Asian Poker Tour Raises the Bar Once More For Live Poker in the Philippines

From February 7 to 16, 2025, the Asian Poker tour visited the Philippines for the second time in their new era and the festival once again set numerous country records for the brand, further cementing their status as one of the leading live poker operators in the Asia-Pacific. During the recently concluded APT Manila Classic, the brand set country records in 13 different tournaments and exceeded last year’s stop in Manila as well as in terms of overall prize money.

Asian Poker Tour – APT Manila Classic Final Wrap

Throughout APT Manila Classic 2025 than USD 6 Million in prize money was awarded across 100 trophy events, especially with the High Roller tournaments seeing stellar turnouts. The number of different countries / regions represented was almost identical to last year, and up by one, from 53 to 54.

Key Numbers and Key Events 2025 vs 2024

• Total Entries: 8,406 / 8,102
• Unique Players: 1,268 / 1,321
• Total Prize Money: PHP 350,124,235 (~USD 6,015,880) / PHP 349,691,602 (~USD 5,944,757)
• Countries/Regions: 54 / 53

A quick glance at the Main Event attendance reveals a new country record for the APT with 1,202 entries, which beat the 1,081 figure of the previous year but they are two different stories.

In November 2024, the crown jewel had a buy-in of PHP 85,000 with a PHP 100 Million guarantee which wasn’t the case now, because the tournament came with a buy-in of PHP 60,000 (~USD 1,031) and PHP 60 Million guarantee.

In partnership with the Metro Card Club, this created the new largest tally for an APT Main Event on Philippines soil, and prize pool soared to PHP 62,311,680 (~USD 1,059,823). This accounted for 18% of the festival’s total prize pool. Russia’s Ivan Govorov emerged as the champion.

#18 APT Main Event (60,000 PHP)

Russia's Ivan Govorov overcame the APT record field of 1,202 Main Event entries in the Philippines to take home the title, trophy and an entry to the APT Championship Event in November worth NTD 350,000 (~USD 10,700). Govorov defeated Samuel Mullur in heads-up play to claim the lion's cut of the PHP 62,311,680 (~USD 1,072,158) prize pool. He earned a career high payout of PHP 11,069,680 (~USD 190,201).

Total Prize

$1,070,941

Guaranteed

60,000,000

Entries

1,202

ITM

175

#	Payout	Player
1	$190,255 11,069,680 PHP	IG Ivan Govorov Russian Federation
2	$111,835 6,507,000 PHP	SM Samuel Mullur Austria
3	$78,665 4,577,000 PHP	DW Dylan Wayne Foster Australia
4	$58,950 3,430,000 PHP	OY Or Yaaqov Nezer Israel
5	$45,165 2,628,000 PHP	AU Alexander Ugay Russian Federation
6	$33,395 1,943,000 PHP	DB Dmitrii Belikov Russian Federation
7	$25,455 1,481,000 PHP	JZ Jie Zhang Hong Kong
8	$18,130 1,055,000 PHP	AP Adalsteinn Petur Karlsson
9	$14,075 819,000 PHP	HI Hiroya Iwamoto Japan

Check the 175 Payouts & Results ...

Eighteen was also the percentage of participants from the Philippines, which made up for 121 of the entries followed by Japan (83 entries) and Thailand (73 entries). There were a total of 673 unique players from 47 different countries in the flagship tournament of the series, which has grown into an international contest with further potential for growth.

The second-largest prize pool emerged in the APT Super High Roller, which more than doubled the prize pool compared to the initial guarantee thanks to 81 total entries. It was significantly larger than the 59 entries of the previous stop and a total of PHP 44,784,900 (~USD 769,500) were up for grabs. Germany’s Tobias Schwecht took home the biggest slice worth PHP 12,143,900 (~USD 208,658) with the top 11 spots paid.

#21 APT Super High Roller (600,000 PHP)

Many eyes were also set on the conclusion of the huge 81-entry strong PHP 600,000 (~USD 10,300) Super High Roller, which saw 16 players return for the final day. In the end, if was another German who claimed the spotlight as Tobias Schwecht defeated Aussie Ricky Huang in heads-up to claim the biggest piece of the PHP44,784,900 (~USD 769,500) prize pool along with an entry to the APT Championship in November. Schwecht earned PHP 12,316,900 (~USD 211,631) for his victory while runner-up Huang had to settle for a consolation prize worth PHP 8,755,000 (~USD 150,430).

Total Prize

$769,500

Guaranteed

20,000,000

Entries

81

ITM

11

#	Payout	Player
1	$208,658 12,143,900 PHP	TS Tobias Schwecht Germany
2	$148,316 8,632,000 PHP	RL Ricky Li Qi Huang Australia
3	$97,113 5,652,000 PHP	IC I-chun Chiu Taiwan
4	$74,725 4,349,000 PHP	SM Scott Margereson United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
5	$59,175 3,444,000 PHP	JM John Matsuda Japan
6	$46,271 2,693,000 PHP	RA Rokas Asipauskas Lithuania
7	$36,409 2,119,000 PHP	WT William Teoh Malaysia
8	$28,454 1,656,000 PHP	PP Punnat Punsri Thailand
9	$21,615 1,258,000 PHP	VD Victor Dai Australia

Check the 11 Payouts & Results ...

As far as the next high-stakes contest is concerned, the Baby Superstar Challenge was on par with three entries more and the 53 entries produced a prize pool of 13,737,600 (~USD 236,041). Zhen Chen was one of many Chinese winners during the festival after he came out on top of a heads-up duel with Kilian Kramer, who himself boasts a seven-figure resume on the live poker circuit.

The biggest increase came in the Superstar Challenge and another notable poker pro ended up on the winner shots. Joseph Cheong had topped a field of 12 entries in 2024 and the PHP 1.5 Million (~USD 25,774) buy-in attracted a field of 21 entries this time. Matthew Wakeman dominated on both days and earned the biggest slice of the PHP 29,791,125 (~USD 511,875) prize pool.

In the PHP 100,000 Zodiac Classic sponsored by Natural8, a new APT country record for field size, unique entries, & prize pool was set with 228 entries and Matthias Lipp from Austria walked away with the trophy and top prize of PHP 4,168,200 (~USD 71,619).

The Mini Main Event more than doubled the PHP 6 Million guarantee thanks to 608 entries, which almost doubled the figures of the previous year (320 as well). Records in four APT country records saw South Korea’s Minseok Kim walk away with the largest first place prize for this event worth PHP 2,525,800 (~USD 43,499). Likewise, the Micro Main Event went from 89 to 164 entries and was topped by Hong Kong’s Sai Hang Jason Chau.

In the APT High Roller, 127 entries came up just shy of the 134 tally in the previous year, but the event had no problem to breeze past the PHP 15 Million guarantee. With PHP 21,945,600 (~USD 377,072) up for grabs, another German top prize came up shy of victory in a duel with a newcomer from Asia. Leon Sturm had to settle for the consolation prize of PHP 3,624,000 while Japan’s Yohei Kitazato improved his previous top score set only a few weeks ago to now PHP 5,360,600 (~USD 92,107).

Multiple Winners and Top Countries

With a total schedule of 100 tournaments and many mixed games on offer, it comes as no surprise that several players took home more than one trophy. There were six players with two victories to their name and Japan’s Kohei Suzuki emerged as the only triple winner. His first triumph came in Event #47: Hyper Turbo – Double Stack in a field of 89 entries followed by back-to-back wins in Super Hyper Turbo Events within consecutive days.

India’s Kunal Patni repeated the same feat he had achieved in the last APT stop of 2024 – he won two trophies. In the early stages of the festival, he overcame a field of 377 entries in Event #9: Mystery Bounty Hunter – Sponsored by Natural8 for PHP PHP 815,176 (~USD 14,006) in cash. That was followed by an 85-entry strong Event #75: Single Day High Roller victory worth another PHP 3,030,000 (~USD 52,062).

Thailand’s Wisinee Tanpichai took down one of the Women’s Events shortly after Event #69: Tick Tock BOOM! to pose for winner pictures on back-to-back days. Matthew Belcher embraced variance the most in a Super Hold’em Event, swiftly followed by another triumph in a Flip ‘N Go Hyper while Aussie Dale Townsend took down an Omaha and 7 Card Stud competition.

On the very first day of the series, Jun Weng earned his trophy in Event #2: PL Omaha Hi-Lo – 5 Card (Big O) and he then had to wait until Event #46: Turbo – PL Omaha High – Bomb Pot for the second trophy. Last but not least, Hong Kong’s Edward Yam completed the two-time winner line-up on the very last day of the series. He first took down Event #58: Super Hyper Turbo – Bomb Pot and then came out on top of an 38-entry strong field in Event #100: Hyper Turbo – High Roller.

Players from 22 different countries won trophies during the series in Manila and the most successful nation was Japan with 15 titles, followed by the Philippines in second place with 13 wins. Australia took third place with 10 wins, edging past Thailand and China (9 trophies each).

Notable winners throughout the series include popular vlogger Gregory “Greg Goes All In” Liow, Raju Jaruplavath, Marc Rivera, Jarryd Godena, Punnat Punsri, Terry Gonzaga, and Seungmook Jung.

Up next for the Asian Poker Tour is APT Taipei from April 25 until May 4, 2025 and a busy series is expected considering how fast the live poker scene in Taiwan has been growing throughout the last few years.