APT Manila Sets Philippines Poker Series Tour Record

APT MANILA 2024 SCHEDULE | OFFICIAL RESULTS | PLAYER LISTS | IMAGES | WINNERS

MANILA, PHILIPPINES, November 7, 2024 — For the fifth festival in a row the Asian Poker Tour has set a new tour country record for largest poker series with the APT Manila 2024 festival officially the largest and richest APT series ever to play out in the Philippines.

Run in partnership with Soul Poker in the Grand Ballroom of the City of Dreams Manila luxury resort the 11-day festival saw 1,321 unique entries from 53 combined countries & regions generate 8,102 total entries over 101 Trophy Events, competing for a mouth-watering PHP 349,691,602 (~USD 5,944,757) in series prize money.

APT Manila 2024 By The Numbers

The festival set seven tour country records for field size and prize pools, with the biggest draw of the series the PHP 85,000 APT Main Event which attracted a four-figure field and awarding a nine-figure prize pool (USD seven-figure).

Other events to set new tour country records for field size and prize pool were: Event #1: Philippines National Cup, Event #10: Mystery Bounty Hunter - Sponsored by Natural8, Event #74: Zodiac Classic - Sponsored by Natural8, Event #81: Double Stack, Event #93: Mini Main Event and Event #94: APT High Roller – the latter two of which you can read about in more detail further below.

For a breakdown of prize money, player numbers, and records set during the festival you can view the APT Manila 2024 Festival Breakdown by Prize Pool, Player Numbers and Records HERE.

View a graphic of Event Breakdown by Prize Pool, GTD & First Prize HERE

View a graphic of Festival Prize Pool Percentage by Event HERE

Close to a third (29%) of the series prize money was awarded in the record-breaking Main Event, which saw 1,081 entries (639 unique) from 36 countries & regions compete for a PHP 100 million (~USD 1.7 million) prize pool, with the USA's Daniel Lee taming the award-winning 24K gold lion APT Main Event trophy.

For Main Event Breakdown by Country/Region please CLICK HERE with a graphic available HERE.

It was William Teoh who tamed the pewter lion APT Super High Roller trophy to claim the lion's share of the festival's second-largest prize pool—a hefty PHP 32,621,100 (~USD 554,560)—with the Malaysian player bagging the series' second-largest top prize of PHP 9,785,100 (~USD 166,350).

The tour's other signature event, the PHP 200,000 APT High Roller, generated the fourth largest prize pool of the festival—a chunky PHP 23,396,400 (~USD 397,740)—with Australia’s Daniel Neilson taming the bronze lion APT High Roller trophy and banking the fifth largest first-place prize of the series — a whopping PHP 4,317,000 (~USD 73,390).

The PHP 125,000 Zodiac Classic generated the third-richest prize pool of the festival and saw a field of 226 entries (157 unique) compete for a PHP 24,662,250 (~USD 419,260) purse, with APT All-Time Money List #1 Joseph Cheong claiming his second title of the series, his fourth career APT title and the fourth-largest first place prize of the festival – a sizeable PHP 5,216,250 (~USD 88,675).

Cheong also snagged the third-largest top prize of the festival—a chunky PHP 8,002,500 (~USD 136,040)—in the PHP 1.5M Superstar Challenge, which generated the fifth largest prize pool of PHP 16,672,500 (~USD 283,430) and saw the US player claim a record second Superstar Challenge title and exclusive black lion trophy.

Daniel Neilson Wins APT’s Largest & Richest Philippines APT High Roller

The largest and richest Philippines APT High Roller in tour history has a champion, with Australia’s Daniel Neilson taming the award-winning bronze lion APT High Roller trophy.

The record-breaking PHP 200,000 APT High Roller - PHP 15,000,000 GTD saw 26 players out of the tournament’s largest-ever Philippines-based field of 134 entries (92 unique) return for the Final Day all looking to claim a share of the PHP 23,396,400 (~USD 397,740) prize pool – the richest this event has ever generated in the country.

With only 20 of the returning players making the money, both two-time APT Main Event champion Lester Edoc and APT All-Time Money List #1 Jospeh Cheong were unable to cash. It was the unfortunate Chi Wai Law who was the last to depart empty-handed with eventual runner-up finisher Alexander Lynskey sending the Hong Kong player to the rail on the third 40-minute level played to burst the money bubble and shoot Lynskey into the lead.

Neilson—who came into the Final Day with the fifth largest stack—took an early bite out of start-of-day chip leader Gary Thompson’s stack to improve his standings in the counts.

However, by the time the nine-handed final table was reached midway through the eighth-level played (level 24) the Australian player had dropped down the pecking order and came in with the second shortest stack with compatriot Lynskey continuing to lead the field.

Close to fifty hands into the final table action and Neilson had been carefully picking his spots to climb into the top five before dropping back down to short stack while Lynskey had been usurped from the top spot by Singapore’s Teng Hoo with seven players remaining.

A timely double-up at the expense of Malaysia’s Jason Lau brought the Aussie right back into contention however, and after eliminating the Philippines Vamerdino Magsakay in sixth Neilson became a force to be reckoned with.

After Hoo showed Lau the door in fifth, and Lynskey clipped Thompson in fourth it was down to the final three. Neilson then took two big pots from Lynskey to take the lead while the latter dropped down to the bottom of the counts.

By the time level 28 arrived all three remaining players were close to even in stack size and elected to cut a deal which saw Neilson lock up PHP 3,877,000 (65,910), Lynskey lock up PHP 3,866,000 (~USD 65,722) and Hoo lock up PHP 3,760,400 (~USD 63,927) with the trio electing to play for a further PHP 440,000 in cash, and the all-important trophy and title.

Eleven hands later and Hoo was out at the hands of Lynskey to set up Aussie on Aussie heads-up action with Neilson coming into the match with a small chip lead.

It took Neilson eight more hands to close it out, slow playing his flopped second nut flush to perfection and inducing a shove before jokingly slowrolling Lynskey to claim his fourth career APT final table and second APT title, banking a PHP 4,317,000 (~USD 73,390) top prize.

APT HIGH ROLLER FINAL TABLE RESULTS

Malaysia’s Xin Lim narrowly missed making his APT final table debut, hitting the rail in tenth place for a PHP 468,000 (~USD 7,955) payout.

Other notables to cash but come up short of the final table included APT Taipei Poker Classic Main Event runner-up Abraham Ceesvin (13th for PHP 409,000), South Korea’s Yohwan “BoxeR” Lim (14th for PHP 374,000), and Seungmook Jung (17th for PHP 344,000), and Australia’s David Wang (19th for PHP 314,000).

For APT High Roller Final Day Player List please CLICK HERE

For APT High Roller Results please CLICK HERE

You can read about all the tournament thrills and spills via the APT Blog, or follow all the action as it played out via the APT High Roller Final Day Live Stream. All tournament information can be found on the APT High Roller - Final Day tournament page.

South Korea’s Gun Jegal Hits the Target in Tours Largest Philippines Mini Main Event

South Korea’s Gun Jegal won his maiden APT title in the tour’s largest Philippines-based Mini Main Event

Another record-breaking event to play down to a thrilling conclusion was the PHP 25,000 Event #93: Mini Main Event - PHP 5,000,000 GTD. Just 45 players out of the tour’s largest-ever Philippines-based Mini Main Event field of 320 entries (213 unique) returned for the Final Day, all guaranteed a PHP 40,000 (~USD 680) payout from the sizeable PHP 6,984,000 (~USD 118,730) prize pool—the largest this event has ever generated in the country.

It was South Korea’s Gun Jegal who shot to victory, besting China’s Xiaohui Tan heads-up to claim the PHP 1,374,000 (~USD 23,360) top prize—the largest this tournament has ever awarded in Manila. In addition to earning his second live tournament title and maiden APT title, this results also represents a career-best score for Jegal.

Tan took PHP 875,000 (~USD 14,875) for her runner-up finish for a top five career cash, with the always excitable Hirotoshi Nakabo of Japan rounding out the winner’s podium and banking PHP 656,000 (~USD 11,150) for his fourth cash and third final table showing of the series.

Cypriot bracelet winner Georgios Skarparis also made the final table—his second of the series—collecting PHP 141,000 (~USD 2,400) for ninth place, with the final table paying out as follows:

MINI MAIN EVENT FINAL TABLE RESULTS

Other notables to cash but come up short of a place in the final nine included Russia’s Rudolf Domin (15th for PHP 94,000), Event #1: Philippines National Cup champion Marco Espela (17th for PHP 83,000), the USA’s Nellie Park (24th for PHP 59,000), and Taiwan’s Hao-Shan Huang (35th for PHP 45,000).

For Mini Main Event Final Day Player List please CLICK HERE

For Mini Main Event Results please CLICK HERE

All tournament information can be found on the Mini Main Event - Final Day tournament page.