APT Finale Philippines 2018: Takao Shimizu Leads 56 Runners Coming Into Day 3 of the Main Event, Gavin Flynn Wins Short Deck – Single Day

An action-packed day at the 2018 Asian Poker Tour (APT) Finale Philippines saw the series showstopper, PHP 10M GTD Main Event play out Day 2, with 149 runners from the two starting flights and 43 late registrations coming together for Day 2.

As eliminations sent most players packing out, the two Indian challengers, namely, 2017 World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner Aditya Sushant and Dilip Menon failed to carry bags for Day 2 and fell out empty-handed. Only 56 contenders have advanced to Day 3 with Japan’s Takao Shimizu (308,500) leading the pack.

Running alongside the Main Event, another event i.e. the Short Deck -Single Day crowned a winner in Ireland’s Gavin Flynn. Flynn triumphed over a 52-strong field to reach the heads-up where he ran down Japanese player Azusa Maeda to win the PHP 222,500 top prize.

Flynn, who is a regular in the Dublin live tournament circuit, had posted two major scores at the 2018 APT Ho Chi Minh in July this year. He first won the ₫11M NLHE Monster stack ($9,331) and went on to claim the ₫4.3 M NLHE High Rollers ($39,807) title. In September, Flynn added another big score to his resume with a third place finish in the ₱ 107,500 NLHE- CoinPoker High Rollers Single Day Event (Shot clock) for $6,652.

The top 52 runners will post scores in the Main Event and with 56 hopefuls resuming play on Day 3, the money bubble is expected to burst early into play on Saturday.

Main Event – Day 2

While 149 survivors from the two starting flights came back for Day 2 of the Main Event, another 43 players registered late taking the total number of entries in the event to 307, smashing the PHP 10 Million guarantee. The final prize pool soared to PHP 14,889,500 and only 56 runners managed to find a bag for Day 3.

Team India’s Aditya Sushant and Dilip Menon had entered Day 2 with workable stacks of 70,600 and 31,300 respectively but both hit the rails before the end of play.

Two-time champion and WSOP bracelet winner Mike Takayama started Day 2 with a stack of 63,800 but his hopes of winning a third APT Main Event were dashed when his ran into Kosei Ichinose‘s . The board brought . Even though Takayama flopped a pair of nines, it wasn’t enough to beat Ichinose’s pocket jacks.

Day 2 chip leader Ang Boon Seng was another player who had a tough day at the felts. He started out with a massive stack of 158,900 and maintained an above average count for most of the day, but eventually lost a big pot to Ryuichi Uesonomiya. Seng’s fell short against Uesonomiya’s , as the latter’s hand bettered to three-of-a-kind queens on the board . Uesonomiya doubled up and Seng’s stack dropped to 50,000. Soon thereafter, Seng busted out from the event.

Defending champion Lester Edoc was amongst the notables who were booted on Day 2 when his failed to improve against Siyoung Lee‘s . Lee rivered two pairs of aces and nines on the runout eliminating Edoc in the process.

At the end of Day 2, Japan’s Takao Shimizu emerged as the chip leader with a staggering 308,500 in chips. Bagging the second largest stack was Korea’s Chang Jae Lee with 286,500, while Sam Welbourne has the third largest stack of 273,000.

Top 10 Chip Counts At The End of Day 2

1. Takao Shimizu – 308,500

2. Chang Jae Lee – 286,500

3. Sam Welbourne – 273,000

4. Lim Yo Hwan – 270,500

5. Koji Asaka – 254,000

6. Kah Boon The – 254,000

7. Jiego C. Erquiaga – 250,000

8. Jun Obara – 245,000

9. Junichi Nakagiri – 237,500

10. Mikiya Kudo – 223,000

NLH Short Deck Single Day

Another single day tournament at the stop wrapped up with Gavin Flynn from Ireland claiming the top spot. Flynn had 51 other contenders to fend off on his road to victory and he defeated Azusa Maeda in the heads-up play to win the title.

The nine-handed final table saw Japan’s Go Mori exit first in ninth place, followed by Shuo Yang from China and Edwin Marzan from Philippines in eighth and seventh place respectively.

Japanese pro Tetsuya Enoki, who had won the APT Player of the Series distinction at the 2018 APT Vietnam after he picked two titles at the series in October, was another frontrunner at the event but his bid for another APT title ended in sixth place.

Filipino player Jasper David fell out in fifth place with Kam Yuk falling in fourth place.

The final three combatants engaged in intense battle until another home player Marc Rivera was eliminated in third place, leaving only Japan’s Azusa Maeda and Flynn in play for the title.

On the final hand, Flynn with hit a winning straight over Maeda’s on the runout to win the title.

Final Table Results (PHP)

1. Gavin Flynn – PHP 222,500
2. Azusa Maeda – PHP 148,300
3. Marc Rivera – PHP 103,600
4. Kam Yuk – PHP 75,400
5. Jasper David – PHP 57,000
6. Enoki Tetsuya – PHP 44,500
7. Edwin Marzan – PHP 35,900
8. Shuo Yang – PHP 29,700
9. Go Mori – PHP 25,100

Three exciting tournaments are on tap today. The two-day High Rollers features a buy-in of PHP 107,500 and the NLH Shot clock will see players buying in for PHP 22,000 to enter. A one-day event i.e. the MegaSportsWorld DeepStack Turbo 1M GTD featuring a buy-in of PHP 5,500 will also make a start to finish dash today.

Content & Images courtesy www.theasianpokertour.com.

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