And so, the Main Event of the Asian Poker Tour Philippines 2013 has begun.
It’s been a rollicking week of intense poker action at APT Philippines 2013 and the crown jewel of the entire week-long pokerfest, the Main Event, has gotten off to an equally sizzling start.
An appearance by Zorro notwithstanding (yes, the masked swordsman; no, not Antonio Banderas), Day 1A kicked the Main Event off to an eventful start with 97 players taking part for a chance to advance to Day 2 and come one step closer to winning the whole enchilada.
It was a pretty tough field, to say the least, but after an exhausting 8 rounds of poker, it was South Korea’s Cho Young Wa who stood tallest with a commanding chip lead to conclude the first day of the Main Event. Cho ended the day with 163,200 in chips, well over 60,000 clear of Australian Stephen Chidwick, who finished Day 1A second with 106,850 worth of chips.
All in all, 39 players earned the right to play another day and with their first round action now secured, they can take a couple of days off to recharge their batteries leading up to Day 2. Cho’s in a pretty good spot coming in first in Day 1A, but he’s far from the only one with a healthy chip stack. Chidwick’s got a little over 100,000 in chips while Vietnam’s Do Hoang Anh finished third in Day 1A with 94,750 in chips. He’s followed by reigning APT Player of the Year Sam Ravazi with 91,950 in chips and local pro Ian Brion rounding out the top 5 from Day 1A with 86,325 in chips.
Some other notable players who made it to Day 2 include JC Tran (69,225), American Christian Demers (56,950), 2009 APT Philippines Main Event champ Neil Arce (54,050), and local pro Vic De Guzman (27,425).
More players are expected to jump into the felt for Day 1B of the APT Philippine Main Event 2013. But for Cho and the rest of the 39 players moving on to Day 2, sit back and relax for now.
Maybe you can even find Zorro and buy him a beer. Dude looked a little shellacked out there today.
