WPT Philippines: India’s Vikaash Shah Storms His Way Into the Main Event Final Table

The World Poker Tour (WPT) Philippines has kept the host-venue Coral Lounge at Okada Manila busy since February 6. Despite the Coronavirus threat looming large in Asia, the series went ahead. The stop is heading fast towards culmination now, with the Main Event hours away from crowning a champion.

The Main Event began proceedings on February 14, mustering 344 entries (Day 1A – 126, Day 1B – 218) across its two starting flights. The organizers preempting a drop in numbers because of the difficult conditions in the region had reduced the prize pool guarantee from PHP 20M to PHP 12M. However, with the government`s lifting of the travel restrictions in the country, we stop witnessed a late surge in numbers that helped collect a guarantee-crushing PHP 22,523,400 (~₹3.18 Crores) prize pool in the Main Event. There is a hefty PHP 4,812,000 (~₹68 Lakhs) reserved for the winner.

Only 79 players (Day 1A – 24, Day 1B – 55) returned on Day 2 that played out from 1 PM local time on Sunday. The day ended with the formation of the nine-handed final table, and part of this whittled down field was India’s Vikaash Shah!

A player as familiar with the vigor’s of live tournament play as the online challenges, Shah has six live recorded scores to his name, all of them in domestic tournaments. He was among the active participants at the IPC and WPT India last year and most recently picked a 34th place finish at the IPC 15K Headhunter last month. At the ongoing WPT Philippines Main Event, Shah bagged up 127,500 on Day 1A. He rose to prominence early on and maintained an upward trajectory for the most part on Day 2. Despite a few setbacks, Shah was able to sail his way into the final table with a stack of 595,000. Shah has already assured himself a career-best score PHP 481,000 (~₹6.79 Lakhs) in prize money but will be looking to ladder up on the final table today.

Leading the final nine is Australia’s Christos Vlahos, who commands a massive 2,105,000. Korea’s Kunwoo Kim (1,695,000) and Filipino pro David Erquiaga (1,440,000) round out the top three stacks on the final table.

In the various side events, two prominent Asian pros captured titles. Vietnam’s Cao Ngoc Anh topped a field of 10 entries to win the PHP 500,000 Super High Roller for his career-best PHP 3,058,000. Over at the Single-Day High Roller, Filipino pro Mike Takayama rose to the top of a 14-player field to win the title and a hefty PHP 1,236,000.

Main Event PHP 12 Million GTD – Day 2

Day 2 of the Main Event PHP 12 Million GTD began with 79 qualifiers (Day 1A -24, Day 1B – 55) taking up their seats on February 16. Surprisingly, start-of-day chip leader Zheko Dinev fell out well before the bubble.

After an entire day’s action, only nine remained in contention. Australia’s Christos Vlahos was one of the dominating forces on the felts. Vlahos was responsible for several eliminations all through the day, including that of Joshua Chargualaf, Daniel Sammarco, and the final casualty of the day, Yeongpil Han. His blistering run assured him the most massive stack of 2,105,000.

Vikaash Shah was the only reported Indian on Day 2. Shah had qualified from Day 1A and began Day 2 with 127,500 in chips. In Level 15, Shah eliminated Edilberto Gopez from the event. After the hand, Shah was up to 230K. Around 90 minutes later, Shah scooped a big pot off Christopher Mateo to spin up to 500K.

Shah continued to rise, and by Level 23, he was among the top stacks with 840K. On the next level, Shah clashed with David Eqruiaga in a hand where he three-bet shoved with to be called by Erquiaga, who held . The board ran and Shah won it with queens. The crucial hand zoomed his stack up to 815K. The Indian pro eventually bagged 595,000 for the final table.

Earlier, the bubble burst after Kyungkun Lee’s ace-king failed to catch up with Zackery Lowrie’s pocket tens.

The final 43 finishers were assured at least PHP 115,000, and the list of ITM casualties included Yeongpil Han (10th for PHP 405,000), Graeme Siow (11th for PHP 405,000), Joshua Chargualaf (13th for PHP 345,500), Xin Lin (14th for PHP 345,500), Junya Kubo (16th for PHP 286,000), Jeonggyu Cho (20th for PHP 237,000), Jun Obara (25th for PHP 166,000), Christopher Maeo (42nd for PHP 115,000) and Hidekazu Tanaka (43rd for PHP 115,000).

Following Vlahos in stacks are Korea’s Kunwoo Kim (1,695,000) and Filipino pro David Erquiaga (1,440,000).

The final table is currently underway, and the action began at 1 PM (local time) today, with the opening blinds of 15,000/25,000 and a running ante of 25,000.

Final Table Chip Counts

1. Christos Vlahos – 2,105,000
2. Kunwoo Kim – 1,695,000
3. David Erquiaga – 1,440,000
4. Rogel Del Rosario – 1,385,000
5. Mark Dela Cruz – 1,200,000
6. Dimitar Blazhev – 850,000
7. Ryo Naito – 600,000
8. Vikaash Shah – 595,000
9. Jongjun Park – 450,000

Cao Ngoc Anh Wins the Super High Roller

The PHP 500,000 buy-in Super High Roller could only bring in seven players on Day 1. With three more players entering on Day 2, the field became 10-strong, making for a PHP 4,704,500 prize pool. In the end, it was Vietnam’s Cao Ngoc Anh who clinched the title.

Anh had to fend off New Zealand’s Hamish Crawshaw heads-up, and the former did so successfully to add PHP 3,058,000 to his bankroll. The final hand between the two saw Cao`s pocket sevens against Crawshaw’s queen-ten, and the former rivered a set to win the title. This is his biggest live career score to-date, catapulting him to the ninth position on Vietnam’s All-Time Money List.

Final Results (PHP)

1. Cao Ngoc Anh – PHP 3,058,000
2. Hamish Crawshaw – PHP 1,646,500

Mike Takayama Wins the Single Day High Roller

Decorated Filipino pro Mike Takayama topped a field of 14 entries to win the WPT Philippines PHP 150,000 Single Day High Roller. Like the Super High Roller, only the final two finishers were assured a payday.

Takayama had entered the heads-up against Korea’s Cho Naeyon with a chip deficit but overcame the challenge to surge ahead and claim the top prize of PHP 1,236,000.

The tournament collected a prize pool of PHP 1,901,200, and Naeyon earned PHP 665,200 for finishing runner-up.

Final Results (PHP)

1. Mike Takayama – PHP 1,236,000
2. Cho Naeyon – PHP 665,200

Content and Images Courtesy: SoMuchPoker

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