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APPT Manila 2018: Varun Gupta & Siddarth Singhvi Headline 5 Indian Scores in the Megastack Event

PG News August 9, 2018
12 Mins Read

The 2018 Asia Pacific Poker Tour (APPT) Manila has crossed the halfway mark with 11 events already in the books and 11 more to go. Akshay Nasa fought hard to finish runner-up in the APPT National Event for ₱2,822,000 (~₹36.38 Lakhs), registering one of the best Indian performances in the series, thus far. But the title eventually went to Philippines’ Marc Richelieu Rivera who pocketed ₱4,559,000 (₹58.78 Lakhs) and a Platinum Pass.

Nevertheless, Indian battalion has made several splendid runs in the series. Five Indians cashed in the ₱20,000 Megastack – Shot Clock & Big Blind Ante Event including Varun Gupta (18^th for ₹1,17,362), Siddarth Singhvi (19^th for ₹1,01,886), Abhinav Iyer (27^th for ₹78,671), Chiraag Patel (38^th for ₹64,484) and Aditya Sushant (43^rd for ₹64,484), while Anup Palod (17^th for ₹22,440) made it in the money in the Deepstack event.

Luen Hei Kwok took down the Deepstack Event for ₱354,800 with Michael Soyza topping the Single Day High Roller for ₱3,166,000. Meanwhile, Tzai Wei Phua (5,675,000) has taken a dominating lead as the Megastack event ended its Day 2, after reaching a nine-handed final table.

The star attraction of the series, the APPT Main Event, featuring a ₱55,000 buy-in and a whopping ₱20 Million prize pool guarantee will begin later today and is likely to see a sizeable Indian participation.

So, buckle up your seats, cause this APPT rollercoaster is headed for a blazing finale!

Event 9: Megastack-Shot Clock & Big Blind Ante

The ₱20,000 Megastack – Shot Clock & Big Blind Ante Event`s increasing popularity resulted in an extra starting flight added to the schedule, which proved worthwhile since a massive field of 650 entrants joined the event creating a massive ₱11,349,000 prize pool.

The top 81 places were assured a min-cash of ₱36,000 (~₹46,429) with the winner receiving a top prize worth ₱2,440,000 (~₹31.46 Lakhs), along with a PSPC Platinum Pass worth US$30,000.

A large Indian contingent of 30 runners was seen in action, but only 16 made the cut for Day 2, led by Siddarth Singhvi (279,500), Zarvan Tumboli (269,000) and WSOP bracelet winner Aditya Sushant (244,000) who were amongst the top stacks.

Day 1 witnessed 463 eliminations, leading to only 187 players making it to Day 2. Yudong Yang (327,000), Min Soon Lim (309,000) and Singhvi rounded up the top three stacks at the end of Day 1.

178 more eliminations took place on Day 2, culminating in the nine handed final table.

Out of the 16 Indian challengers who made Day 2, only five finished in the money starting with Varun Gupta (18^th for ₱91,000 – ₹1,17,362), Siddarth Singhvi (19^th for ₱79,000 – ₹1,01,886), Abhinav Iyer (27^th for ₱61,000 – ₹78,671), Chiraag Patel (38^th for ₱50,000 – ₹64,484) and Aditya Sushant (43^rd for ₱50,000 – ₹64,484).

The others, namely Zarvan Tumboli, Vinayak Malani, Anup Palod, Kartik Ved, Ashish Ahuja, Ramandeep Singh Gujral, Romit Advani, Kunal Patni, Abhishek Jalan, Jaydeep Dawer and Sajal Gupta busted short of the money bubble.

Indian Cashes in Megastack

By the end of the day’s play, Singapore’s Tzai Wei Phua had accumulated a huge stack of 5,675,000 and he will came into the nine-handed final table as a massive chip leader, followed by China’s Wang Meng (2,220,000) and Filipino Bertrand Ortiz (2,035,000) who are a distant second and third in the chip counts.

Final Table Chip Counts

1. Tzai Wei Phua – 5,675,000

2. Wang Meng – 2,220,000

3. Bertrand Ortiz – 2,035,000

4. Darian Kok Tan – 2,000,000

5. Masakazu Miyamoto – 1,710,000

6. Konstantin Pogodin – 1,310,000

7. Piet Pape – 925,000

8. Yisha Chen – 850,000

9. Ming Hong Teoh – 284,000

Event 11: Deepstack

Another fast-paced event, the Deepstack, concluded on August 8. With a buy-in of ₱10,000, the event drew in 163 entries, generating a prize pool of ₱1,391,368.

The top 18 places got paid out with a min-cash worth ₱17,400 and the race to finish in the money was tough. However, after busting out of the Megastack event, India’s Anup Palod jumped straight into this event and finished 17^th for ₱17,400 (~₹22,440).

Eight more eliminations followed before the final table convened including Xiang Tang (10^th for ₱31,000), Deen Sun (11^th for ₱24,400), Raul Aquino (12^th for ₱24,400), Anacleto Quijano (13^th for ₱20,900), Bin Chiat Tay (14^th for ₱20,900), Christopher Mateo (15^th for ₱20,900), Hao Chen (16^th for ₱17,400) and Nick Roscoe Blackburn (18^th for ₱17,400).

Outlasting them all was Hong Kong`s Luen Hei Kwok, who took home the first-place prize money of ₱354,800 and the trophy. Kwok is a regular on the Asian circuits and had previously won Event#12 ₱13,500 + 1,500 No Limit Hold’em – Shot Clock at the PokerStars LIVE Manila Super Series 8, Manila for ₱330,000 and is currently placed 44^th on the Hong Kong All Time Money List.

Final Table Results (PHP)

1. Luen Hei Kwok – ₱354,800

2. Jun Bao – ₱236,500

3. Zizheng Huang – ₱153,100

4. Patrick Emmanuel Enriquez – ₱118,300

5. Maureen Lynn Blochlinger – ₱97,368

6. Edward Penaflorida – ₱80,000

7. Jia Wei Desmond Yow – ₱66,100

8. Seung Yong Yi – ₱52,200

9. Michael Capinpuyan – ₱38,300

Event 12: Single Day High Roller – Shot Clock & Big Blind Ante

Even though the ₱150,000 Single Day High Roller was held alongside the APPT National and Megastack events, it certainly drew in the crowd. Attracting 86 participants which built up a prize pool of ₱11,511,960, it is undoubtedly one of the popular events at the series.

Team India’s Sahil Chutani was seen in action at the event, but he was eliminated before the money bubble burst. With only the top 11 spots assured payouts, the eliminations of Yohman Lim (10^th for ₱288,000) and Yinfei Xiao (11^th for ₱288,000) set up the nine-handed final table.

Topping the field was Malaysia’s top dog Michael Soyza, who fielded across a tough nine-player final table that featured the likes of WSOP bracelet winner Mike Takayama, poker power couple and Team PokerStars Pros Randy Lew and Celina Lin, as well as APPT Kickoff champion Tsolmon-Erdene Ochir, to eventually win the title.

In the end, it was a battle of the Mikes (Soyza and Takayama) who entered the heads-up confrontation evenly stacked. However, Soyza took the lead soon thereafter which he held onto till the end of the event. On the final hand, Takayama moved all-in pre-flop with and Soyza called with @12s. The board ran out and Soyza flopped a pair of queens to take home the trophy, first place prize money of ₱3,166,000 and his third APPT title!

“What can I say, I’m running good!”, said Soyza during the post-event interview. With this victory Soyza’s total live earnings have exceeded $1.9 Million. But the runner-up Takayama has much to be pleased about as well, since he has all but sealed his top positions on the 2018 Asia Player of the Year race.