APT MANILA CLASSIC 2025 SCHEDULE| OFFICIAL RESULTS | PLAYER LISTS | IMAGES | WINNERS

MANILA, PHILIPPINES, February 9, 2025 — Welcome back to the third day of the APT Manila Classic, run in partnership with the Metro Card Club. Action at the 10-day festival is heating up with 13 tournaments playing out in the Grand Ballroom of the prestigious Crowne Plaza Galleria with the Mystery Bounty Hunter – Sponsored by Natural8 playing down to a thrilling conclusion – more on this below.

The arrival of the first two guaranteed events of the series saw players pack into the tournament area in anticipation, raising the temperature further with the main attraction being the opening flight of the PHP 60,000 (~USD 1,030) APT Main Event and it’s mouth-watering PHP 60 million (~USD 1 million) guarantee.

Day 1 of the PHP 600,000 (~USD 10,300) APT Super High Roller saw the crowds padded out with some of the Asia-Pacific’s top tournament players, all looking to earn a slice of the PHP 20 million (~USD 340,000) prize pool guarantee. This resulted in a new tour country record for both field size and prize pool for the tournament, generating the APT’s second richest non-Main Event prize pool in the country.

The winners of both tournaments will claim poker’s hottest ticket to the tour’s end of year extravaganza – the TWD 350,000 (~USD 10,700) **APT Championship (APTC)**, which boasts a hefty TWD 165 million (~USD 5 million) guarantee and runs from November 14 to 30, 2025 in Taipei, Taiwan.

Flight A of the Main Event attracted 218 initial entries (158 unique), with a further 202 qualifiers bringing the total field up to 420 with three opening flights left to play.

The action got underway at 11am local time (GMT+8) and played out over ten 60-minute levels, with Japan’s Tomoki Terashima summiting the chip counts to finish atop the leader board with a stack of 347,300 in chips.

Terashima is joined at the top by Lithuania’s Andrius Janca who finished close behind, concluding the action with 338,000 in chips to bag the second largest stack of the opening flight. The Netherland’s Thijs Hilberts also enjoyed a stellar day at the tournament tables to round out the top three stacks with 292,600 in chips.

The USA’s Benjamin Jacobs (208,500) was another to bag a top ten stack, as was former Main Event champion Christopher Mateo (206,400), with the top ten Flight A stacks as follows:

MAIN EVENT TOP TEN FLIGHT A STACKS

A total of 67 players survived the maelstrom to find a chip bag at the end of the evenings play, with other notables remaining in contention including Australia’s Dylan Foster (181,800), former Main Event champion Yohn Paredes of Peru (169,800), Hong Kong’s Edward Yam (156,300), Natural8 Ambassador Hua-Wei Lin (155,100), India’s Abhinav Iyer (124,000), Germany’s Daniel Smiljkovic (96,600), and another former Main Event champion in the form of local John Tech (84,700).

For Main Event Flight A Player List please CLICK HERE

For Main Event Flight A Survivors please CLICK HERE

With three more starting flights left to play out, there are still opportunities for those unsuccessful in their endeavours to win their way through. Flight B gets underway at 11am on Sunday, February 10, with players competing over six 45-minute levels and four 60-minute levels.

The final two starting Flights C & D —both boasting six 30-minute levels and four 40-minute levels each—get underway on Tuesday, February 11, at 11am and 6pm respectively local time, although late registration remains open until the start of Day 2, which kicks off at 11am on Wednesday, February 12.

You can follow all the action as it played out via the APT Blog.

All tournament information can be found on the Main Event - Flight A tournament page.

APT Super High Roller Sets New Tour Country Record

Scott Margereson Leads Day 1 With PHP 44.7M (~USD 769K) in the Prize Pool APT Super High Roller Day 1 chip leader Scott Margereson

Following the record-breaking turnout in the Event #11 Single Day High Roller - Mystery Bounty (PHP 55K Bounty)—which set a new tour country record for field size, prize pool, and first-place prize—the second record of the festival has quickly followed, with the PHP 600,000 (~USD 10,310) APT Super High Roller setting a new tour country record for the tournament, also for field size, prize pool, and first-place prize.

The action got underway at 12pm local time (GMT+8) with 29 initial entries, with the Day 1 action playing out over sixteen 40-minute levels. By the time registration closed at the end of the 75-minute dinner break following level 11, the field had swelled to 81 entries (58 unique), beating the previous Philippines record for the tournament set during the recent APT Manila 2024 back in November.

Of course, a record field means a record prize pool, with the tournament generating a sizable PHP 44,784,900 (~USD 769,500) purse making it the second richest APT non-Main Event tournament ever to play out in the country.

A total of 11 players will earn a slice of prize pool pie, with the eventual winner walking away with a PHP 12,143,900 (~USD 208,660) top prize—the third largest the tour has ever awarded in the country—in addition to the award-winning Pewter Lion APT Super High Roller Trophy and all the accolades that come with it.

For APT Super High Roller Prize Pool & Payouts please CLICK HERE

Just 16 players survived the high stacks tournament action, with Scott Margereson the man returning in the driver’s seat and the Brit will be looking to make his first live cash on Asian soil a memorable one; the 2,850,000 Margereson bagged up at the close of play will certainly aid his chances of making the paying positions, giving him a stack of 95 big blinds with which to make his play for the title.

Lithuania’s Rokas Asipauskas sits close behind Margereson in the counts after closing out the Day 1 action with the second-largest stack of 2,145,000 (71 big blinds), with Japan’s John Matsuda rounding out the top three with a stack of 1,920,000 (64 big blinds).

All three return with a great chance to earn their first APT Super High Roller title, however, first the trio must contend with the likes of former APT Main Event champion and Natural8 Ambassador Punnat Punsri who is looking to become the first person to claim a second signature APT lion trophy to join the Gold Lion Main Event trophy he won back during the APT Taipei 2023.

Punsri currently sits fourth in the chip counts with a stack of 1,835,000 (61 big blinds) so has a great chance of making tour history, as does APT Manila 2024 Super High Roller champion William Teoh who is another looking to win a second major APT title, and the Malaysian also bagged a top ten stack, putting him in a great position to do so.

APT SHR DAY 1 TOP TEN STACKS

For APT Super High Roller Day 1 Player List please CLICK HERE

For APT Super High Roller Survivors please CLICK HERE

For APT Super High Roller Final Day Draw please CLICK HERE

You can follow all the action as it played out via the APT Blog

All tournament information can be found on the APT Super High Roller Day 1 tournament page.

The Final Day action will resumes at 12pm on Monday, February 10, with the action live streamed via the official APT YouTube channel on a 30-minute delay.

Natural8 India Ambassador Kunal Patni Solves Mystery Bounty

Mystery Bounty Hunter champion Kunal Patni

The second of the festival’s key events has played down to an exciting conclusion with Natural8 India Ambassador Kunal Patni claiming the win, earning his fifth career APT title in the process.

Patni overcame a 377-strong (154 unique) field to clinch victory and claim the lion’s share of the PHP 4,180,176 (~USD 71,824) prize pool, defeating start-of-day chip leader Yuki Miyakura heads-up to take the coveted Silver Lion Silhouette Trophy and the PHP 815,176 (~USD 14,000) top prize, plus a further PHP 300,000 (~USD 5,155) in bounties after scalping seven players on his way to victory and keeping his own bounty for eight bounty payouts in total.

Miyakura returned for the Final Day with almost double the chips of next closest rival—Singapore’s Xianhe Alecz Chan who returned with 92 big blinds—with the Japanese player resuming play with a sizable 163 big blind stack. Patni returned with the third-largest stack, valued at 88 big blinds, and remained near the top of the leader board for the duration.

The Indian poker professional came into the heads-up match with a slight chip lead of 7M in chips to Miyakura’s 5M, with the duo battling over two levels before Patni scored the knockout blow and booked the win.

"I am just very happy right now. Can’t wait to see the look on my good friend Victor’s [Chong APT Advisor] face when he comes in tomorrow. On a serious note, I have been on a massive heater in the last 6-8 months, and I hope it continues. Always amazing to ship and event and it’s super crazy when you win a trophy as sexy as an APT trophy," an ebullient Patni stated following his victory.

Patni now holds three of the seven New Era APT trophies available, adding the Silver Lion Silhouette Trophy to his collection to join the Gold Lion Silhouette Trophy he claimed in the APT Phu Quoc 2024 Baby Superstar Challenge, and the two Baby Lion trophies he won during the APT Hanoi 2023.

While Miyakura will be disappointed to have been unable to turn his gigantic start-of-day chip lead into his maiden live title win, the Japanese player had the consolation of claiming the largest score of his live tournament career, earning PHP 514,000 (~USD 8,830) for his runner-up finish, plus a further PHP 130,000 (~USD 2,230) in bounties after railing five opponents.

South Korea’s Sung Jin Yun rounded out the winner’s podium, taking bronze and a payout of PHP 372,000 (~USD 6,390) for his third-place finish, plus a further PHP 70,000 (~USD 1,200) in bounties for the five players he eliminated on his tournament journey.

APT Manila 2024 Super High Roller champion William Teoh made another final table showing in the Philippines’ capital, finishing in fourth place for a PHP 301,000 (~USD 5,170) payday, with the Malaysian player earning a further PHP 100,000 (~USD 1,720) in bounties after busting six players.

Singapore’s Xianhe Alecz Chan was also able to use his sizable stack to make the final table, eventually busting in eighth place for PHP 99,000 (~USD 1,700) and taking an additional PHP 160,000 (~USD 2,750) in bounty payouts for the three scalps he collected.

Compatriot Sheng Wei Liang only claimed one bounty for the whole tournament, but it proved to be the one that mattered with the Singaporean player pulling the largest bounty on offer, which was good for PHP 500,000 (~USD 8,590). Added to the PHP 41,000 (~USD 700) Liang claimed for his 18th place finish that marks a decent score.

MYSTERY BOUNTY FINAL TABLE RESULTS

Other notables to make deep runs included Thailand’s Napat Chokejindachai (14th for PHP 51,000), Flight B front runner Sangyeol Jeon (20th for PHP 41,000), and former APT Manila Main Event champion Moses Saquing (25th for PHP 33,000).

For Mystery Bounty Hunter Results please CLICK HERE

All tournament information can be found on the Mystery Bounty Hunter - Final Day - Sponsored by Natural8 tournament page.