Manila, Philippines, January 2017 – The Asian Poker Tour is currently hosting its first event of the year, the APT Kickoff 2017, at Resorts World Manila. The final entry flight of the US$1,650 buy-in APT Main Event concluded tonight with France’s Benjamin Gonzva bagging up the largest stack of 319,000. Gonzva is a newcomer to the APT and is fresh off a big win in Cambodia.
Throughout the day, Gonzva consistently sported a big stack then climbed higher after winning a double up in a set over set hand. His closest opponent is Korea’s Joo Hyun Park with 268,000 in chips. Park was seen collecting a pile of chips with his trip tens against Julian Hasse. Rounding out the top three was China’s Yin Zhang with 254,100 in chips. Zhang ousted one of the past APT Champions, Gerard Bringley, cracking pocket aces with two pair.
Day 1B of the APT Main Event closed up with 24 players remaining. Among them were UK’s Samad Razavi, Alexis Lim, Tien Quyet Pham, Marc Rivera, JC Sayo, and Head Hunter champion Hung Sheng Lin. India’s Kunal Patni also made it through, successfully accumulating more chips than at Day 1A. His shortest stack will be removed from play at the start of Day 2.
Today also saw half the field cut out with several well known players in the mix such as John Costiniano, Michael Kim Falcon, Euryd Rivera, and past APT Main Event champion, In Chul Sin.
The APT Main Event will resume tomorrow starting at 1pm with 47 total players returning to the felt.
Wang Ping Yuan wins the NLH 1 Day event
Chinese Taipei poker pro Wang Ping Yuan overcame a field of 85 entries at the NLH 1 Day event to claim the US$4,490 first prize and the event trophy. Yuan entered the Final 8 RFID featured table as the chip leader and maintained his status throughout, never facing any big danger.
The first casualty was one of five locals at the table, PJ Nunez, who was eliminated in 8th place by Jonald Garcia. Garcia proceeded to scalp another, railing Hajime Mogi in 7th place. However, his momentum was later put to a halt by Yuan, who took a big chunk of his chips on a board of 9♣ K♦ 3♣ A♣. Shortly after, Garcia lost two hands to Moses Saquing and was out in 6th place.
Alike Garcia, it was Saquing’s turn to hit the rail. Saquing was eliminated by Hesham Bucheery in 5th place with pocket tens over pocket twos. At four-handed, the very short stacked Edwin Marzan doubled up through John Tech with a winning pocket jacks, then it was Tech who found himself next on the chopping block in 4th place.
The three-handed match saw Marzan double up twice against Bucheery to be almost at par with Yuan. Bucheery answered back by winning two showdowns, but it didn’t last. Yuan sent him packing in 3rd place with a full house. The heads up round came and went in just one hand with Marzan unable to push out Yuan on the river on a board showing 4♦ Q♠ 5♦ J♠ 6♥. When the cards were opened, Marzan was given the harsh news, Yuan had a dominating 8♦ 7♦ straight defeating his K♣ K♠ overpair.
Payouts
1st Wang Ping Yuan – Chinese Taipei – US$4,490
2nd Edwin Marzan – Philippines – US$2,740
3rd Hesham Bucheery – Bahrain – US$1,980
4th John Tech – Philippines – US$1,520
5th Moses Saquing – Philippines – US$1,310
6th Jonald Garcia – Philippines – US$1,130
7th Hajime Mogi – Japan – US$980
8th PJ Nunez – Philippines – US$860
9th Alfredo Boligor – Philippines – US$780
10th Neil Lawrence – Malaysia – US$700
Links to Side Event winners:
John Tech wins NLH Welcome Event
Byun Choul Seung wins Ante Up for Charity
Lester Edoc claims the Main Event Warm-Up
Hung Sheng Lin wins the Head Hunter Event
Kai Paulsen wins the OFC Pineapple Progressive (new event)
You can watch the Final 8 action of selected side events in the APT Twitch channel.
Daily highlights of the ongoing festival are also available for your viewing enjoyment at the APT YouTube channel.
For the full schedule, head to the APT Kickoff 2017 event page.
For media inquiries, you may contact:
Monique D. Suñega
Email: [email protected]
