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As expected, the 2018 Asia Pacific Poker Tour (APPT) Manila edition kicked off at PokerStars Live Manila poker room to a grand start on August 4 and three days later, three prime tournaments of the popular series are done and dusted. While the APPT Manila has always been a favorite hunting ground for Indian poker pros, this year, post Team India`s stupendous performance at the 2018 World Series of Poker (WSOP), a much bigger group of Indians are in Manila to participate at the series. Several others are still on the way, to catch the action at this exciting poker extravaganza.
The opening event, ₱15,000APPT Kickoff saw a number of Indian challengers competing with some of the biggest names in the Asian circuit. The event attracted the largest player field in its history, with 884 players coming through three starting flights for a shot at the title. Finally, it was Mongolian pro Tsolmon-Erdene Ochir who claimed the top honors for ₱1,541,000 (~₹19.93 Lakhs) along with a Platinum Pass worth $30,000, with six Indians – Alok Birewar (27th for ₱54,000 ~₹69,870), Pranav Khandalkar (34th for ₱47,500~₹61,459), Dhaval Mudgal (40th for ₱43,000 ~₹55,637), MadOverPoker pro Zarvan Tumboli (60th for ₱37,000 ~₹47,873), Aditya Sushant (74th for ₱32,500 ~₹42,051) and Kartik Ved (85th for ₱32,500~₹42,051) also taking away a piece of the prize money.
Alongside the Kickoff event, Event 2: ₱5,000 NLH and Event 3: APPT Knockout also culminated with Melvin Yares winning the ₱5,000 NLH for the top prize of ₱94,500, while the APPT Knockout was taken down by Nick Roscoe Blackburn who banked ₱135,900 (~₹1.75 Lakhs). Amit Nautiyal (15th for ₱8,000 ~₹10,351) made a deep run in the Knockout event.
Meanwhile, the first starting flight of Event 4: APPT National (₱5 Million GTD) is over with 82 out of 321 initial entries bagging for Day 2 and the second flight is to begin today. Event 5: Knockout Turbo, that saw 119 players enter the field, is also underway. Other events that will be starting today include ₱10,000 NLH-PLO, and ₱10,000 Turbo Deepstack.
The ₱15,000 APPT Kickoff began on August 4 with its first starting flight attracting a total of 250 entries while the Day 1B flight saw 399 entries and the third starting flight i.e. Day 1C Turbo witnessed another big group of 195 players entering the field. Overall, the entries created a massive prize pool of ₱11,052,180. The top 102 players made it in the money for a minimum assured sum of ₱30,500 and Day 2 began with 100 players returning to resume play.
For 30-year old Ochir, who’s the Director of Mongolian Poker Team Training School and scored his first tournament title win in the ₱15,000 APPT Kickoff, winning the event was a dream come true.
“I’m so happy to win my first live tournament title, this is my biggest win ever and I cannot express my feelings, but I will do my best in the Player’s Championship also,” said Ochir, who has been playing poker only since over one-and-half years.
His previous best cash was in the PokerStars Live Manila Super Series 8 Shot Clock Event held in July where he finished in third place to pocket ₱300,000. Now, Ochir’s lifetime winnings have reached US$43,000.
The Indian challengers kept the heat going on the felts. Seven Indians made the cut for Day 2. The biggest stack was Kartik Ved (276,600) followed by WSOP bracelet winner Aditya Sushant (232,400), Dhaval Mudgal (227,800), DPT ₹65K High Roller February 2018 champion Alok Birewar (226,900), Zarvan Tumboli (206,000), Pranav Khandalkar (68,700) and Kanishka Samant (53,700). While Samant failed to make it in the money, all the remaining Indians picked up scores.
The nine-handed final table of the ₱15,000 APPT Kickoff event had players from seven different countries in the field with Korean player Gyeong Tae Yoo entering as the chip leader and Ochir among the top stacks.
Final Table Chip Counts
1. Gyeong Tae Yoo – 2,900,000
2. Tsolmon Erdene Ochir – 2,260,000
3. Jesus Rivera – 2,000,000
4. Andre Tan- 1,790,000
5. Tamon Nakamura – 1,190,000
6. Jiankeng Pan – 815,000
7. Liping Song – 765,000 8. Xiaisheng Zheng – 530,000
9. Wei Cheng Yin – 400,000
Final Table Recap
Action on the final table sent many players railing out in quick succession. As the field narrowed down to the final four, Ochir grabbed hold of the lead. From there on, he maintained his dominance right till the final hand.
In the three-handed play, Ochir sent Japan’s Tamon Nakamura packing in third place. He then entered a heads-up deal with his opponent, Gyeong Tae Yoo. The two then battled it out for the trophy and the Platinum Pass with Ochir eventually taking home ₱1,541,000 and the Platinum Pass, while Yoo collected a bigger paycheck of ₱2,200,000 for his runner-up finish.
Final Table Results (PHP)
1. Tsolmon-Erdene Ochir – ₱1,541,000*
2. Gyeong Tae Yoo – ₱2,200,000*
3. Tamon Nakamura – ₱883,000
4. Jesus Rivera – ₱638,000
5. Andrianto Wijaya Tan – ₱430,000
6. Wei Cheng Yin – ₱330,000
7. Xiaisheng Zheng – ₱254,000
8. Liping Song – ₱220,000
9. Jiankeng Pan – ₱187,000
*denotes heads-up deal
Featuring a buy-in of ₱5,000, Event 2: ₱5,000 NLH began on August 5 and 67 players entered the field to create a prize pool of ₱285,956. The top seven finalists made it to the final table and local talent Melvin Yares beat fellow countryman Ivey Patalinghug in the heads-up match to take home the top prize worth ₱94,500.
Final Table Results (PHP)
1. Melvin Yares – ₱94,500
2. Ivy Patalinghug – ₱60,000
3. Kunimaro Kojo – ₱40,000
4. King-Chung Wang – ₱31,500
5. Keon Yong Ma – ₱23,000
6. Angelo Mejia – ₱20,100
7. Sojeong Gu – ₱16,856
A total of 163 players entered Event 3: APPT Knockout that featured a buy-in of ₱5000. The top 18 players were paid and headlining the Indian participation was Amit Nautiyal(15th for ₱8,000 ~₹10,351). The event was eventually taken down by American pro Nick Roscoe Blackburn who pocketed the lion’s share coming to ₱135,900 (~1.75 Lakhs) after entering a three-way deal with the other two finalists, British player David Troy (2nd for ₱90,600) and Taiwanese pro Chih Ying (3rd for ₱58,600).
Final Table Results (PHP)
1. Nick Roscoe Blackburn – ₱135,900*
2. David Troy – ₱90,600*
3. Chih Ying Liang – ₱58,600*
4. Sho Sakui – ₱45,300
5. Min Ho Kil – ₱37,300
6. Aoi Sugiura – ₱30,700
7. Steven Chua – ₱25,300
8. Munkh Erdene Natsagdorj – ₱20,000
9. Richard Marquez – ₱14,700
*denotes three-way deal
The APPT National with a buy-in of ₱30,000 is the second of the five events in the ongoing APPT Manila series where the players have the opportunity to win a Platinum Pass worth $30,000 to the PokerStars Players Poker Championship (PSPC) scheduled for January 2019 in the Bahamas.
The event rode past its guarantee on its very first starting flight i.e. Day 1A where 321 players entered the competitive felts. There were many Indian notables in the field and five Indian challengers, namely, Kartik Ved (120,900), seasoned Indian pros Dhaval Mudgal (106,000), Zarvan Tumboli (86,000), Amanpreet Singh (84,200), and Pranav Khandalkar (36,500) are amid the 82 Day 1A survivors, who will now return to play on Day 2.
However, Kunal Patni, Sriharsha Doddapaneni, Vivek Rughani, Sahil Agarwal, Ashish Ahuja, Keshav Chadha, Sahil Chutani and Siddarth Singhvi failed to make it through the days play. The second flight, Day 1B will be kicking off soon.
Towards the conclusion of the first starting flight, Vietnam’s Than Vinh Pham (286,400) topped the leaderboard. Pham climbed up in count when only the last six hands were left to be played. Not far behind Pham is Taiwanese pro Che-Li Lin (268,600) and Hong Kong’s Carson Ka Shing Wong (249,100). Two PokerStars team pros Celina Lin (59,100) and Randy Lew were also seen in the mix but Lew failed to advance to Day 2.
Other notables who bagged stacks for Day 2 include Korea’s Vivian Young-Shin Im (209,400), British player Simon Burns (138,800), reigning Asia Player of the Year Alan Lau (87,700), Netherland’s Martijn Gerrits (59,900), and Hong Kong’s Sparrow Cheung (50,600).
1. Than Vinh Pham – 286,400
2. Che-Li Lin – 268,600
3. Carson Ka Shing Wong – 249,100
4. Tzai Wei Phua – 225,700
5. Vivian Young-Shin Im – 209,400
6. Terry Gonzaga – 201,100
7. Wang Meng – 192,600
8. Changhun Lee – 180,100
9. Hiroshi Naito – 178,400
10. Jasper David – 177,800
Stay tuned to PokerGuru for more updates from APPT Manila 2018!
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