APT MANILA 2024 SCHEDULE | OFFICIAL RESULTS | PLAYER LISTS | IMAGES | WINNERS
MANILA, PHILIPPINES, October 28, 2024 – Welcome to the APT Manila 2024, with the action-packed 11-day festival featuring 109 events (including satellites) with the series proper comprising a substantial 101 Trophy Events and boasting over PHP 170 million (~USD 3 million) in prize pool guarantees.
Running October 28 to November 7 in partnership with the Soul Poker, the series is playing out in the Grand Ballroom of the City of Dreams Manila luxury resort.
This is the 42nd time the APT has hosted a festival in the Philippines’ capital and marks the first visit of the APT New Era following a two year hiatus, with local Moses Saquing the last man to hoist the old school APT Main Event trophy in Manila during APT Philippines 2022 — defeating a 380-strong field to claim the lion’s share of the PHP 23,280,000 (USD 405,823) prize pool.
Things have certainly changed over the last 24 months, with the APT Manila 2024 Main Event guarantee over four times the size of the tour’s previous Manila-based tournament offering, coming in at a hefty PHP 100 million (~USD 1.78 million).
In addition to the Main Event, the tour’s other two signature Lion Trophy events—the PHP 600,000 (~USD 10,255) APT Super High Roller and the PHP 200,000 (~USD 3,420) APT High Roller—both boast eight-figure (six in USD) prize pool guarantees.
The series looks primed to post some solid numbers once again, especially if the entries for the opening APT National Cup are anything to go by — you can read about this in more detail below.
In addition to the guaranteed marquee events, the series boasts daily High Roller tournaments and an eclectic selection of mixed games and assorted poker variants. Highlights include:
- APT Main Event (PHP 100M/~USD 1.7M GTD): Oct 31-Nov 6 – PHP 85K/~USD 1,450 buy-in
- Philippines National Cup (PHP 4M/~USD 68.5K GTD): Oct 28-29 – PHP 12K/~USD 205 buy-in
- Mystery Bounty Hunter – Sponsored by Natural8 (PHP 6M/~USD 102.8K GTD): Oct 29-30 – PHP 20K/~USD 340 buy-in
- APT Super High Roller (PHP 15M/~USD 257K GTD): Oct 30-31 – PHP 600K/~USD 10.2K buy-in
- Super Stack (PHP 6M/~USD 102.8K): Oct 30 – PHP 30K/~USD 510 buy-in
- Superstar Challenge: Nov 1-2 – PHP 1.5M/~USD 25.6K buy-in
- Zodiac Classic – Sponsored by Natural8 (PHP 15M/~USD 257K GTD): Nov 4-5 – PHP 125K/~USD 2.1K buy-in
- Baby Superstar: Nov 5 – PHP 300K/~USD 5.1K buy-in
- Double Stack (PHP 4M/~USD 68.5K GTD): Nov 5-6 – PHP 20K/~USD 340 buy-in
- APT High Roller (PHP 15M/~USD 257K GTD): Nov 6-7 – PHP 200K/~USD 3.4K buy-in
- Mini Main Event (PHP 5M/~USD 85.6K GTD): Nov 6-7 – PHP 25K/~USD 425 buy-in
South Korea’s Heejun Kim Tops Flight A to Lead Philippines National Cup
South Korea’s Heejun Kim leads the Philippines National Cup coming into the Final Day
It was the two-day PHP 12,000 (~USD 205) Event #1: Philippines National Cup PHP 4,000,000 GTD getting the series action underway with the tournament drawing 726 entries (425 unique) in total over the three starting flights.
With PHP 7,436,563(~USD 126,420) in the prize pool, the eventual winner walking away with a PHP 1,387,563 (~USD 23,590) top prize, and only the top 14 percent of each three flights making the Final Day and the money, the fight for a place in the paying positions was a fierce one, with 103 players successfully circumnavigating the tournament minefield and guaranteeing themselves a payday of at least PHP 20,000 (~USD 340).
For APT National Cup Prize Pool & Payouts please CLICK HERE
It was Flight A kicking off the action at 11am local time, drawing 242 entries (190 unique) with the action playing out over seventeen 30-minute levels and South Korea’s Heejun Kim topping the counts after bagging up 336,000 in chips.
Kim was the only Flight A player to crack 300K and will be returning with the overall chip lead, with the USA’s Daniel Lee bagging the second largest Flight A stack of 207,000. The Philippines Marhen Simbre (195,500), and Alfredo Boligor (194,500) were close behind as the third and fourth largest Flight A stacks, with the USA’s Rex Clinkscales (187,000) rounding out the top five with a total of 34 players making the cut.
All tournament information can be found on the Philippines National Cup - Flight A tournament page.
Flight B front runner Frank Lillis
Flight B proved to be the largest of the three flights and drew 322 entries (269 unique) who duked it out over nineteen 20-minute levels.
It was Ireland’s Frank Lillis who bagged biggest, concluding play with a stack of 281,000 to put him second in the overall pecking order for the Final Day. South Korea’s Haewon Jung bagged the second-largest stack of 258,000.
The Philippines’ Alvin Sembrano (255,500), Japan’s Shion Ogawa (240,500), and local Jeorge Lagatuz (210,000) rounded out the top five Flight B stacks, with a total of 46 players making the Final Day.
All tournament information can be found on the Philippines National Cup - Flight B tournament page.
Flight C chip leader Marco Espela
The third and final Flight C attracted a further 162 entries (133 unique), with the action playing out over twenty 15-minute levels, with the Philippines Marco Espela topping the flight with a stack of 278,000, putting him third in the overall pecking order.
Israel’s Ben Gur (220,000) bagged the second largest Flight C stack to return in the top ten of the Final Day chip counts.
The USA’s Ashley Patterson (167,000), South Korea’s Jongha Kim (156,000), and the Philippines Maggy Cenon (151,000) rounding out the top five Flight C stacks and a total of 23 players making it through.
All tournament information can be found on the Philippines National Cup - Flight C tournament page.
| Position | Name | Country | Chips |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Heejun Kim | South Korea | 336,000 |
| 2 | Frank Lillis | Ireland | 281,000 |
| 3 | Marco Espela | Philippines | 278,000 |
| 4 | Haewon Jung | South Korea | 258,000 |
| 5 | Alvin Sembrano | Philippines | 255,500 |
| 6 | Shion Ogawa | Japan | 240,500 |
| 7 | Ben Gur | Israel | 220,000 |
| 8 | Jeorge Lagatuz | Philippines | 210,000 |
| 9 | Daniel Lee | United States | 207,000 |
| 10 | Genexon Osin | Philippines | 201,500 |
For Philippines National Cup Flight A Player List please CLICK HERE
For Philippines National Cup Flight A Survivors please CLICK HERE
For Philippines National Cup Flight B Player List please CLICK HERE
For Philippines National Cup Flight B Survivors please CLICK HERE
For Philippines National Cup Flight C Player List please CLICK HERE
For Philippines National Cup Flight C Survivors please CLICK HERE
For Philippines National Cup Final Day Draw please CLICK HERE
The Final Day gets underway at 11:15am local time on Tuesday, October 29 with the 103 survivors returning to play down to a champion.
APT Hosts Elfin Lin and Greg Goes All-in Battle for Fans in the Meet Up Game
Elfin Lin and Greg Goes All-in prepare for the Meet Up Game
While the Meet Up Game does not award a trophy, that did not stop 12 hopefuls (plus APT chief entertainment officer Victor Chong) anteing up the PHP 10,000 (~USD 170) entry fee and battling it out at the cash tables against APT hosts Greg “Greg Goes All-in” Liow and Elfin Lin.
For MUG highlights please CLICK HERE
In a battle to prove who was the host with the most, the duo battled it out at the baize with Greg winning the popularity contest, although this seemed to be down to his generosity at the tables, at least according to Mr. Chong.
“I am definitely team Greg Goes All-in,” stated Chong in his post-match interview.
“Do you want to know why? Because I won 50K off him at the cash game… He took it well and wished me nice hand at the end.”
“The MUG game is the less serious version of a cash game, because you get people who normally don’t play cash games, like myself, to play cash games. So I don't really take it seriously. I'm just there to have a good time to mingle with the celebrities and the players, you know, like Greg Goes All-in,” said an ebullient Chong.
Brian from Singapore also rated Greg’s game.
“I’m Team Greg, because I won money from him,” he stated after playing a session.
“It was fun to get to speak to them both,” said Brian, “Greg is way better than I expected. I never played much with Elfin.”
However, Elfin was not without her fans, with Alex from Canada rating her play.
“I think I had more history with Greg, so I'm team Elfin,” Alex confirmed in his post-match interview.
“Elfin was good. She made a great, great move with ace-high against pocket tens, and kings, and she flopped her ace and tripled up and then she ran steady from there. So good for her. She played well.”
Bobby from Atlanta, Georgia, voted Team Greg and thoroughly enjoyed his MUG experience.
“It was just a lot of fun, almost how poker used to be. You know, everybody's pretty good these days. Very tight. It gets a little boring with the headphones and the hoodies, but over here with the APT, it's a whole lot more fun.”
And that’s what makes poker such a great game; you can play it with friends, or play for fortune and glory, but at the end of the day, it’s a game, and games are supposed to be fun — and when played against the APT’s star team of hosts that certainly appears to be the case.