APT Manila Classic 2025 Concludes; Yohei Kitazato Wins High Roller

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last Monday at 7:10 PM

The APT Manila Classic 2025 at the Crowne Plaza Manila Galleria has officially concluded this past Sunday, February 16, and it was a fitting end with another big turnout in the APT High Roller. Ultimately, Japan’s Yohei Kitazato came out on top to continue his hot start into the new year.

Yohei Kitazato Wins APT Manila Classic – APT High Roller

Yohei Kitazato wins APT Manila Classic - APT High Roller
Yohei Kitazato – Photo by APT

Fresh off winning a High Roller Event at Poker Dream 15 Malaysia less than a month ago, Yohei Kitazato repeated the same feat in the PHP 200,000 (~USD 3,437) APT High Roller high-stakes contest. The 127 entries included some well-known heavyweights such as Scott Margereson, Seungmook Jung, Vlada Stojanovic, John Matsuda and Thanisorn Saelor, all of which secured a portion of the PHP 21,945,600 (~$380,370) prize pool with 17 spots paid.

Other APT Manila Classic Highlights

On the final two days, it was still quite an international crowd with poker enthusiasts from the Philippines, Japan, and Thailand shining the most.

#82 Double Stack (20,000 PHP)
Double Stack

Aj Cris Acdal earned the most notable victory in Event #82 Double Stack, which produced a prize pool of PHP 6,459,264 (~USD 111,526) for 378 entries. Acdal defeated Denis Semerenko in heads-up and claimed a top prize of PHP 1,251,264 (~USD 21,604).

Total Prize
$111,015
Guaranteed
5,000,000
Entries
378
ITM
55
#PayoutPlayer
1$21,505
1,251,264 PHP
AC
Aj Cris Acdal
Philippines [PHL]Philippines
2$13,645
794,000 PHP
3$9,865
574,000 PHP
SK
Seunghun Ko
Korea (Republic of) [KOR]Korea (Republic of)
4$7,975
464,000 PHP
5$6,325
368,000 PHP
JL
Jayson Lee Cooper
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland [GBR]United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
6$4,865
283,000 PHP
JK
7$3,625
211,000 PHP
DG
8$2,610
152,000 PHP
LE
Lenart Ecarma
Philippines [PHL]Philippines
9$2,115
123,000 PHP
Check the 55 Payouts & Results ...

Ma Arlene Rivera won the last Women’s Event of the series and Gary Guerrero came out on top of a PHP 35,000 (~USD 602)  Turbo High Roller for a payday of PHP 425,120 ( ~USD 7,340). Last but not least, Eurdy Rivera had the best of it in Event #84 PL Omaha High. South Korea’s Minseok Kim took down the Mini Main Event. The very last tournament on the schedule was the PHP 25,000 (~USD 430) Hyper Turbo High Roller won by Hong Kong’s Edward Yam for his second series win.

#71 Mini Main Event (25,000 PHP)
Mini Main Event

South Korea's Minseok Kim took down the multi-day PHP 25,000 (~USD 430) Mini Main Event in a field of 608 entries to earn the biggest slice of the PHP 13,132,800 (~USD 225,000) prize pool. His top prize was worth a mighty PHP 2,525,800 (~USD 43,610). Fellow countryman and 2023 WPT Prime Taiwan champ Seong Uk Huh won a Last Chance High Roller on the final day for a payday of PHP 1,398,600 (~USD 24,148).

Total Prize
$225,710
Guaranteed
6,000,000
Entries
608
ITM
86
#PayoutPlayer
1$43,410
2,525,800 PHP
MK
Minseok Kim
Korea (Republic of) [KOR]Korea (Republic of)
2$26,985
1,570,000 PHP
3$19,320
1,124,000 PHP
YT
4$14,935
869,000 PHP
KK
Kiyoung Kim
Korea (Republic of) [KOR]Korea (Republic of)
5$11,775
685,000 PHP
MY
6$9,210
536,000 PHP
JC
Jeffrey Calonge
Philippines [PHL]Philippines
7$6,825
397,000 PHP
YN
8$4,690
273,000 PHP
9$3,695
215,000 PHP
JO
Jihwan Oh
Korea (Republic of) [KOR]Korea (Republic of)
Check the 86 Payouts & Results ...
#100 Hyper Turbo - High Roller (25,000 PHP)
Hyper Turbo - High Roller

The very last tournament on the schedule was a PHP 25,000 (~USD 430) Hyper Turbo High Roller and Hong Kong's Edward Yam became the next two-time trophy winner of the series in a field of 38 entries. Japan's Sosuke Hatano finished runner-up. Yam banked PHP 304,800 (~USD 5,263), which should cover the expenses for more hand luggage on the plane.

Total Prize
$14,105
Entries
38
ITM
5
#PayoutPlayer
1$5,240
304,800 PHP
EY
Edward Yam
Hong Kong [HKG]Hong Kong
2$3,590
209,000 PHP
3$2,285
133,000 PHP
LT
Li Ta Hsu
Taiwan [TWN]Taiwan
4$1,650
96,000 PHP
5$1,340
78,000 PHP

Lebanon’s Oliver Bithell, Serbia’s Danilo Radonjic and Raymi Thorn from Sweden were some of the late winners from abroad to round up a very successful series for the Asian Poker Tour with several records for the history books.

A closer look at the festival stats, big winners and record figures will be published in the next couple of days. The brand is now already focusing their efforts on the next stop, which will be APT Taipei from April 25 to May 4, 2025 in partnership with the CTP Asia Poker Arena in Taipei City.

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

Links:

Event Results
Live Updates