APT Finale Philippines 2018: James Auld Wins MSW Turbo Event; Bobby Zhang, Joshua Charualaf & James Mendoza Win Side Events

Even as the 2018 Asian Poker Tour (APT) Finale Philippines crowned a Main Event champion in Mikiya Kudo, a host of side events played out over the weekend. Grabbing the spotlight was Filipino James Auld, who won the MegaSportsWorld (MSW) Turbo Event for his maiden APT trophy and a winner’s cheque of PHP 213,700. Auld reached the heads-up finale with Japan’s Katsuhiro Mori and defeated him to clinch the title.

Even as the MSW Turbo Event was underway, the High Rollers kicked off. The event attracted 58 runners with Bobby Zhang taking top honors at the event for PHP 1,382,800, while Kosei Ichinose bested the 16-player strong field to win the Short Deck High Rollers title for PHP 789,200.

In other side events, Joshua Chargualaf took down the NLH Short Clock for PHP 1,455,000 outlasting 75 entries, and James Mendoza clinched the APT trophy in the NLH Single Day Event topping 18 other contenders to bank a winner’s payday of PHP 410,600.

The Championships event PHP 10 Million GTD event has taken centre stage at the series that will continue its run of tournaments right till December 6. Backed by one of the best structures in the region, the Championships event opens today and features a buy-in of PHP 165,000.

There is also the NLH Single Day Event 2 featuring a PHP 15,000 buy-in on tap today with Super Deep Stack Turbo and the WeLoveSport.com Deep Stack Hyper Turbo slated for tomorrow along the sidelines of Day 2 of the Championships event.

MegaSportsWorld DeepStack Turbo Event

The MegaSportsWorld (MSW) DeepStack Turbo Event was one of the featured events at the stop with a PHP 1 Million guarantee. The event saw 208 runners joining the action, juicing up the prize pool to 1,008,800. Topping the field was Canada’s James Auld, who won the event for PHP 213,700.

Following the elimination of Yusutake Oka in tenth place, the nine-handed table saw Mark Ilin busting in ninth place, with Mikio Komatsu crashing out in eighth place. Luis Bernardo and Ricardo Torres joined the rail in seventh and sixth place respectively. Mark Leonardo was eliminated in fifth place, and soon, Guilherme Matsunaga bounced out in fourth place. Filipro pro Mike Takayama added yet another deep run to his illustrious career chart with a third place finish.

In heads-up play, Auld defeated Japan`s Katsuhiro Mori heads-up to bank the PHP 213,700 first-place prize and his maiden APT title.

Final Table Results (PHP)

1.James Auld –PHP 213,700

2. Katsuhiro Mori –PHP 142,600

3. Mike Takayama – PHP 99,600

4. Guilherme Matsunaga – PHP 72,500

5. Mark Leonardo – PHP 72,500

6. Ricardo Torres – PHP 42,800

7. Luis Bernardo – PHP – 34,500

8. Mikio Komatsu – PHP 28,500

9. Mark Ilin – PHP 24,200

10. Yusutake Oka – PHP 20,600

High Rollers

The High Rollers event saw 58 runners ponying up the PHP 107,500 buy-in, making for a prize pool of PHP 5,626,000. The 10 best finishers were to take home a slice of the prize pool and the biggest cut went to Bobby Zhang, who went home PHP 1,382,800 richer.

Zhang reached a heads-up deal with Ying Lin Chua with the title and an additional PHP 100,000 left in play for the eventual champion. Chua pocketed PHP 1,350,000 for his runner-up finish.

Short Deck High Rollers

The Short Deck High Rollers was another fast-paced event that ran its course on December 2 with a field size of 16 players. Fresh off his sixth place finish in the Main Event, Kosei Ichinose added yet another APT title to his tally along with PHP 789,200 in prize money.

Ichinose made a heads-up deal with Seungsu Kong with Kong pocketing PHP530,000 as the runner-up. Julian Hasse scored a third place finish in the event for PHP 232,800.

NLH Short Clock

Guam’s Joshua Chargualaf outlasted a field of 75 runners, defeating Gordon Wong heads-up to win the NLH Shot Clock for PHP 397,000.

Final Table Results (PHP)

1.Joshua Chargualaf – PHP 397,000

2. Kwan Tai Gordon Wong – PHP 264,500

3. Kentaro Hori – PHP 184,700

4. Kazunobe Kuraya – PHP 101,600

5. San Hon Pang – PHP 79,400

6. Kimura Lee Jong Yeol – PHP 64,000

7. Go Mori – PHP 52,900

8. Hisashi Ogi – PHP 44,800

NLH Single Day Event

The NLH Single Day event pulled in 114 hopefuls collecting PHP 1,658,700 in prize money. 19 players took home a share of the prize money and claiming the lion’s share of the kitty along with the APT trophy was Filipino James Mendoza.

Mendoza outran the field, defeating China’s Chao Yin heads-up to win PHP 410,600.

Content & Images courtesy www.theasianpokertour.com.

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