finalists were Sung Jin Yun, William Teoh and Takuma Endo.

Florencio Campomanes topped Event #28 Hyper Turbo High Roller with a buy-in of ₱50,000 (~$860) with the top three spots paid as he collected 289,800 for the efforts (~USD 4,985). Two Aussies took home trophies in Dale Townsend and Jarryd Godena, with four and five cards respectively. Three players from Japan claimed side events and SMP live reporter Janette Dee won the Women’s Event.

Super High Roller Draws Whopping 81 Entries

Last but not least, one of the most expensive tournaments on the schedule had a gargantuan turnout for APT standards. The PHP 600,000 (~USD 10,300) Super High Roller welcomed several poker pros from far away that will be heading to Jeju for the Triton Super High Roller Series soon and they made a pit stop in Manila. A whopping 81 entries were recorded across 58 unique entries and they generated a massive PHP 44,784,900 (~USD 769,500) prize pool.

Best-positioned for the top prize of PHP 12,316,900 (~USD $211,631) is British poker pro Scott Margereson with 2,850,000 and he has already put some distance to Rokas Asipauskas (2,145,000) and John Matsuda (1,920,000). Thai business man and high-stakes crusher Punnat Punsri also bagged a healthy 1,835,000, as did Charlie Chiu (1,710,000), William Teoh (1,370,000) and Sparrow Cheung (1,210,000).

Only 16 players advanced as many levels and the top 11 spots will get paid, so the money bubble will be looming early on the final day. The action resumes at noon local time with live stream to follow on the APT YouTube and Twitch channels when the final table has been reached.

Other notable events to unfold on February 10 include the PHP 120,000 (~USD 2,062) High Roller Ultra Stack and a PHP 20,000 (~USD 344) Turbo Double Stack. However, all eyes will likely be on the Main Event and the conclusion of the Super High Roller.