Mike Takayama Wins APT Asian Series Manila 2014 Main Event

Mike Takayama (cover image) from Philippines topped a field of 366 entrants to win the 2014 APT Asian Series Manila Main Event. Takayama entered the eight-handed final table just a shade under the million-chip mark in fourth position but maneuvered himself well to the reach the top. Along with the title, Takayama staked his claim on the PHP 3,453,000 first place prize money!

Takayama caught his first big break with a massive double-up against APT POY leader Samad Razavi. With the board open , Takayama tabled for a better two pair to Razavi’s . Takayama moved to the top in chip counts after this hand.

Takayama certainly put the chips to good use by eliminating two players in succession, final day start of day chip leader Raymi Sanchez and Samad Razavi in 4^th and 3^rd place respectively.

The heads-up match between Takayama and Jay Lubas began with the former holding an overwhelming chip advantage of over 6:1.

Despite the chip advantage, the heads-up was not an easy ride for Takayama who had to contend with a valiant Lubas. After several hotly contested pots, Lubas managed to double-up against Takayama, but the chip deficit turned out to be too much for Lubas to stage a coup.

It was all over for Lubas when Takayama landed a dominating two-pair with on the board of to win the title and the P3,453,000 prize money!

APT Asian Series Manila Main Event Final Table Payouts

As we bring down the curtains on our coverage of APT Asian Series Manila here is a quick look back at the performance of our Indian challengers at the series.

Indian`s definitely made their presence felt at the series and hit the ground running with Kunal Shetty winning the PHP 7,500 buy-in Ante up for Charity event on the opening day itself. Kunal sailed through the 46 player field to pocket P42,000 in prize money!

The other Indian to bring home a title was Abdulrachman Niko. Niko took down the No Limit Hold`em 2 event, defeating a stacked field of 130 players for a payday of P644,200.

The starred event of the series i.e. P50,000 Main Event saw two Indian`s making deep runs. Dhanesh Chainani who had a dream-opening day in the event, finished the main event in 23^rd place, going out to the hands of final tablist Ray Sanchez.

On his final hand of the tournament, Chainani tried to push Sanchez out of a pot by shoving his massive 271K stack on the river. Sanchez who had him covered, tanked for a long time before making the call.

Sanchez won with his top pair on a board showing while Chainani held a bluff. Chainani exited in 23^rd place and earned P131,000 for his efforts as Sanchez accumulated over 1.3M in chips and went on to finish 4^th in the event.

The other Indian player to make the money in the main event was Srinivas Polishetty who fell in 31^st place with P98,000 in cash prize.

At another 6-handed event, Nguyen Van Sang of Vietnam came out on top in a field of 147 entries to claim the final trophy of the series along with P546,400 in cold hard cash.

That`s it for our coverage of the APT Asian Series Manila!

Content/Image Courtesy: APT