APT Philippines
Published on 5 February 2009
The Asian Poker Tour (APT) has returned in 2009 with the APT Philippines being contested in the Dusit Thani Hotel in the Filipino capital, Manila. The main event - which consisted of a starting field of 262 players - was won by Neil Arce, a resident of Manila who was awarded with $185,000 in prize money for his win.
Arce reached the final table together with three other Asian players – Steve Yea and Kim Tae Hyung of Korea together with Japan’s Susumu Toge. Casey Kastle of Slovenia, Ron Kluber and Liz Lieu both of the USA and Cicurel Didler of Switzerland as well as Finland’s Vesa Leikos completed the final table line-up.
As the final table began, Casey Kastle had the chip lead with Arce in second place at this stage. The first two players to be knocked out of the final table were eliminated in the two opening hands of play. Arce defeated Kim Tae Hyung into ninth place and Kastle sent home Finnish player Vesa Leikos who finished eighth.
Then, Steve Yea turned on the form eliminating Liz Lieu, Ron Kluber and Susumu Toge in succession. Neil Arce then knocked out Cicurel Didler into fourth place and Casey Kastle who had a good run but could only finish as high as third.
So, it was an all-Asian heads-up as Yea of Korea took on Arce on his home soil of Manila. At the start of the heads-up final Steve Yea had over 1.5 million chips compared with Arce’s chip count of just over 1 million.
Eventually, Arce took over the chip lead and from that point on he didn’t waste anytime in sealing victory. Yea could console himself though with a runners-up prize of $100,000.
This is only the second time that Arce has been in the money in a major poker tournament. The first time was in last year’s APT Philippines Main Event when he finshed 35th – this year he leaves as champion.
Here is how the final table ended with the players’ payouts in brackets:
Neil Arce ($185,000)
Steve Yea ($100,000)
Casey Kastle ($70,000)
Cicurel Didler ($46,000)
Susumu Toge ($36,000)
Ron Kluber ($30,000)
Liz Lieu ($22,000)
Vesa Leikos ($16,000)
Kim Tae Hyung ($12,000)
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