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The second featured event at the 2018 Asian Poker Tour (APT) Finale Philippines i.e. the Championships Event got rolling on December 3. With 54 contenders joining in on the action, only 33 among them managed to make it forward to Day 2.
Two Indian challengers, 2017 World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner Aditya Sushant (147,400) and Madhav Gupta (126,400) headlined the Indian representation at the event. While Sushant will return with the fifth-biggest stack on Day 2, Gupta will also be returning with a top-ten stack. Late registrations for the event are open for the first hour on Day 2, so the field size may expand further.
On the sidelines, the NLH Single Day crowned a winner in Mikael Andersson from Finland, who pocketed PHP 311,400 for his efforts.
The PHP 165,000 Championships Event kicked off on December 3 with 54 runners taking to the felts. The event features a guarantee of PHP 10 Million, equivalent to the Main Event that culminated over the weekend.
Indian challengers Aditya Sushant (147,400) and Madhav Gupta (126,400)were among the many notables in the event and both of them are going strong having bagged above average stacks for Day 2.
Action was intense but slow on the opening day with 33 contenders bagging chips for Day 2. Eunho Kwon (198,200) remains in the lead coming into Day 2 today, with Rex Clinkscales (175,800) and Matt Ericson (154,700) not far behind.
Other notables still in the running include Bobby Zhang (91,800), Cao Ngoc Ang (89,800), Phachara Wongwichit (74,600), Le Ngoc Khanh (63,000), Daniel Lim (62,000), Iori Yogo (54,400), Henrik Tollersen and Kosei Ichinose (28,500).
Eunho Kwon
1.Kwon Eunho – 198,200
2. Rex Clinkscales – 175,800
3. Matt Ericson – 154,700
4. Chris Mateo – 152,400
5. Aditya Sushant – 147,400
6. Anthony Thong Boon Tee – 130,900
7. Madhav Gupta – 126,400
8. Takao Shimizu – 106,300
9. Jin Yong – 104,200
10. Linh Tran – 100,200
Pulling in 80 entrants with each of them paying up PHP 16,500, the NLH Single Day event generated a prize pool of PHP 1,164,000. Outlasting a tough field that included seasoned pros like Mike Takayama and Valeriy Pak, Finland’s Mikael Andersson took down the event to win the APT trophy and PHP 311,400 in prize money.
The money was reached with the fall of Ranmi Iwakura, who moved all in with and had to face Ming Ken Thoo’s . Thoo’s hand improved to a set when the dealer fanned out on the flop. The turn and the river ran and respectively bringing Thoo a winning flush. A visibly upset Iwakura stormed out of the room, leaving the remaining 14 players in the money.
Seungsu Kong, who had earlier scored a big double up through Takayama, finished his run in sixth place, while Ming Ken Thoo had to settle for a third place finish.
Thoo’s elimination set up the heads-up match between Yasutake Oka and Andersson. Oka took the lead early on pushing Andersson’s stack to below 10 big blinds at one point, but Andersson got back with two crucial double ups. The second double up saw Oka all-in holding against Andersson’s with the board opening to . Andersson closed out the game in the very next hand after catching Oka’s bluff with a flush to win the title.
Mikael Andersson – Winner of NLH Single Day
Yet another exciting day is set to begin shortly, with the Championships Event to resume its Day 2 play, alongside two other side events – Super Deep Stack Turbo and the WeLoveSport.com Deep Stack Hyper Turbo event. Capping off the day’s action will be the much-anticipated player’s party later tonight.
Content & Images courtesy – www.theasianpokertour.com.
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