Daniel Lee
Daniel Lee from the United States was the last man standing in the PHP 85,000 APT Manila Main Event, taking home the top prize of PHP 15,060,000 (~$256,020) as he beat South Africa's Edgar Antezana heads-up after the two flattened out the payouts.
Starting the final table as the chip leader, Lee was down to just eight big blinds before starting a remarkable run back and eventually taking the tournament down against Antezana.
A record-breaking field of 1,081 players turned out to play the Main Event — an APT record for the Philippines. The tournament also boasted the largest guarantee in a poker tournament in the country's history with PHP 100,000,000 (~$1,700,000) in the pot.
"It feels so surreal," a stunned Lee stated immediately following his maiden major title victory.
"I'll be honest, I got pretty lucky," Lee confided in APT host Greg Liow in his post-match interview.
"I think heads-up I didn't play it that well, but in the end we ground it out and persevered and came away with the victory."
The former software engineer, who left his job at a San Francisco-based start-up company to pursue his passion for poker, has only being playing the game for less than a year.
"Back in college and high-school I would game professionally, I always loved games, always got to the top. I also love markets, I love risk, I love betting, I love that type of stuff so poker is like a great mix of those two. I love the game, I have a deep passion for the game, it's so fun, it's so exhilarating. This deep run makes it so worth it!
Final Table Results
Final Table Action
At the beginning, chip counts had been unusually flat for a final table. This led the players to start the final table cautiously. It took around one hour before the first elimination to occur. Kim Jaejoong lost a flip with ace-king against Gab Yong Kim's pocket sixes Jaejoong took home a career-high score of PHP 1,345,000 (~$22,865).
However, once the first player busted, action picked up significantly and players were busting in rapid succession. In eighth place finished New Zealand poker professional Vincent Huang. Though coming into the final table as one of the shorter stacks, due to his experience, he was seen by many as a potential favorite to take down the title. But after jamming his ace-five preflop into John Costiniano's Big Slick, he had to pack his stuff early, with it a PHP 1,725,000 (~$29,325) payout.
Renji Mao
Shortly after Huang, it was Renji Mao's tournament life that was at risk. Like with Huang, it was Costiniano who busted the Chinese national. Mao's pocket fives could not improve against Costiniano's pocket jacks. The PHP 2,410,000 (~$40,970) cashout he received is the third best of his career.
Six-handed play went on for about an hour before the next elimination could be seen. The next player whose tournament life was at risk, was the eventual winner, Lee, after he got his eight big-blinds all-in with pocket sevens against Sandagdorj Munkhbaatar's pocket threes. Lee's pocket pair held up, and this was the start of his impressive run to victory. Shortly after doubling up, Lee found himself in an all-in situation with ace-king versus Kim's king-queen. Lee had just enough chips to have Kim covered, who could not improve on the board and busted in sixth place for PHP 3,210,000 (~$54,570).
Just three hands later Lee had the next opportunity to knock somebody out after Munkhbaatar went all-in with ace-ten on an eight-high flop against Lee's pocket kings. The turn and river brought the brought no help to the Mongolian player, busting him in a respectable fifth place for PHP 4,390,000 (~$74,630).
Ferdinand Lu
Again it only took Lee a couple of hands to find his next victim. The Filipino Ferdinand Lu opened on the button with five-four and flopped the world with straight and flush draws. So it was no surprise to see him three-bet jam his twenty-five big blinds into the middle. Unfortunately, for Lu, Lee held a better flush draw. Still, Lu had many outs to double his stack, but could not get there as the turn and river were both bricks. PHP 5,740,000 (~$97,580) is his largest live score, just topping his amazing runner-up finish at the APT Taipei Classic Zodiac tournament last month.
John Costiniano
Going into the three-handed battle, it was Lee holding a commanding chip lead. But now it was the time for Antezana to run hot. After winning a couple of small pots, he found himself in an all-in preflop situation with ace-seven against Costiniano's king-nine. A dry runout meant the Filipino player had to settle for third and a career-high score of PHP 7,640,000 (~$129,880).
With only two players remaining and with huge money on top, both players had similar stack sizes so decided on a deal, chopping off PHP 3,000,000 off first place money and adding it to the second place. The heads-up was a thrilling one to watch, with multiple lead changes happening. It looked like Antezana had the momentum on his side, but in the most exciting hand of their match, Antezana lost his two-to-one chip lead after four-bet shoving on the river with trips holding ten-three, but was no good against Lee's flush with king-five.
From that point on, Antezana could not recover his chips anymore and eventually called off Lee's shove with queen-seven and was up against the eventual winner's king-jack. The board ran out clean for Lee, eliminating Antezana in second place for PHP 13,850,000 (~$235,450) The career-high score moves the runner up to 14th place on South Africa's All-Time Money List.
Congratulations to Lee on a fantastic victory.
You can find a full APT Manila Main Event Payout List by clicking here.