APT Philippines Championships 2018: Lester Edoc Wins Main Event For ₱2,849,600

Even with the threat of Typhoon Ompong bearing down, the 2018 APT Philippines Championships at Resorts World Manila carried through with its Main Event. It was local hero and Metro Team Pro Lester Edoc (cover image) who took down the 306-strong entry field to win his second consecutive APT championship title, along with the first-place prize money of ₱2,849,600.

Ranked fourth on the Philippines All Time Money List, Edoc dominated the final table. Taking about his victory in the post-event interview, he said “Overwhelmed! I just can’t imagine the blessings that keep on coming. To God be the Glory!!!”

Commenting on the final table, Edoc stated “I felt less pressure because I have stack advantage at the final table. Win or lose my drive is to play a perfect game and perform better than the past final tables I’ve played. Let luck help but I keep on developing my poker skills endlessly because every hand dealt in poker is not same. Strategy was to gather as much information as I could from the players at the final table and also from the help of my poker team. Patience paid off in the end.”

“It’s a tough field and majority are Filipinos. I believe William played very well and was the major threat. Congrats mate for finishing 3rd!!!”, he added.

Edoc joins an exclusive group of players with two APT championship titles which includes the likes of Henrik Tollefsen, Jeon Seung Soo, Mike Takayama, Sam Razavi, Iori Yogo, and Sam Nee Aik Chuan.

Day 1A Recap

92 players joined the action on Day 1A and following eight rounds of gruelling action, only 42 made the cut for Day 2. While Joseph Talamayan (141,200) topped the survivors, he was closely trailed by defending champion Lester Edoc (128,800) and Jae Hyun Lim (117,400).

Day 1B Recap

The second starting flight of the Main Event, i.e. Day 1B, saw an even greater participation with 185 runners entering the fray. Several notables including Linh Tran, Kwok Kwan Kit, In Chul Sin, Hung Sheng Lin, Choong Kian Weng, Soo Jo Kim, Gyeong Byeong Lee, and Metro Team Pros John Tech, Joven Huerto and Alexis Lim were seen in action.

Edison Marzan (161,600) emerged as the chip at the end of the day’s play, with Yang Shao Ching (148,800) and Inaki Santos (140,300) rounding up the top three stacks on Day 1B.

The 89 remaining players of the last starting flight joined the 42 Day 1A survivors for Day 2.

Day 2 Recap

Day 2 kicked off with 130 survivors from the 277 combined entries across the two starting flights. With registration open for one final hour, another 29 players signed up to bring the total entries to 306, creating a prize pool of ₱14,841,000.

With the top 51 places receiving payouts, Mark Jerick Almusajin went out on the money bubble when his came up short against Talamayan’s pocket jacks with the board fanning out .

Players who finished in the money included Michitaka Otake (44^th for ₱91,700), Jeon Seung Soo (45^th for ₱91,7000), Kyung Min Lee (46^th for ₱78,300), Kenta Hino (47^th for ₱78,300), Philippe Haducoueur (48^th for ₱78,300), Xiasheng Zheng (49^th for ₱78,300), Keith Qiang (50^th for ₱78,300) and Tamon Nakamura (51^st for ₱78,300).

42 players made the cut for Day 3.

Day 3 Recap

Day 3 began with Rehg Delos Reyes (451,500) in chip lead, followed by Lester Edoc (438,000).

34 eliminations took place before the eight-handed final table commenced, starting with Chua Shan Hui (10^th for 275,100), Manuel Mascunana (11^th for 235,100), Edison Marzan (12^th for 235,100), Benedict Koh (13^th for 201,000), Joseph Talamayan (14^th for 201,000), Dhanesh Chainani (15^th for 201,000), Eric Tsai (16^th for 171,800), Day 3 chip leader Rehg Delos Reyes (17^th for 171,800), and Konstantin Pogodin (18^th for 171,800).

Martin Corpuz bubbled the final table at ninth place for ₱321,900.

Final Table Chip Counts

1. Lester Edoc – 1,775,000

2. William Ysmael – 1,353,000

3. Wang Jia Jun – 1,192,000

4. David Chargualaf Sr. – 889,000

5. Trygve Leite – 811,000

6. Czar Ian Marcos – 601,000

7. Richard Marquez – 512,000

8. Jessie Leonarez – 491,000

Final Table Recap

The first of the final eight to depart was short-stacked Czar Ian Marcos when his pocket tens ran into Jiajun Wang’s , Wang got a favourable board resulting in Marcos’ eighth place elimination.

Following Marcos to the rail was another short-stacked player, Richard Marquez. Marquez lost a major pot early on to Jiajun and then the rest of his stack to William Ysmael. Ultimately, he raised preflop, and was called by Ysmael and Trygve Leite. The flop fell and Marquez checked, while Ysmael fired a bet and Leite folded. Marquez moved all-in and Ysmael called.

Richard Marquez

William Ysmael

The turn and river missed both players and Ysmael’s ace kicker was good enough to win him the pot, as Marquez was eliminated in seventh place.

Next to go was Norway’s Trygve Leite when he shoved all-in from small blind holding and was met with Lester Edoc’s in the big blind, which sent him packing in sixth place.

Finishing in fifth place was David Chargualaf Sr, who was eliminated when his two pairs failed to hold against Ysmael’s flush.

Soon thereafter, on the flop, Jessie Leonarez moved all-in with and Edoc called holding . While Edoc landed the straight on the turn , Leonarez failed to improve his hand on the river and bounced off in fourth place.

Three-handed play continued for a while between William Ysmael, Jiajun and Edoc, but eventually Ysmael’s two pairs were knocked out by Edoc’s straight and the former busted out in third place.

At the start of the heads-up play, Edoc had amassed a 2:1 chip advantage against Jiajun Wang. On the final hand, Jiajun went all-in and Edoc called.

Jiajun Wang

Lester Edoc .

The board ran and Edoc picked up a pair of fives to win the Main Event trophy and the top prize worth ₱2,849,600, while Jiajun settled for a runner-up finish.

Final Table Results (PHP)

1. Lester Edoc – ₱2,849,600

2. Jiajun Wang – ₱1,899,900

3. William Ysmael – ₱1,326,000

4. Jessie Leonarez – ₱965,500

5. David Chargualaf Sr. – ₱729,700

6. Trygve Leite – ₱570,300

7. Richard Marquez – ₱459,900

8. Czar Ian Marcos – ₱380,000

Keep following PokerGuru for more updates on 2018 APT Philippines Championships!

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