APT Philippines 2013 Main Event Champion, Khac Trung Tran

The winning hand for Tran was J♠ Q♥ after his heads-up opponent, Thang Truong, also from Australia, called his shove worth over 2.5 million. Truong was ahead preflop with A♣ 6♦ but all that would change after the flop 3♣ 9♦ J♦ came to the board. Turn Q♦ and river Q♣ confirmed Tran’s coronation as the newest APT champion.

Tran actually had an up and down campaign in this main event but showed enough consistency to advance through the multi-day tournament. Going into Day 2, his stack was just around the average (56,525) but picked it up at the end of that day moving to fourth place (257,500) in the overall chip rankings. He maintained the pace and placed 5^th (332,000) going into the final day of play.

During the Final Table, he continued being consistent—and aggressive—winning key hands left and right including the huge one that not only brought him the chip lead but also in dealing the biggest  bust out of the night—eliminating Nam Le, Day  3 chip leader and inarguably the most popular player in the final table.

Tran caught Le bluffing with 8♦ K♣ as the Australian called with the Big Slick A♠ K♦ and both players were all-in in a pot worth well over 2.5 million. The board was K♥ J♦ 2♥ 7♠ J♥ paving the way for Tran to become the runaway chip leader with just 3 players left.

Le was the chip leader going into the Final Table. And curiously, Tran also scalped the head of two other erstwhile chip leaders in Andrew Gaw (No. 1 in chips after Day 2 chip leader) and Moses Saquin (No. 1 in chips in Day 1B).

With A♦ A♥, Tran eliminated Gaw, who only had A♣ 9♣, on a dry board of 5♦ 6♦ 4♦ 5♥ 9♥. Against Saquin, Tran called his opponent’s all-in post-flop J♣ J♦ 6♦ with 9♣ 9♠ which was a good read as Saquin only had A♣ 8♣. Turn 9♦ and river 9♥ gave him unnecessary quads that put him among the chip leaders at that point of the tournament.

Recap all the exploits of the champion in APT’s live reporting page.

APT Philippines 2013 Main Event Awarding Ceremony

Completing the big winners in the main event are Truong at 2^nd place ($71,600); Sekiya Yosuke at 3^rd ($48,700); Le at 4^th ($38,400) and Homan Houshiar at 5^th ($28,300). To view complete list of 27 players who made it to the money, go to our payouts page.

For the complete list of winners, you can visit the APT Philippines 2013 Event Results page. On October, APT returns to RWM for the APT Asian Series Manila 2013. Regularly check the APT site for more updates of future APT events for 2013.

For media inquiries, you may contact:
Monique De Jesus
Email: media@theasianpokertour.com

APT Philippines 2013 Main Event Final 8 Chip Leader, Nam Le

Le’s rise to the top actually started in Day 2 when he finished with 294,500 in chips– #2 in the overall standings. Le did not let up in Day 3 and nearly quadrupled that number to finish with 1,116,000 in chips going into the Final Table.

Be it early, middle or late in Day 3, it felt like Le was everywhere and getting involved in every big pot and even eliminating players along the way. Le’s bust-out list includes Sam Razavi, online pro Daniel Kelly and Day 2 chip leader Andrew Gaw.

Le’s 10♠ 10♥ dodged over cards and beat Razavi’s J♣ Q♣ to boot out the 2012 APT Player of the Year. Against Daniel Kelly, Le tried to scare off his opponent postflop 4♠ 7♦ 9♠ with K♥ 8♥. Kelly with A♦ Q♣ would call however, only to fall to a runner-runner J♣ 10♥ that completed Le’s straight.

And versus Gaw, Le simply played marvelous in two key hands that brought him to the million-mark chip count in the latter levels. In the first hand, Le bet on all streets with K♣ Q♣ on a board of 7♣ K♠ J♠ K♦ 6♣ and gained maximum profit as Gaw called all the way and lost.  In the 2^nd hand, Gaw was the aggressor. Didn’t matter for Le who called bets on the flop Q♦ 6♥ A♦, turn 5♦ then bet big on the river 8♥ where he completed the flush with 10♦ 7♦. To read all of Le’s exploits in Day 3, go to our live reporting page.

APT Philippines 2013 Main Event Final Eight

Le will face a lot of worthy challengers in the 8-handed Final Table including China’s Miller Zhang (2^nd in chips with 924,000) and Japan’s Sekiya Yosuke (3^rd – 675,000).

Final Table – Chip Counts

1. Nam Le (USA) – 1,160,000
2. Miller Zhang (China) – 924,000
3. Sekiya Yosuke (Japan) – 675,000
4. Thang Truong (Australia) – 467,000
5. Khac Trung Tran (Australia) – 332,000
6. Tam Truong (Australia) – 202,000
7. Homan Housiar (Canada) – 177,000
8. Anthony Gabitan (Philippines) – 163,000

27 players placed in the money in this main event with 18 winners getting their payouts in Day 3. The champion will get the lion’s share of $124,000 from a total prize pool of $497,120 from 205 entries.  View all the main event winners and payouts in our in the money page.

Meanwhile, in the pair of side events, Mike Takayama won the Deep Stack Turbo Event for $4,080 and Alistair Duff ruled the Heads Up Event winning $7,630.

APT Philippines 2013 Heads Up Champion, Alistair Duff

APT Philippines 2013 Deep Stack Turbo Champion, Mike Takayama

The eight remaining players of the main event will start the action in the Final Table at 1:30PM Wednesday. On the same day, the last side-event of the 2013 APT Philippines, the 6-handed Event, will  begin play at 1PM. For full results of APT Philippines 2013 events, visit to this page.

For media inquiries, you may contact:
Monique De Jesus
Email: media@theasianpokertour.com

APT Philippines 2013 Main Event Day 3 Chip Leader, Andrew Gaw

Gaw finished with 316,000 in chips after Day 2. His rise to the top came in a bit unexpected as there were different players who flirted with the #1 ranking for most chips throughout the day.

There was Stephen Chidwick who was the first to crack the 300,000 chip mark only to falter in the latter levels of play. One hand was when he was outplayed by Bawoo Hyunshik Yun who bet on all streets; 10,200 at the flop 10♠ A♦ 4♠; 24,000 at the turn 8♥ and a shove for 70,000 at the river 9♥, where Chidwick folded.

There were also the consistent play of Moses Saquing and Nam Le—both came to Day 2 among the top 10 and preserved those spots atop the rankings. Then there were those who surged late– Sekiya Yosuke and Khac Trung Tran who started at the middle of the pack but now find themselves among the top 5 going into Day 3. Go to our live reporting page to see full list of chip counts for the final 27 players.

But no one was as consistent as Gaw, who slowly but surely grabbed the top spot with key wins throughout Day 2. One was against an unknown opponent when he won with just 5♦ J♦ on a board of J♣ 8♠ 4♠ 8♦ Q♦. And another when he took down a huge pot against a bluffing SJ Kim after calling a river bet by the Korean.

All players participating in Day 3 are assured of at least $5,500 for placing ITM. The champion gets the lion’s share of $124,000 as part of the total $497,000 prize pool.

In a pair of side events also on Monday, Takashi Ogura won the PLO Turbo event for $1,990 while Eusebio Barrameda took the title in the Poker Hero Asia Freezeout event for $6,060.

APT Philippines 2013 Pot Limit Omaha Turbo Champion, Takashi Ogura

APT Philippines 2013 Poker Hero Asia Freezeout Champion, Eusebio Barrameda

The penultimate day of the APT Philippines 2013 will have the Day 3 of the Main Event at 1 PM to be succeeded by two side event namely the Heads Up 64 Max at 3PM and another Deep Stack Turbo action at 6PM. Click here for full schedule.

For media inquiries, you may contact:
Monique De Jesus
Email: media@theasianpokertour.com

Main Event Day 1B Chip Leader, Moses Saquing

Saquing’s stack of 83,400 ranked first among the 62 players who qualified from Day 1B but that pales in comparison to Day 1A’s leader Cho Young Woo, who had a 163,200-chip haul. Nevertheless, Saquing is one of the chip leaders when Main Event play resumes Monday at 1PM. Others who performed well in Day 1B were SJ Kim (81,025), Nam Le (77,900) and Lawrence Sanjay (70,400).

Some key hands for Kim and Le came late in the day.

For Kim, one crucial play involved a hand against Norbert Koh in Level 8. With A♥ 7♣ 5♣ 9♣ 4♣ on the table Kim moved all-in on the river and Koh couldn’t make himself to commit giving the huge pot to the Korean.

Same as Kim, Le got some good pots late in the last level. Facing Lester Edoc in the battle of the blinds, Le bet on all streets including a 4,150 river bet with a board of 5♠ 4♣ 8♥ 2♣ J♣. Edoc got out of the way and Le got to 77,900 in this hand.

For Saquing, he’s the surprise chip leader as he came out of nowhere in taking that #1 position after Day 1B.

After two Day 1s of the Main Event this is how the overall Top 10 stacks up:

1. Cho Young Woo (Korea) – 163,200
2. Stephen Chidwick (United Kingdom) – 106,850
3. Do Hoang Anh (Vietnam) – 94,750
4. Sam Razavi (England) – 91,950
5. Ian Brion (Philippines) – 86,325
6. Andrew Gaw (Philippines) – 85,600
7. Moses Saquing (United States) – 83,400
8. Norkhalid Pimping (Philippines) – 81,100
9. SJ Kim (Korea) – 81,025
10. Nam Le (United States) – 77,900

The Main Event has a total of 101 survivors and they will battle in another 8 levels of poker action at 1-hour per round. With the total number of entries ramped up to 205 the prize pool is set at $497,120 with the champion getting the lion’s share of $124,000.

Other notable pros who made it to Day 2 are PokerAce ambassadors JC Tran (69,225), Joe Hachem (63,375) and Steve Gee (9,300); APT Philippines 2010 champion Michael Cua and APT Philippines 2009 Main Event champion Niel Arce (54,050).

In the pair of side events yesterday it was Johnson Tan who won the Pot Limit Omaha event for $5,160 beating the field of 60 players and Cecilio Hodreal who ruled the MegaSportsWorld Deep Stack Turbo event with 84 entries for the 1st place prize of $3,310.

APT Philippines 2013 Pot Limit Omaha Hi Champion, Johnson Tan

APT Philippines 2013 MSW Deep Stack Turbo Champion, Cecilio Hodreal

On Monday, Day 2 of the Main Event resumes at 1 PM. Completing the day are the Poker Hero Asia Freezeout at 3PM and Pot Limit Omaha Turbo at 6PM. For the full schedule of APT Philippines 2013, click here .

For media inquiries, you may contact:
Monique De Jesus
Email: media@theasianpokertour.com

APT Philippines 2013 Main Event Day 1A Chip Leader, Cho Young Wa

After an exhausting 8-round action at 1-hour per level, Cho Young racked up a total of 163,200 worth of chips– a good 60K chip advantage over no. 2 Stephen Chidwick , who had 106,850 in chips. Completing the top five are Do Hoang Anh (Vietnam) with 94,750, Sam Razavi (England) with 91,950 and Ian Brion (Philippines) at 86,325. Go to our live reporting page to see the complete chip counts.

Cho Young actually grabbed the chip lead in the last level when his K♠ K♥ earned a huge pot off an opponent’s 5♠ 5♦. The flop A♥ 10♠ 3♠, turn Q♦ and river 7♦ busted out the opponent and assured Cho Young of a big stack going into Day 2 set on Monday at 1PM.

Meanwhile, Australia’s Michael Tchong took down the DafaPoker Freezeout title outlasting 88 other players. For his efforts, Tchong earned US$ 7,100 leading over Joven Villaroman who had to settle for second and Ben Abrahams at 3rd place.

APT Philippines 2013 DafaPoker Freezeout Champion, Michael Tchong

Poker action continues tomorrow for Day 1B of the main event at 1PM, Pot Limit Omaha at 3PM and MegaSportsWorld Deep Stack Turbo at 6PM.

Dennis Orcollo, the World Pool Billiards Association #2-ranked player is expected to join the MSW event.

For full schedule, click here.

For media inquiries, you may contact:
Monique De Jesus
Email: media@theasianpokertour.com

L-R: Michael Johansen – EVP Casino Marketing of Genting HK, Hakan Dagtas – RWM Chief Gaming Operations Officer, Joseph Cheong – Manila Millions 2013 Champion, Jason Morris – APT General Manager

Cheong took home the Manila Millions title and the hefty HK$ 10.4M prize for the super high rollers event with a HK$1M buy-in. The 2010 World Series of Poker Main Event final tablist outlasted the 18-man field including the likes of high-stakes specialist Sam Trickett, last year’s Manila Millions champion Allan Le, Joe Hachem, Nam Le, Nick Wong, Philipp Gruissem and Tom Hall among other notable players.

Cheong just needed exactly one hand in heads-up play to take all of the chips. With a 2:1 chip advantage, Cheong’s Ace-Ten was up against Richard Yong’s Ace-King in a preflop all-in battle. Cheong grabbed the lead at the flop 9♥ 10♠ 3♠ and the turn 2♣ and river 4♠ did not change anything for Yong who settled for 2^nd place and HK$6.5M.

Others who ended up ITM were Richard Peter Chan at 3^rd (HK$ 4.1M) and Paul Phua at 4^th (HK$3.1M). To recap all the action of the 2013 Manila Millions, visit the live reporting page at www.pokerace.tv.

In the other high-stakes side event, the PokerAce High Rollers it was Shaun Deeb who came out on top after beating 22 other players to bag the champion’s purse of $45,100.

APT Philippines 2013 PokerAce High Rollers Champion, Shaun Deeb

Meanwhile in the Ladies of Poker, Cabaling clinched her 3^rd title in this same side event for the third time in three years. She already won the ladies’ titles in the 2011 and 2012 APT Asian Series Manila. Curiously, the winning hand for her on this one was the ladies Q♠ Q♣.

APT Philippines 2013 Ladies of Poker Champion, Ferlyn Cabaling

Finally, Do Hoang Anh from Vietnam won the Head Hunter event earning $5,570 for his efforts.

APT Philippines 2013 Head Hunter Champion, Do Hoang Anh

The action at the APT Philippines 2013 is yet to reach its peak however. It continues the festivities tomorrow when Day 1A of the Main event begins at 1PM followed by the DafaPoker Freezeout side event at 3PM. Two satellites will also commence later in the day. For the full schedule, visit this page

For media inquiries, you may contact:
Monique De Jesus
Email: media@theasianpokertour.com

APT Philippines 2013 2 Man Team Heads Up Champions, Jose Drilon and Mandeep Narang

It was far from an easy task as the duo had to go through grueling heads-up battles for roughly 9 hours but none as difficult as the last round against the Korean pair of Soo Jo Kim and Min Soo Kim, who settled for the runner-up finish and $3,500.

Being a best-of-three affair, Drilon and Narang actually lost the second game but recovered just in time by taking the final game.

“There’s a big difference between the individual poker game than these two-man event as it continues to change player and action,” said a very jovial Drilon when asked how was it any different than a regular poker game.

“I love it!” added Narang. “You can’t make mistakes especially that it involves teamwork.”

Also on tap yesterday was the Manila Millions super high-rollers event. A total of 18 players ponied up the HK$ 1M buy-in even as four others decided to re-buy to create a hefty price pool of HK$22M. Read all the action at the high-stakes tables at www.pokerace.tv for the live reporting of the event.

Manila Millions Day 1

Manila Million resumes action today. Meanwhile, other side events to begin on Day 3 of the APT Philippines 2013 are the Ladies of Poker event at 1PM and the PokerAce High Rollers Day 1 at 2PM. Check out the complete APT Philippines 2013 Event Details.

For media inquiries, you may contact:
Monique De Jesus
Email: media@theasianpokertour.com

Poker Hero Asia

APT runs one Poker Hero Asia event every stop this year with participating players earning points. At the end of the year, the player with the most accumulated points on the Poker Hero Asia APT Leaderboard gets a seat in the Poker Hero Asia final.

The ultimate winner will receive the $30,000 package– a $10,000 travel expense to trot around Asia playing in the best poker tournaments and the $20,000 worth of tournament buy-ins for 2014 APT events. Moreover, the Poker Hero Asia will be one of the faces of PokerAce alongside popular pros Joe Hachem, JC Tran, Nam Le and Steve Gee and will join the team in representing PokerAce for the duration of the 12-month contract.

Players with residences from the following countries are allowed to join this promotion: China, Japan, South Korea, Macau, Mongolia, South Asia, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, South East Asia, Brunei, Burma, Cambodia, East Timor, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, Oceania, Australia and New Zealand. For more information, go to www.pokerheroasia.com.

For media inquiries, you may contact:
Monique De Jesus
Email: media@theasianpokertour.com

61 players participated in the Mix Max 10-6-4 side event, which signaled the start of the week-long 2013 APT Philippines.

Executives and officials of RWM, APT and PAGCOR led by Mann graced the opening of this year’s edition of APT Philippines with a traditional ribbon-cutting ceremony. Among those who were present in the ceremony were Haktan Dagtas (Chief Gaming Operations Officers, RWM), Arturo Basa (Director of Gaming Operations, RWM), Jeff Evora (Senior Director for Gaming Events and Promotions), Raymundo De Guzman (Casino Shift Manager Poker Division/Gaming Department, PAGCOR), Lloyd Fontillas (Tournament Director, APT) and Jason Morris (General Manager, APT).

L-R: Lloyd Fontillas – APT Tournament Director, Arturo Basa – RWM Director for Gaming Operations, Hakan Dagtas – RWM Chief Gaming Operations Officer, Raymundo De Guzman – PAGCOR Casino Shift Manager Poker Division / Gaming Department, Jeff Mann – APT CEO, Jeff Evora – Senior Director for Gaming Events and Promotions, Jason Morris – APT General Manager

Coming out winners in today’s side events were Dauren Aitmukhamet (Kazakhstan), who won the Mix Max 10-6-4 Event for $4,100 and Yoichi Fujiya (Japan), the last man standing in the Charity Event for a payout of $2,490.

APT Philippines 2013 Mix Max 10-6-4 Champion, Dauren Aitmukhamet

APT Philippines 2013 Charity Event Champion, Yoichi Fujiya

Table action resumes for the second day of the 2013 APT Philippines today, April 18 with a pair of interesting events. The 2 Man Team Heads Up begins at 1PM while a special event, Manila Millions, with a massive buy-in of HK$ 1,000,000, starts at 4PM. RWM and PokerAce sponsor the Manila Millions and will have live reports at PokerAce.tv.

Reigning Manila Millions king Allan Le returns to defend his crown. Other popular players from abroad attracted by the event are Joe Hachem, JC Tran, Nam Le, Sam Trickett and Joseph Cheong.

Two satellites to the main event are set at 3PM and 6PM today. Check out the complete APT Philippines 2013 Event Details.

For media inquiries, you may contact:
Monique De Jesus
Email: media@theasianpokertour.com

The eight day event will feature the US$ 2,700 Main Event along with eight Satellites and fourteen Side Events including the popular Head Hunter, Ladies of Poker, High Rollers, Pot Limit Omaha, NLH Freezeouts, Deep Stack Turbo and the Add On for Charity. Something new on the schedule would be the Team Heads Up wherein both players in the team alternate between each street per hand.

HK$ 1,000,000 Manila Millions

Another featured tournament during the event is the Manila Millions, the biggest ever poker tournament to be held in the Philippines, with a buy in of HK$ 1,000,000.

The 2013 HK$ 1,000,000 Manila Millions will be held on April 18th at 2PM and will allow re-entries for the first four levels. For the second year running PokerAce will be there to provide Live Coverage of the tournament that will feature a live blog, interviews and exciting video content.

In 2012, this tournament attracted a star-studded field of 31 players including Phil Ivey, John Juanda, Tom Dwan, Johnny Chan, Winfred Yu, Elton Tsang and APT Ambassador Joe Hachem. It was US-based Allan Le who took home the trophy and HK$ 13,080,000 in prize money. Check out PokerAce’s coverage last year’s tournament.

2012 Manila Millions Champion: Allan Le

The best of last year’s action is also available to watch in a series of 9 short episodes on PokerAce.

For the complete APT Philippines 2013 Event Schedule, click here.

For media inquiries, you may contact:
Monique De Jesus
Email: media@theasianpokertour.com