Tetsuya Tsuchikawa - SOMUCHPOKER
Tetsuya Tsuchikawa has been a constant presence on the Asian tour, and at about 50 years of age, is a little older than most of the up and coming players from his home country of Japan.
Having taken up poker during its early stages in Asia, Tsuchikawa has become one of the more successful, and recognisable faces in Asian poker, not only as a player but he is also considered as one of the key movers of the game in Japan.
Tsuchikawa‘s first live cash came in 2010, but it wasn’t until 2011 that he took home a significantamount of prize money. The Red Dragon event at the Macau Poker Cup was an event that most players would like to win, and Tsuchikawa came very close, finishing 2ndfor USD$91,868. September 2012 saw him once again come painfully close to victory, when he finished 2ndin the Asian Poker Tour (APT) Manila Main Event for USD$48,043. Finally, in October 2014, came the greatest moment in Tsuchikawa’s career. He took his long awaited 1stplace, in the World Poker Tour (WPT) Philippines Main Event, for almost USD$154,000 and then followed it up with 2ndat the APT Manila Main Event, banking another USD$40,710 in the process. In December 2015, he added one more trophy to his personal collection with a victory in the PokerstarsManila Megastack 4 for $15,975.
The year 2016 has also proven to be very productive for Tsuchikawa. Despite not really having a major win for the year, Tsuchikawa has been consistently “in the money”.
In 2017, Tsuchikawa was doing quite well with his APT circuit participation. On January, he placed 3rd for the APT Manila Main Event Warm-up taking home USD$3,540. On March, again he placed 3rd for the APT Korea One Day Event in Daegu for USD$1,614.
In June, he took down 2 events at the APT Macau – No Limit Ante Up for Charity Event and No Limit Holdem (NLH) 6-Handed Turbo with Antes Event for USD$1,218 and USD$2,679, respectively.Because of these 2 victories, Tsuchikawa was named the APT Player of the Series.
The following month, Tsuchikawa once again shone bright during the APT 2017 Southeast Asia in Poipet, Cambodia, He took down the Welcome Event for US$1,800 and the 6-Handed Turbo for US$1,830.
In August, he proved victorious in the 2017 (APT) Korea Incheon Pot LImit Omaha High Roller Event and took home US$6,377. Although he hasn’t yet won a tournament at the 2017 APT Manila held in September, he had already made it to 3 final tables out of the 5 events that had already taken place- namely, 9th place at the NLH Opening Event Flight A (US$1,130 cash prize), 5th place at the NLH One-Day Event (US$1,490) and 2nd place at the NLH Two-Day Event (US$12.200)
Whilst Tsuchikawa remains prolific when it comes to Asian tournament circuits like the APT, WPT and PokerStars events, he still dreams of a big result at the World Series of Poker (WSOP). He has 7 cashes at the WSOP, but no final tables yet.
