Tetsuya Tsuchikawa defeats Kevin Ang, in heads up action, to take the $156,849 first prize in the World Poker Tour’s Philippine debut at the Solaire Resort & Casino, in Manila.
385 players entered, to create a $746,900 prize pool, and Tsuchikawa became the first-ever Japanese winner of a WPT title, after defeating the Malaysian Kevin Ang, after just two hands of heads-up action.
Tsuchikawa (16bb) and Ang (8bb) started the final table as the two short stacks, but some impressive poker, and a few doses of lady luck, saw the pair make it through to the rather rapid heads-up encounter, and when the end came, it was a call worthy of winning any major title.
The young Malaysian opened the play with a min-raise, and the 49-year old from Osaka made the call. The flop was [7d] [6c] [3s]; Tsuchikawa checked, Ang bet 160,000; Tsuchikawa check-raised to 410,000, and Ang called. The turn was the [Ah]; Tsuchikawa bet 475,000, and Ang called. The final card was the [Qs]; Tsuchikawa checked, Ang moved all-in, and after some time in the tank, the man from Japan made the call. Ang showed [8d] [6h] for a pair of sixes, and Tsuchikawa showed down [Ts] [7s] for a pair of sevens.
The victory was Tsuchikawa’s best of his career, trumping the $91,869 that he won back in 2011, when he finished runner-up to Patrick Lee in the Macau Poker Cup.
The next stop for the WPT is the Caribbean island of St. Maarten, Nov 3-7, where WPT Raw Deal Host, Tony Dunst, won his first WPT title last year.
WPT National Philippines Results
1st. Tetsuya Tsuchikawa – $156,849
2nd. Kevin Ang – $109,794
3rd. Mun Fei Chow – $70,582
4th. Yuichi Sumida – $52,283
5th. Douglas Olsson – $39,212
6th. Andrew Gaw – $31,370
