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Marco Almerez wins APT Finale Opener

Yesterday saw the Asian Poker Tour (APT) Finale’s APT-RWM Opening Event come to an end with the champion being crowned on the same day. The event, attracting a field of 220 entries, had a guaranteed prize pool of PHP 1 million (~INR 13.47 Lakhs) but was crushed, creating a PHP 2,134,000 (~INR 28.76 Lakhs) fresh prize pool.

The PHP 11,000 buy-in event had top 37 places cashing out. The chip leader entering the final day was Taiwan’s Chi Hung Ho aka ‘Logan’ with 581,000 chips among the 8 at the Final Table but unfortunately he didn’t see it till the end and cashed out at 5^th place. Ho’s chip lead was followed by the first Filipino WSOP bracelet winner Mike Takayama’s 425,000 chips. Takayama made it far enough to face the champion in heads-up.

Philippines’ very own Marco Almerez shipped the event after battling it out with his 4^th position chip lead at the start of the day. He cashed out PHP 445,800 (~INR 6 Lakhs) as first place money. Almerez is a relatively unknown player in the scene, this being his biggest live win of his career. He also previously ranked high in the RVS CUP, the largest local tournament hosted at the Metro Card Club every year.

Almerez overcame this big to win this title. This is his maiden APT trophy and looking at his improved gameplay, we can expect many more titles to fill his bag. He also stands at the top in the leaderboard of the APT Player of the Series. He may also go on to win other titles in the series, looking at this incredible performance he just gave.

Along with this, the Main Event of the series was also being hosted simultaneously, where India’s Aditya Sushant survived Day 1A of the event.

Final Table Pay-Outs –

1. Marco Almerez – PHP 445,800
2. Mike Takayama – PHP 297,300
3. Czar Ian Marcos – PHP 207,600
4. John Carlo Sayo – PHP 151,100
5. Chi Hung “Logan” Ho – PHP 114,200
6. Tomohiro Tanaka – PHP 89,200
7. Si Yang Phua – PHP 71,900
8. Rio Kitaoji – PHP 59,500

Keep reading GutshotMagazine.com for more updates on the APT Finale and general poker news from around the world.

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