Main Event Scares Up 406 Initial Entries for Largest Tournament Guarantee in Philippines History

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

MANILA, PHILIPPINES, October 31, 2024 — Happy Halloween poker fans! The largest guaranteed Main Event in Philippines’ poker history—a hefty PHP 100 million (~USD 1.7 million)—has arrived with the opening Flight A scaring up 249 entries (191 unique), with a further 157 qualifiers bringing the total field up to 406 with three opening flights left to play.

The action played out over ten 60-minute levels with Edilberto Gopez continuing the run of form that saw him finish runner-up in the Mystery Bounty, clawing his way to the top of chip counts after the tournament clock ticked into the red and bagging up a stack of 338,900.

Gopez is joined at the summit by South Africa’s Edgar Antezana, who was aided in his climb to the top after ending up on the right side of a brutal set over set confrontation against the USA’s Benjamin Jacobs which cost the latter a chunk of chips and saw the former finish on a stack of 309,700.

South Korea’s Jaejoong Kim (308,300) rounded out the top three, with Russia’s Ilia Drobin (240,000) and defending APT Manila Main Event champion Moses Saquing (236,600) also bagging top ten stacks.

MAIN EVENT TOP TEN FLIGHT A STACKS

A total of 82 players fought their way through, with other notables to make Day 2 including: the USA’s Joseph Cheong (189,900), Vietnam’s Nang Quang Nguyen (189,100), Canada’s Benjamin Leblond (166,400), bracelet winner Mike Takayama (161,000), the Philippines’ Christopher Mateo (134,000), Russia’s Maxim Sorokin (131,900), APT Super High Roller finalist Alexander Lynskey (126,100), Germany’s Daniel Smiljkovic (95,300), the USA’s Benjamin Jacobs (77,000), Australia’s Daniel Neilson (70,000), Thailand’s Napat Chokejindachai (62,000), and Natural8 Ambassador Eric “Six Poker” Tsai (38,100) to name but a few.

For Main Event Flight A Player List please CLICK HERE

For Main Event Flight A Survivors please CLICK HERE

With three more starting flights left to play out, there are still opportunities for those unsuccessful in their endeavours to win their way through.

Flight B gets underway at 11am on Friday, November 1, with players competing over six 45-minute levels and four 60-minute levels.

The final two starting Flights C & D—both boasting six 30-minute levels and four 40-minute levels each—get underway on Saturday, November 2, at 11am and 6pm respectively, although late registration remains open until the start of Day 2, which kicks off at 11am on Sunday, November 3.

You can follow all the action as it played out via the APT Blog.

All tournament information can be found on the Main Event - Flight A tournament page.

Malaysia’s William Teoh Goes Wire-to-Wire to Win APT Super High Roller for PHP 9.78M (~USD 166K)

Malaysia’s William Teoh claimed a career best score in the APT Super High Roller

Just 12 players out of an initial field of 59 entries (42 unique) returned for the Final Day of the PHP 600,000 Event #21: APT Super High Roller - PHP 15,000,000 GTD with start-of-day chip leader William Teoh putting on a dominating performance to go wire-to-wire, claiming the lion’s share of the PHP 32,621,100 (~USD 554,560) prize pool and taming the award-winning pewter lion APT Super High Roller trophy.

Whether the Malaysian sacrificed some small furry animals to the poker gods to earn his largest-ever cash remains up for debate, but after max late registering Day 1 there is no denying Teoh ran so hot he was in danger of spontaneously combusting at the table, eliminating a quarter of the returning field to take the PHP 9,785,100 (~USD 166,350) top prize.

The final table action was wrapped up in 53 hands with Teoh overcoming heads-up opponent, Japan’s John Matsuda, in a short seven-hand battle that saw the Malaysian earn his third career APT title and the largest score of his poker career.

Matsuda collected the second-largest score of his playing career for his runner-up finish, banking PHP 7,079,000 (~USD 120,340), with New Zealand’s Vincent Huang rounding out the winner’s podium and taking PHP 4,567,000 (~USD 77,640) for third place, with the final table paying out as follows:

APT SHR RESULTS

Australia’s Daniel Neilson, China’s Renji Mao, and Natural8 Ambassador Nevan Chang all made the Final Day but came up short of the nine-handed final table, busting in the order listed.

It was New Zealand’s Thomas Ward who departed in the most unenviable position in poker, taking a brutal beat at the hands of Teoh to burst the money bubble and hit the rail empty-handed in ninth place.

For APT Super High Roller Results please CLICK HERE

You can follow all the action as it played out via the APT Blog.

All tournament information can be found on the APT Super High Roller Final Day tournament page.

Back (l-r): William Teoh, Toan Chan Truong, Steve Yea, John Matsuda, Thomas Ward

Front (l-r): Alexander Lynskey, Jordan Westmorland, Vincent Huang, Paulius Plausinaitis