APT Philippines Championships II: Early winners include Lester Edoc, Iori Yogo, and Julius Lagman

Despite the threat of a super typhoon, it was full speed ahead for the Asian Poker Tour. Currently ongoing is the second edition of the APT Philippines Championships 2018 at Resorts World Manila where twelve days of games are lined up from September 13 to September 24. With over PHP 20 Million (~US$370,000) in guaranteed prizes on offer, hordes of players have stormed the felt since opening day. Here’s a rundown of the festival’s early winners:

Lester Edoc wins the CoinPoker Super High Rollers

Filipino pro Lester Edoc continues amaze this year especially on home turf where he has already claimed three Main Event titles since February. The previous one was in April during the first edition of the ongoing APT series and nearly landed another APT major finishing runner-up at the Championships Event.

Two days ago, he was back under the APT spotlight again for securing his first-ever CoinPoker Super High Rollers title. The event drew in 7 players each one coughing up the PHP500,000 buy-in (~US$9,200) with three of them firing a second bullet to make it 10 entries in total. Players in action were WSOP bracelet winner Mike Takayama, 2018 APPT Manila National winner Marc Rivera, Satoshi Ikeda, Andrew Nguyen, Kota Nakano, and Kirk Steele.

Edoc dominated the final day with four players remaining. He eliminated all of his opponents starting with Nakano, Steele, then Rivera at heads up. This victory boosts his career earnings another PHP2,745,700 (~US$50,700).

At the time of writing, Day 1A of the Main Event had already wrapped up with defending champion Edoc bagging up the second largest stack.

Payouts
Prizepool: PHP4,845,700 (~US$89,460)

1st Lester Edoc – Philippines – PHP2,745,700 (~US$50,700)
2nd Marc Rivera – Philippines – PHP2,100,000 (~US$38,760)

Good start for Iori Yogo

Just as fueled up as Edoc was Japanese pro Iori Yogo. Yogo has racked up a long list of achievements this year with his latest (prior to the ongoing series) at APT Korea Incheon where he won the Main Event. Last night, he lifted up a side event trophy, besting the 47-entry field of the Pot Limit Omaha Hi Lo Split event. He earned PHP212,300 (~US$3,900). He also min-cashed at the opener for finishing 46th. This was a great start for Yogo who in the coming days will likely be defending his title at the Championships Event.

Payouts
Prizepool: PHP683,000 – Buyin: PHP16,500

1st Iori Yogo – Japan – PHP212,300
2nd Shyh Chyn Lim – Malaysia – PHP141,500
3rd Jeong Minwoong – Korea – PHP98,800
4th Tomomitsu Ono – Japan – PHP71,900
5th Ji Woon Kim – Korea – PHP54,300
6th Nemesio Alegado – Philippines – PHP42,500
7th Park Jung Woong – Hong Kong – PHP34,200
8th Kai Paulsen – Norway – PHP28,300

Julius Lagman takes down the Opening Event

The festival opened its doors with the APT-RWM Opening Event. This event extended a PHP2,000,000 guarantee but with 319 entries storming in, that ballooned to PHP3,094,300 (~US$57,100). Capturing his second-ever title was local player Julius Lagman. Lagman defeated Japanese player Ito Shinya at heads up to earn the PHP584,600 (~US$10,700) first prize. Interestingly, he won the APT opening event two years ago also at the same venue.

The opener was a two-day affair with the locals dominating the final 8. All but runner-up Shinya was from the host country. One player giving Lagman a challenge for the gold was Alexis Lim. Lim has been piling in the scores since 2016 and even has an APT Main Event title under his belt. His run at the opener ended in a respectable 3rd place falling at the hands of Lagman.

Final 8 payouts
Prizepool: PHP3,094,300 – Buyin: PHP11,000 – ITM: 54

1st Julius Lagman – Philippines – PHP584,600
2nd Ito Shinya – Japan – PHP389,900
3rd Alexis Lim – Philippines – PHP272,200
4th Martin Corpuz – Philippines – PHP198,200
5th Renniel Galvez – Philippines – PHP149,800
6th Redentor Edoc – Philippines – PHP117,100
7th Alvin Francisco – Philippines – PHP94,300
8th Moses Saquing – Philippines – PHP78,000

We will continue to follow the action of the APT Philippines Championships II 2018 so check back with us here at Somuchpoker.com for the updates.

Article by Triccia David