The APT Experience Manila, one of the most exciting events on this season’s Asian Poker Tour schedule, took place on May 14-22 at the specially designated APT Poker Room Manila at Waterfront Manila Pavilion, a hotel and casino venue located in the beautiful capital of the Philippines.
In every poker festival, no matter whether major or a smaller one, the Main Event is considered to be the highlight tournament, the one to be drawing the most attention. Things were no different during the APT Experience Manila. The APT Experience Manila 2016 PHP50,000 Main Event took place from May 17 to May 21 and attracted a field of 127 entries.
Korean player Gyeong Byeong Lee took down the event’s field to scoop not only the first-place prize of PHP1,574,000, but also the championship trophy, and the special championship ring. Lee captured the title after absolutely dominating the official eight-handed final table and eliminated half of its opponents during eight-handed play.
The eventual champion entered Day 4, the Main Event’s final one, second in chips. And it took him just one quick elimination to take the lead and never relinquish it. It was Danish player Michael Kim Falcon to become the first finalist to fall victim to the unstoppable Lee. He took home the amount of PHP219,000 for his 8th place in the tournament.
Local player Chris Mateo was the next to be eliminated by Lee. His share of the prize pool totaled PHP262,000. Start-of-the-day chip leader Linh Tran from Canada was responsible for the next elimination. He busted Korean player Jae Chul Chang in 6th place with the later taking home the amount of PHP317,000.
Jeon Seung Soo, yet another Korean at the final table, was the next to go. He was busted in 5th place by UK’s Gabriel Carter. The two players were the short stacks at the time of Soo’s elimination. And speaking of Soo, he received PHP385,000 for his efforts.
Tran then hit the rail in 4th place, after he could not make it against Tomoyasu Arai from Japan. Tran was paid PHP465,000 and Arai extended his lead over Lee. However, the eventual champion won several big pots against both Carter and Arai. Then, he eliminated the Englishman in 3rd place and secured himself with the lead. As for Carter, he collected a payout of PHP637,000.
As two-handed play started, Lee was holding almost 75% of all chips in play. However, winning the tournament title was not an easy task as Arai turned out to be a tough opponent. On the last hand in play, Arai moved all in with [Ah][Js] against Lee’s [10d][10h]. The board ran out blanks for Arai and he had to settle for a consolation prize of PHP921,000.
