APT Manila 2024: Kim Enriquez, Tom Verbruggen Top Main Event Final Flights; Joseph Cheong Makes APT History

The Asian Poker Tour’s much-anticipated return to Manila taking place at City Of Dreams since October 28, 2024 has erupted in record-breaking style, as the APT Manila Main Event sets new heights in Philippine poker history. When the festival’s jaw-dropping PHP 100 Million (~US$ 1.73 Million) Main Event guarantee was first announced, it was already the largest APT prize pool in history being five times more than its previous record.

APT Manila Main Event

On Day 5 of the APT Manila Main Event, the final two entry flights was tabled. A crowd of 207 turned up for Flight C and 161 for Flight D for a combined 368 entries bringing the cumulative tally to 875 entries across four flights. Additionally, not to forget are the 157 qualifiers from sponsor site Natural8, for a stunning 1,034 entries, with registration is still open.

Railbirds have until the start of Day 2 on Sunday, November 3 at 11am local time, to grab a seat and have a chance at becoming the first champion of this groundbreaking event.

Kim Enriquez, Tom Verbruggen Emerge As Flight Leaders

The last two flights ran on the same day with Flight C first on the floor. By the end of scheduled play, with a total of ten rounds in the books, 110 players remained. At the top of the counts was local player Kim Enriquez followed by Taiwanese pro Li-Ta Hsu, and APT newcomer Dmitrii Belikov in third rank.

Other notable players making the cut were newest high roller champion Jiaqi He, Gab Yong Kim, Marc Rivera, Jaewook Shin, and a host of decorated local players.

In Flight D, Dutch player Tom Verbruggen outshined and down the rung was John Matsuda who has been on a heater this year. The final flight concluded with 81 players moving on to the next stage.

Read up on the action via updates posted on SMP.

Joseph Cheong Wins Career Second APT Superstar Challenge

While the Main Event buzzed up the room, over at the featured final table, USA’s Joseph Cheong continued to dominate the Superstar Challenge giving no room for local pros Vamerdino Magsakay and Mike Takayama to stage their comebacks.

Cheong has now become the first player to win this event twice – the first was at APT Jeju 2024 – and along with the glory was a mighty payout of PHP 8,002,500 (~US$ 136,040). This was Cheong’s fourth cash in the series. He also placed second at the APT High Roller for over PHP 3.2 Million.

The Superstar Challenge was the most expensive event on the APT Manila menu with a price tag of PHP 1,500,000 (~USD 25,700). Twelve runners coughed it up for a prize pool of PHP 16,672,500 (~US$ 285,600).

Payouts

Other Winners

The day also crowned side event champions and among the list was a familiar face, Mark Furniss, who has a knack for winning multiple trophies at APT festivals. Furniss is on his way to achieving the same in Manila with a victory at the 5 Card Draw Masters for PHP 549,500 (~US$ 9,400).

One player having already reached that milestone was the highly decorated American / WSOP bracelet champion Alex Keating with a second title binked at the Single Day High Roller. Attending the APT for the first time, several days ago, Keating won the High Roller Double Stack. For his latest win, Keating outlasted the 117 entry field to rake in the PHP 2,720,000 (~US$ 46,600) champion’s purse.

Matching Keating was Russia’s Daniil Shalaev who also lifted his second title in this ongoing series. Days prior Shalaev won the PLO Hi-Lo 5 Card and then proved his PLO skills once again by winning the turbo edition of this same event.

Both Keating and Shalaev now join Gabriel Carter and Keita Kitamura in the APT Manila multi-winners club.

Rounding up the other winners were Suya Lee at the NL Hold’em for his career second APT win, Matthias Schell at the 9 Game Mix, Arlene Rivera at the second Women’s Event, Beng Ker at the Atomic Pineapple, Zhun Wang at the Hyper Turbo NL R-O-S-E, and locking up the last event of the day was Keisuke Tajiri at the Hyper Turbo.