The $2,700 Main Event of the Asian Poker Tour’s (APT) Philippines stop wrapped up on Sunday from the Dusit Thani Hotel in Manila. A total of 262 players representing 40 countries from around the world descended upon the bustling Asian city and, when the smoke cleared, local pro Neil Arce took home $185,000 for the win.
Arce told APT officials following his major tournament victory, “This is just great. For me, the key to winning the tournament was position.” Sitting to Arce’s right, and thus acting first in most hands, was Steve “joonhee” Yea, the runner up in last year’s Macau APT Main Event. Arce explained, “I was so lucky that Steve was sat on my right. If he was on my left, it would have been a completely different final table. I played with Steve all day yesterday when he was on a charge and kept out of his way. I knew that to get anywhere at the final table, I had to keep applying pressure and my game plan worked perfectly.”
Arce emerged as the chip leader on Day 1A and, entering the tournament’s final table, held the third largest stack; he began heads-up play as a 3:2 chip underdog. The final hand pitted Arce’s K-Q against Yea’s A-K all in pre-flop. Despite being a sizeable statistical underdog, Arce spiked a queen on the turn, sealing the win. The top 27 players in Manila cashed. They included:
1st Place: Neil Arce, $185,000
2nd Place: Steven Yea, $100,000
3rd Place: Casey Kastle, $70,000
4th Place: Didier Cicurel, $46,000
5th Place: Susumu Toge, $36,000
6th Place: Ron Kluber, $30,000
7th Place: Liz Lieu, $22,000
8th Place: Vesa Leikos, $16,000
9th Place: Kim Tae Hyung, $12,000
10th Place: Michael Pedley, $8,000
Chris Parker, Chief Executive Officer of the Asian Poker Tour, commented in a press release distributed on Sunday, “We would like to congratulate Neil on his fantastic win and thank all the players for making the 2009 [APT] Philippines such a successful event. Neil’s win is fantastic for poker in the Philippines. We hope that it strengthens the appeal of the game even further.” Arce runs the Metro Card Club in Manila and has gained fame for his success on the local poker tour.
The APT’s ambassadors, who have grown in number since the Macau event concluded, participated in the festivities in the Philippines. The group now includes Nam Le, Quinn Do, David “Chino” Rheem, Steve Sung, and Kwang Soo Lee. Rheem was an inaugural member of the World Series of Poker “November Nine,” who played out the final table of poker’s most prestigious tournament after a 117 day delay. WSOP officials recently announced that the final table will once again occur in November this year. Rheem ultimately finished seventh in the tournament, which was won by 22 year-old Danish player Peter Eastgate. Rheem took home $1.7 million and has over $2.2 million in career WSOP earnings.
Others who played in the APT tournament were reining APT Philippines winner David Saab, 2009 Aussie Millions preliminary event winner David Steicke, PartyPoker Irish Poker Championship victor Rory Rees Brennan, 1990 WSOP Main Event winner Mansour Matloubi, and WSOP bracelet winner Toto Leonidas. The event is scheduled to be televised before the end of the year.
The APT is owned and operated by AsianLogic, which is traded on the London Stock Exchange under the symbol “ALOG.” The company also owns Megasport Casino, Dafa888, Asian Casino, Zipang Casino, and Tila Casino. AsianLogic is also the majority owner of the online sports book MegaSportsWorld.
