APT Japan 2019: Go Mori Wins Kickoff, China’s Jin Bo Bags 2 Titles

The second live tournament stop of the Asian Poker Tour (APT) for 2019 has kicked off in Japan. The 2019 APT Tokyo Japan made a weekend opening at Casino Stadium in Tokyo on February 1, with the Kickoff Event that featured a JPY 10,000 buy-in.

A total of 49 players joined the field and topping them all was tour regular Go Mori. Mori defeated Renjiro Uehara heads-up to claim his second APT trophy. Since APT Japan does not award cash prizes, Mori won a ticket to the 2019 APT Philippines Main Event worth JPY 120,000, along with a four-night hotel stay worth JPY 40,000.

Even as Mori started his run in the series on a winning note, grabbing the early spotlight at the stop was China’s Jin Bo, who claimed two back-to-back wins! Bo outran 46 entrants to win the two-day NLHE 1. He then went on to enter the NLHE Turbo event where he dominated the 33-player field to snag his second APT trophy at the stop. Bo now has two tickets to the APT Philippines Main Event.

Meanwhile, the JPY 30K Main Event played out it`s two starting flights. 52 runners entered Day 1A and only 13 managed to make it to Day 2 with Yoshiaki Kobayashi (194,800) in the lead. Another 65 runners entered on Day 1B where fierce competition on the felts saw the field whittle down to 19 survivors led by Masahiro Kikuchi (197,800). A total of 32 players have made Day 2 so far and the field is expected to expand further at the third and final starting flight of the event that will get rolling on February 9.

After the three-day run, the series has halted for the next five days. Action will now resume on February 8 with two events in the pipeline i.e. the NLHE Turbo 2 and High Rollers (40 min). Another featured event, i.e. the JPY 25K Championships Event will flag off its first starting flight on February 9. There are two more NLHE (30 min) events on the schedule that will close out the series on February 11.

Go Mori Wins JPY 10K Kickoff

The opening event at the inaugural 2019 APT Tokyo Japan is now in the books. Capturing the 49-player field, Go Mori took down the event to secure his entry into the 2019 APT Philippines Main Event for a seat valued at JPY 120,000.

Mori’s heads-up confrontation was with Renjiro Uehara. The final hand saw Mori`s dominating Uehara’s on a runout of . Though Uehara flopped a straight draw, Mori turned a pair of aces to defeat Uehara.

For his runner-up finish, Uehara won a ticket to an APT Philippines side event worth JPY 60,000. Third place finisher Yuki Nakatsuka also won a side event ticket valued at JPY 30,000.

Jin Bo Wins 2-Day NLHE 1 & NLHE Turbo

Chinese pro Jin Bo was the talk of the town on the second day at the series. The two-day NLHE 1 that saw 46 runners join the field played out its final day with the eight-handed final table resuming play. Bo, who was one of the top stacks, took his fight straight to the finish line where he claimed the title.

When play was halted on Day 1, APT regular Shihego Yoshioka held the largest stack i.e. 229,500. Bo followed with 217,000 and Ryosei Kuramoto, who held 160,500 in chips, rounded up the top three stacks.

Bo defeated Yuki Arikawa in the heads-up match to win his first title at the stop. The final hand saw Bo lagging behind with to Arikawa’s , however, the former landed a pair on the runout to win the title.

Both Bo and runner-up Arikawa won a 2019 APT Philippines Main Event ticket worth JPY 120,000 each. Yoshioka finished in third place and pocketed a side event ticket for JPY 50,000, even as fourth-place finisher Ryosei Kuramoto won a side event ticket worth JPY 30,000.

Straight after taking down NLHE 1, Jin Bo jumped into the NLHE Turbo among 32 other contenders. He won a second APT Philippines Main Event ticket for JPY 120,000, even as Junya Kubo who finished runner-up picked up a side event ticket worth JPY 60,000. Daisuke Sawada who finished third took home a side event ticket worth JPY 30,000.

JPY 30K Main Event Day 1A & 1B Recap

The JPY 30,000 Main Event got underway just as the Kickoff was wrapping up on February 2. The opening flight i.e. Day 1A attracted a total of 52 runners. After 12 rounds, the play was stopped with 13 players left standing. Leading the group was Yoshiaki Kobayashi (194,800), while Kei Shinagawa (180,300) and Tomoyhuki Yoshimiya (122,400) were the next top stacks.

The participation numbers were slightly higher on Day 1B where 65 entrants registered for the event. End of play, only 19 of them could make Day 2. Topping the chip counts was Masahiro Kikuchi (199,000) who is also leading the 32 total survivors for Day 2. Close on Kikuchi’s coattails is Takami Matsuzaka (197,800).

The field will expand further as the third starting flight opens on February 9. Day 2 of the event will kick off on Febuary 10.

Top 10 Stacks From Day 1A & Day 1B (Combined)

1. Masahiro Kikuchi (1B) – 199,000
2. Takumi Matsuzaka (1B) – 197,800
3. Yoshiaki Kobayashi (1A) – 194,800
4. Kei Shinagawa (1A) – 180,300
5. Hiroshi Miyoshi (1B) – 161,900
6. Ryota Tanaka (1B) – 144,900
7. Cameron Smith (1B) – 143,600
8. Tomoyhuki Yoshimiya (1A) – 122,400
9. Akira Ise (1B) – 126,800
10. Ryo Abe (1A) – 108,500

Image & Content Courtesy: Asian Poker Tour.

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