USA’s Daniel Lee Wins Record-Breaking APT Manila Main Event for PHP 15M (~USD 256K)

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

MANILA, PHILIPPINES, November 6, 2024 — The APT’s largest Main Event ever to run in the Philippines has a champion and it proved to be the field of dreams for the USA’s Daniel Lee, with the action playing out in the Grand Ballroom of the City of Dreams Manila luxury resort – run in partnership with Soul Poker.

San Francisco native Lee triumphed over a record 1,081-strong field to tame the award-winning 24K gold lion APT Main Event trophy and lock up the lion’s share of the PHP 100 million (~USD 1.7 million) prize pool.

All nine returning players were guaranteed a payout of at least PHP 1,345,000 (~USD 22,865), with six of the final nine (including Lee) cashing for career-best scores with the other five being; South Korea’s Jaejoong Kim (9th), Mongolia’s Sandagdorj Munkhbaatar (5th), the Philippines’ Ferdinand Lu (4th), and John Costiniano (3rd), and eventual runner-up Edgar Antezana of South Africa.

It was not all plain sailing for the US player, who had to navigate some choppy waters on his voyage to victory; despite coming into the final table with the chip lead Lee found himself languishing at the bottom of the chip counts by the first break with seven players remaining, leaving the Philippines John Costiniano in control of the tournament after sending New Zealand’s Vincent Huang and China’s Renji Mao to the rail in eighth and seventh place respectively.

However, Lee collected the next three scalps to keep afloat, railing South Korea’s Gab Yong Kim, Mongolia’s Sandagdorj Munkhbaatar and the Philippines’ Ferdinand Lu in quick succession to retake the chip lead and bring the field down to the final three.

Edgar Antezana then took his turn as tournament top dog after busting Costiniano on the 76th hand played to take play heads-up, with the South African player bringing a narrow five big blind lead into the match.

The two then decided to cut a deal, flattening the payouts by taking PHP 3 million (~USD 51,000) off the top and adding it to second place before beginning their battle for the trophy and title in earnest.

The match proved to be an epic 53-hand battle spanning close to three levels, with the chip lead changing hands on no less than three separate occasions.

Despite Antezana bringing a to 2-to-1 into the break, Lee doubled up immediately afterward, rivering a flush to beat the South African’s rivered trip threes.

This proved to be the turning point in the match, giving Lee the momentum needed to slowly grind Antezana down and claim his maiden major tournament title and the PHP 15,060,000 (~USD 256,020) top prize; the largest cash of his professional career by some margin coming in at over twenty times more than his previous career-best result.

Antezana will not be unhappy with the PHP 13,850,000 (~USD 235,450) on offer for his runner-up finish, which is seven-times the size of his previous career-best.

Lee and Antezana shared a sporting handshake immediately after the match, before the former posed for the winner’s picture and conducted his post-match interview.

"It feel's so surreal," a stunned Lee stated immediately following his maiden major title victory, "I'll be honest, I got pretty lucky," Lee confided in APT host Greg Liow.

"I think heads-up I didn't play it that well, but in the end we ground it out and persevered and came away with the victory," stated Lee modestly.

The 27-year-old former software engineer, who left his job at a San Francisco-based start-up company to pursue his passion for poker, has only being playing the game for less than a year.

"Back in college and high-school I would game professionally, I always loved games, always got to the top. I also love markets, I love risk, I love betting, I love that type of stuff so poker is like a great mix of those two. I love the game, I have a deep passion for the game, it's so fun, it's so exhilarating. This deep run makes it so worth it!"

MAIN EVENT FINAL TABLE RESULTS

For Main Event Results please CLICK HERE

For APT Manila 2024 Main Event Final Table Player Profiles please CLICK HERE

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

You can follow all the Main Event Final Day action as it happened via the APT Blog, or watch the action as it played out via the Main Event Final Day live stream. All tournament information can be found on the Main Event - Final Day tournament page.

South Korea’s Sungwoo Son Wins Tours Largest Philippines Double Stack

South Korea’s Sungwoo Son claimed a career best score in the record-breaking Double Stack

Another record-breaking event to play down to a thrilling conclusion was the Event #81: Double Stack - PHP 4,000,000 GTD with the 434 entry (282 unique) field—the largest the tour has ever run in the Philippines—crowning a champion.

It is Sungwoo Son who will go down in the APT record books, with the South Korean player battling back from behind to triumph over the Philippines’ Marciel Cerbito to make his maiden live tournament title win one to remember.

This was Son’s first recorded APT cash, and in addition to claiming the coveted APT silver lion silhouette trophy he earned himself a PHP 1,103,000 (~USD 18,750) top prize—the largest score of his poker career—after cutting a deal with heads-up opponent Cerbito.

Son came into the heads-up match against Cerbito with over a 2-to-1 chip deficit and the pair elected to cut an ICM deal that saw Cerbito lock-up a PHP 1,263,444 (~USD 21,480) payday, with the duo duking it out for a further PHP 53,000 (~USD 900) in cash, and the all-important trophy and title.

While Cerbito will be understandably disappointed to have been unable to convert his chip lead into a first APT title, his runner-up finish represents the largest tournament cash of his poker career so that should take the edge off.

The Philippines’ Jeffrey Pamplona was another to earn a career-best score, rounding out the winner’s podium and collecting PHP 658,000 (~USD 11,185) for his third-place finish.

Just 62 players returned for the Final Day, all guaranteed a payout of at least PHP 32,000 (~USD 545) from the PHP 7,493,444 (~USD 127,390) prize pool—the largest this tournament has ever generated in the county—with Taiwan’s Yu Chun Chen returning with the largest stack.

While this was enough to carry Chen to the final table, it was not enough to close out the win and he eventually exited in fifth place for a PHP 410,000 (~USD 6,970) payday – the second-largest score of his poker career.

Flight A frontrunner and Philippines National Cup champion Marco Espela made a third final table showing of the series, banking a further PHP 137,000 (~USD 2,330) for his ninth place finish and bringing his total festival haul up to over PHP 2.2 million (~USD 38,575), with the final table paying out as follows:

DOUBLE STACK FINAL TABLE RESULTS

South Korea’s Woo Kuk Lee narrowly missed out on making a third career APT final table appearance, earning PHP 114,000 (~USD 1,940) for tenth place.

Other notables to cash included Japan’s Hirotoshi Nakabo (11th for PHP 114,000), France’s Felix Favre (12th for PHP 99,000), Israel’s Ben Gur (19th for PHP 70,000), the Philippines’ William Ysmael (23rd for PHP 62,000), South Korea’s Wooseok Kim (25th for PHP 55,000), and the USA’s Nellie Park (42nd for PHP 35,000).

For Double Stack Final Day Player List please CLICK HERE

For Double Stack Results please CLICK HERE

All tournament information can be found on the Double Stack - Final Day tournament page.

Ireland’s Gary Thompson Leads Tours Largest & Richest Philippines APT High Roller

Ireland’s Gary Thompson bagged the chip lead in Day 1 of the APT High Roller

The PHP 200,000 APT High Roller - PHP 15,000,000 GTD attracted a record-breaking field of 134 (92 unique) high rolling entries, with the PHP 23,396,400 (~USD 397,740) prize pool generated making this the largest and richest Philippines APT High Roller in tour history.

Some of the games more formidable players fronted up the buy-in and battled at the baize. However many were unable to go the distance with high-calibre players such as the USA’s Alex Keating, former WSOPE champion Jack Sinclair, Natural8 Ambassador Yu Chung “Nevan” Chang, Philippines top ranked tournament player Marc Rivera, and two-time APT Main Event champion Mike Takayama just some of those who came up short.

It was Ireland’s Gary Thompson who enjoyed the rub of the green over the gruelling sixteen 40-minute levels played, which amounted to close to 12 hours of tournament grinding.

Thompson will be looking to go one better than his runner-up finish in the PHP 150,000 Event #43: Single Day High Roller as he aims to break the USD 1 million threshold in live tournament winnings.

With PHP 5,614,400 (~USD 95,445) up top for the eventual winner, that could well be a possibility should the Irishman continue to run as well as he did on Day 1.

For APT High Roller Prize Pool & Payouts please CLICK HERE

However, first Thompson must overcome the likes of Australia’s Alexander Lynskey and Daniel Neilson who both bagged top ten stacks, as did the USA’s Jordan Westmorland, and APT Taipei Poker Classic Main Event and APT Manila Zodiac Classic runner-up Abraham Ceesvin.

APT HIGH ROLLER DAY 1 TOP TEN STACKS

A total of 26 players remain in contention for the Final Day, although only 20 of them will be getting paid. Other notables still in the running include former Starcraft professional turned poker player Yohwan “BoxeR” Lim (315,000), two-time APT Main Event champion Lester Edoc (288,000), and the APT’s All-Time Money List #1 Joseph Cheong (188,000) who is coming in hot from his victories in the Superstar Challenge and Zodiac Classic.

For APT High Roller Player List please CLICK HERE

For APT High Roller Day 1 Survivors please CLICK HERE

For APT High Roller Final Day Draw please CLICK HERE

The Final Day gets underway at 11:15am local time on Thursday, November 7, where the remaining 26 players will battle it out for the award-winning bronze lion APT High Roller trophy. All tournament information can be found on the APT High Roller - Day 1 tournament page.

Marco Espela Hunting Second Series Title After Topping Tours Largest Philippines Mini Main Event

The Philippines’ Marco Espela tops a tournament starting flight for the third time this festival

It was the PHP 25,000 Mini Main Event PHP 5,000,000 GTD that proved to be the most popular draw of the day, with the tournament attracted a field of 320 total entries (213 unique) over the two starting flights setting a new country record for the event.

This generated a PHP 6,984,000 (~USD 118,730) purse—also an APT Philippine’s prize pool record for this event—with a total of 45 combined survivors making it through to the Final Day and the paying positions.

All returning players are guaranteed a payout of at least PHP 40,000 (~USD 680), but it is the PHP 1,374,000 (~USD 23,360) top prize—the largest this tournament has ever awarded in Manila—that all will be aiming for, in addition to the trophy and title.

For Mini Main Event Prize Pool & Payouts please CLICK HERE

For the third time this festival it is Marco Espela who summited the tournament leaderboard, with the Filipino cash grinder turned tournament professional topping the Flight B counts to return with the overall chip lead and a stack of 993,000.

Flight A front runner Georgios Skarparis

While Espela bagged the biggest stack it was Flight A that drew the largest field of the tournament’s two flights, with 164 entries (131 unique) anteing up and fighting it out at the felt.

It was bracelet winner Georgios Skarparis who bagged the biggest Flight A stack after eighteen 30-minute levels. The Cypriot will be returning for the Final Day with a stack of 729,000, which puts him fourth in the overall counts.

Taiwan’s Hao-Shan Huang (619,000), and the USA’s Elliot Damashek (556,000) rounded out the top three Flight A stacks, and the two will be returning for the Final Day with the sixth and seventh largest stacks respectively. A total of 23 players made it through from Flight A, with the top ten stacks as follows:

MINI MAIN EVENT FLIGHT A TOP TEN STACKS

For Mini Main Event Flight A Player List please CLICK HERE

For Mini Main Event Flight A Survivors please CLICK HERE

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

The second starting Flight B saw a further 156 entries (128 unique) in action, and in addition to Espela it was China’s Xiaohui Tan (846,000), and Japan’s Hirotoshi Nakabo the players to also bag big with the two returning second and third respectively in the overall pecking order.

A total of 22 players were successful in their quest to make the Final Day, with the top ten Flight B stacks as follows:

MINI MAIN EVENT FLIGHT B TOP TEN STACKS

For Mini Main Event Flight B Player List please CLICK HERE

For Mini Main Event Flight B Survivors please CLICK HERE

For Mini Main Event Final Day Draw please CLICK HERE

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

The 45 survivors from the two starting flights will combine for the Final Day, which gets underway at 11:15am on Thursday, November 7, with the tournament playing down to a champion.