Home » News » APPT Manila 2018: Sahil Agarwal Finishes Runner Up in the High Roller Event For Career-Best Score of â‚±4,656,260 (â‚¹60.65 Lakhs), Ivan Hon Cheong Lee Wins Title Following Heads-Up Deal

APPT Manila 2018: Sahil Agarwal Finishes Runner Up in the High Roller Event For Career-Best Score of ₱4,656,260 (₹60.65 Lakhs), Ivan Hon Cheong Lee Wins Title Following Heads-Up Deal

PG News August 13, 2018
5 Mins Read

The 2018 Asia Pacific Poker Tour (APPT) is indisputably among the favourite hunting grounds for most Indian poker players and that is evidenced by the numerous remarkable runs that Team India has made at the series thus far. Following the spectacular runs made by Akshay Nasa (2^nd for ₹36.67 Lakhs in National), Jasven Saigal (8^th for ₹1.40 Lakhs in Turbo Megastack) and Chiraag Patel (1^st for ₹4.54 Lakhs in NLH Turbo), were the stellar runs made by Sahil Agarwal (cover image) and Sriharsha Doddapaneni in the ₱200,000 High Roller.

Doddapaneni finished in ninth place for ₱553,000 (₹7.20 Lakhs) but the show stealer was Agarwal, who played exceptionally well to reach the heads-up play against eventual champion Ivan Hon Cheong Lee, and finished runner-up for ₱4,656,260 (₹60.65 Lakhs) following a heads-up deal. Agarwal’s score is presently the biggest score by an Indian at the series.

Agarwal and Doddapaneni jumped into the action on Day 2 and were joined by Kavin Shah, Rathi Shashank and Aditya Sushant from Day 1. While Shah, Shashank and Sushant hit the rail empty-handed, Agarwal and Doddapaneni made it to the final table.

Ivan Hon Cheong Lee topped a field of 124 entries to claim his maiden APPT title and career-best cash of ₱4,676,260 (₹60.91 Lakhs).

The ₱200,000 High Roller’s field of 124 runners bested the record of 82 players that took part in APPT Korea this year, while also setting a new record for the APPT Manila edition, which had a previous best attendance record of 58 entries back in 2016. The present player pool resulted in a massive prize pool of ₱22,131,520 (₹2,88,30,117). With 90 unique entries, only the top 17 spots were assured a payday.

Final Day Recap

The survivors from Day 1 were led by the 2016 APPT Manila High Roller winner Yan Li. Before the registration was closed on Day 2, several players entered the fray including Indian challengers Sahil Agarwal and Sriharsha Doddapaneni who joined Kavin Shah, Rathi Shashank and Aditya Sushant, who had made it through Day 1 play.

Several notables were eliminated before the money bubble burst including Team PokerStars Pro Celina Lin, Netherland’s Martijn Gerrits, 2018 APPT Single Day High Roller winner Michael Soyza and WSOP bracelet winner Mike Takayama who is also in contention for the ‘Asia Player of the Year’ title.

Falling on the money bubble was India’s Aditya Sushant, who was railed by fellow countryman and eventual runner-up finisher Agarwal. Sushant’s pocket nines couldn’t hold up against Agarwal’s ace-jack when the latter flopped a pair of jacks sending Sushant to the rail.

However, many pros stormed through into the money starting with Yan Li (11^th for ₱454,000), Kitty Hui-chen Kuo (12^th for ₱398,000), Phanlert Sukonthachartnant (13^th for ₱398,000), Gabriel Carter (14^th for ₱365,000), Canlin Chen (15^th for ₱365,000), John Tech (16^th for ₱347,000) and Thomas Floan (17^th for ₱347,000).

Finishing in 10^th place for ₱454,000 was Thai Loc Le, who bubbled the final table.

Final Table Recap

Sriharsha Doddapaneni was the first elimination on the nine-handed final table. His ace-eight were defeated by Konstantin Pogodin’s pocket queens, ending his run in ninth place.

Pogodin was also responsible for the elimination of Jae Wook Shin in eighth place when the latter’s ace-ten was no match for the former’s ace-king.

Next to go was Xin Fan. His pocket jacks were pitted against Ivan Hon Cheong Lee’s pocket kings. Hoping for a jack on the board, Fan found no help and was eliminated in seventh place.

Following Fan to the rail was Yilin Yang as he moved all-in with king-jack and ran into Lee’s ace-queen. With the runout not bettering his hand, Yang had to exit in sixth place.

Soon thereafter, PokerStars Team Online’s Randy Lew shoved his nine-six from the small blind against Pogodin’s pocket rockets in the big blind. With the community cards not running in his favour, Lew bounced out in fifth place.

After coming down to four-handed play, the game continued for quite some time before Maxim Befus was eliminated in fourth place. He went head-to-head against Agarwal and his queen-jack were no match for Agarwal’s ace-nine.

The three remaining players battled it out for over an hour before Konstantin Pogodin‘s queen-jack was overpowered by Lee’s ace-queen and Pogodin had to depart in third place.

Before the heads-up confrontation could proceed, Hong Kong’s Ivan Hon Cheong Lee and India’s Sahil Agarwal entered into lengthy deal discussion.

Ultimately, a deal was struck, and Lee took home the trophy and top prize of ₱4,676,260 (₹60,91,634) while Agarwal locked in ₱4,656,260 (₹60,65,580) and the runner-up title.