There has been a bit of a lull in the World Poker Tour (WPT) Season XIII schedule since the WPT Borgata Poker Open, but never fear, the WPT National Events have come to fill the void. On Monday, the WPT National Philippines Main Event wrapped up, as Japan’s Tetsuya Tsuchikawa triumphed over a solid field of 385 players to capture the $156,849 first prize.
WPT Regional and National Events sort of fill in the gaps in the Tour’s schedule, offering poker players the chance to play in World Poker Tour-caliber tournaments, but at smaller buy-ins. They are similar in that regard to the World Series of Poker Circuit Events. Regional Events take place in the United States while National Events are held around the rest of the world. A number of National Events have taken place this month, including ones in Austria, Belgium, Spain, Marrakech, and the Netherlands.
So, for whatever reason, I have decided to write a quick article about the WPT National Philippines Main Event rather than any of those others. Maybe it was because the winner’s group picture was cute. I don’t know. But here it is.
At the outset of the six-handed final table, it was a very tight race, with four players between 1.515 million and 1.690 million chips. Our eventual champion was not one of those players, sitting in fifth place with 805,000 chips. Through the first few orbits, Tsuchikawa was active, but didn’t make much headway while Kevin Ang surged out to the chip lead with over 2.3 million chips. On the 26th hand of the final table, though, he doubled up through Andrew Gaw to jump up to 1.75 million while at the same time crippling Gaw. Gaw was out a few hands later.
After Tsuchikawa eliminated Douglas Olsson in fifth place, it was a two-man battle, Tsuchikawa in second place with 2.6 million chips and Ang in first with 3.23 million. From there, it got exciting. And by exciting, I mean just the opposite. According to a tweet by Tournament Director Matt Savage, a new World Poker Tour record was set as 23 consecutive hands failed to see a flop while the tournament was four-handed. Ok. Fun times, I guess. The streak was broken when Tsuchikawa eliminated Yuichi Sumida in fourth place, taking over the chip lead.
On the 98th hand of the final table, Ang knocked out Mun Fei Chow to go into heads-up against Tsuchikawa a bit behind, 3.62 million to 4.1 million.
Despite that narrow chip gap, the whole thing ended in two hands. Ang min-raised pre-flop and Tsuchikawa called. The flop was 7♦-6♣-3♠ and Tsuchikawa checked, Ang bet 160,000, Tsuchikawa check-raised to 410,000, and Ang made the call. On the turn A♥, Tsuchikawa bet 475,000 and Ang again called. Tsuchikawa slowed down when the Q♠ was dealt on the river, checking to Ang. Ang moved all-in and Tsuchikawa called. Ang showed 8♦-6♥ for just a pair – an apparent bluff. Interestingly, Tsuchikawa didn’t have much better, just T♠-7♠ for a slightly higher pair, but it was good enough to win the inaugural WPT National Philippines Main Event title.
2014 WPT National Philippines Main Event – Final Table Results
1. Tetsuya Tsuchikawa – $156,849
2. Kevin Ang – $109,794
3. Mun Fei Chow – $70,582
4. Yuichi Sumida – $52,283
5. Douglas Olsson – $39,212
6. Andrew Gaw – $31,370
* Tournament updates and info courtesy WPT.com.