David Erquiaga
Last Result
| Date | Country | Place | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 19 - 21, 2024 |
No Limit Hold'em - KICK OFF (2 BILLION GTD)Da Nang |
7 | $133,600,000 |
Profile
– GENERAL INTRODUCTION –
David Erquiaga, more commonly known as “Dave Spade” among his peers, is a Filipino professional poker player.
In what is shaping up to be his breakout year, Erquiaga clinched his biggest finish to date by winning the Main Event of the World Poker Tour (WPT) Prime series in Cambodia on August 2022. The victory netted him US$ 137,008 and a seat to the 2022 WPT World Championship worth $10,400. He quickly followed this up by clinching the Asian Poker Tour (APT) Philippines II Championship Event and runner-up at the Main Event for a combined US$ 163,285.
Erquiaga has also taken an active role in growing the poker community, having founded ActionPH, a group that provides funding and support to serious and top poker players. He also runs a YouTube channel to document the successes and travails of a poker pro.
– DAVID ERQUIAGA’S CAREER –
David Erquiaga is a homegrown Filipino poker player. He first appeared on the radar in 2015 when he cashed his first live tournament by finishing 4th at the inaugural event of APT Manila. He quickly strung a series of cashes within the year, including two top finishes in the PokerStars Live Manila series and another 4th place finish in the Asia Pacific Poker Tour (APPT) Asia Championship of Poker.
Erquiaga’s first taste of success abroad happened in the Asia Poker League (APL) – Vietnam in May 2019. He finished 4th at the NLH High Roller which was his biggest score at the time to the tune of US$ 15,384. In July 2019, he finished 2nd and 14th at the APT Vietnam Championships Event and Main Event, respectively. His runner-up victory at the Championships Event secured him US$ 51,063, smashing his personal best winnings.
Seemingly on a hot streak, he went on to nab 2nd place at the Main Event of the 2019 Poker King Cup (PKC) Taiwan for another sizable US$ 36,738. He rounded up the year grabbing a series of runner-up finishes at APT Manila and APL Vietnam.
Erquiaga would later on allude to this sequence in a 2022 vlog, quipping that he has been a “professional runner-up since 2019”, leaving out – most probably, in the spirit of good humor or, possibly, selective memory in view of the smaller prizes – a couple of 1st place finishes in the Manila Open Poker Tour (MOPT) and APT Vietnam.
The opening months of 2020 seemed promising for Erquiaga as he made multiple final table appearances and podium finishes however the global health pandemic put a halting break to Erquiaga’s steamroller of a run.
Erquiaga resumed his winning streak, cashing in multiple tournaments during the first half of 2022, with the largest being his 3rd place finish at the APT Philippines Championships Event netting him US$ 27,399.
His stint in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in July 2022 proved even more productive as he set another personal best record when he cashed for US$ 75,457 after finishing 2nd in the Main Event of the inaugural Poker Dream Malaysia. He also booked a nifty US$ 15,561 victory score at one of the side-events.
In August, at Phnom Penh, Cambodia for the WPT Prime series, Erquiaga made his strongest statement yet to be hailed among the greatest Filipino poker pros. He was crowned the Main Event Champion after sending his last four adversaries straight to the rails. The victory earned him his biggest score at a whopping US$ 147,408, inclusive of a WPT World Championship seat worth $10,400.
The Main Event triumph would have been sweet enough to warrant a return flight to the Philippines, however, it also opened up the chance for Erquiaga to secure the WPT Player of the Festival award. As an artist would labor until the finishing touches are placed, Erquiaga decided to put in the final effort for the coveted prize. Once more, fortune favored the bold and he, indeed, emerged the WPT Player of the Festival and with it a WPT Passport worth $5,000 to any WPT Main Tour of choice.
Returning to home soil, Erquiaga doubled down on his phenomenal success with another outstanding performance. At APT II Philippines in September, he clinched the Championships Event and was runner up at the Main Event for a combined US$ 136,385 payout.
Tricia David
Tricia David has long experience as a recreational poker player and has been covering poker events since 2010 for numerous outfits in Asia. She spent one year working part time with Poker Portal Asia then became editor and lead writer for all event coverage of the Philippine Poker Tour (PPT). Under the PPT, she overlooked content for their website, and produced live updates on all their events. In addition, she served as the live and online events website content writer for the Asian Poker Tour. Currently, she does live events reporting in Asia for online news site Somuchpoker and is also one of their news contributors.
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Data source: Global Poker Index