APT Super High Roller - Final Day - TWD 11,000,000 GTD

APT Taipei Poker Classic Super High Roller Champion Phanlert Sukonthachartnant

Thailand's Phanlert Sukonthachartnant has won the TWD 300,000 APT Super High Roller for TWD 5,793,950 (~$183,385) after beating his countryman Thanisorn Saelor during an interesting heads-up battle. The two men from Thailand made an ICM deal heads-up before they continued to determine who would go home with the silver APT lion. This event generated a prize pool of TWD 22,392,450 (~USD 709,295). Sukonthachartnant came out on top of the 81 entries (57 unique) field. Thanisorn Saelor had to settle for second banking an amazing TWD 4,740,500 (~$150,040) to his bankroll.

Sukonthachartnant responded via a translator after his win: “Thank you to all the players who supported me, and all the support from the Thai poker community, I'm so happy and pleased to win."

APT Super High Roller Final Table Payouts

With 18 players that managed it into Day 2, it was Thailand’s Thanisorn Saelor who led the leaderboard with other notables such as Ethan Yau, Chih Wei Fan, Lester Edoc, Punnat Punsri , and Joshua McCully all in pursuit of glory.

The first few levels were extremely thrilling with just eleven spots being paid, as nobody wanted to bubble. At last, it was burst by Taiwan’s Chi Wei Fan and France’s Charles Waymel in the three-way all-in-hand with Thailand’s Thanisorn Sailor. Fan’s ace-ten ran into Waymel’s ladies and Saelor's pocket kings. Saelor would knock out both players during this hand, which meant the shorter stack Chi Wei Fan was the bubble. At the same time, Charles Waymel also busted but received a min-cash of TWD 560,000 (~$17,725).

After Joshua McCully was sent to the rail in 10th place after running his jacks into the queens of Kyosuke Nagami. Not much later, Nagami would follow McCully to the rail when he busted out in 8th place.

USA's Vincent Rubianes, a regular at APT, saw his hopes of lifting his first APT lion go up in flames after Saelor sent him to the rail when the Thai spiked a three with king-three to defeat Rubianes his ace-king. Rubianes banked TWD 1,075,000 (~$34,025) for his 7th place. A few hands later, the last American standing, Ethan "Rampage" Yau, was eliminated by UK's Jack Maskill. Rampage was down to 8 big blinds when he called off Maskill's jam with king-queen of spades, but couldn't hit the board against Maskill's ace-nine of hearts.

In 5th place, we would lose our first Thai of the SHR final table in Natural8 ambassador, Punnat Punsri. The high roller specialist ran his ace-nine into the pocket kings of Swedish high-stakes cash game regular Mikael Andersson. Punsri won TWD 1,747,000 (~$55,285) for his 5th place finish.

Jack's Maskill's run ended in 4th place, cashing for TWD 2,206,000 (~$69,810) when his nine-eight of heart lost the crucial coinflip against the pocket sevens of Sukonthachartnant. At the final three, Saelerled the way with 47 big blinds, while Andersson sat on 29 big blinds, and Sukonthachartnant was in 3rd place with 26 big blinds.

A clash between Andersson's king-queen and Sukonthachartnant's ace-ten meant the end of the road for Andersson in this SHR as the flop came an ace. The Swede shook his opponent's hands with a big smile, and why wouldn't he, as his deep run just earned him TWD 2,866,000 (~$90,650).

Thailand's runner-up Thanisorn Saelor

Before the heads-up began, the two players from Thailand agreed to do an ICM deal. In the final hand of the day, Sukonthachartnant coolered Saelor as both players made a runner-runner flush. Sukonthachartnant flush with eight high was enough to defeat Saelor and deny his countryman his second APT lion trophy. Instead, Sukonthachartnant won the event, claimed his first APT lion, and moved into 4th place on the Thailand all-time money list.

Tomorrow, the poker action at the APT Taipei Poker Classic continues with Day 1B of the Main Event and the $25,000 Superstar Challenge as highlights of the day.

This live reporting blog was brought to you by Life of Poker.