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Sahil Agarwal finishes 2nd in APPT Manila High Roller

Manila has always been a preferred location for Indian poker players and the Asia-Pacific Poker Tour’s (APPT) recent tournament series at Manila was an exceptionally good one for the Indian contingent. The series concluded yesterday, with Indians cashing out in different tournaments on the final day as well.

One major tournament that was wrapping up yesterday was Event #19: APPT High Roller – Shot Clock & Big Blind Ante Event. The 2-day tournament had a buy-in of PHP 200,000 (~INR 2.6 lakh) and the 124 registered entries saw a massive prize pool of PHP 22,131,520 (~INR 2.88 crore) being generated.

This prize pool allowed the top 17 players to be paid out a minimum cash prize of PHP 347,000 (~INR 4.52 lakh) but all the players in contention would’ve had their eyes on the top prize. At the end, it was Hong Kong poker pro, Hon Cheong Lee, who shipped the tournament, for PHP 4,676,260 (~INR 60.94 lakh).

Two Indian players did particularly well in this tournament. Sriharsha Doddapaneni finished in 9th place for PHP 553,000 (~INR 7.2 lakh), after also finishing as India’s best ranked player (43rd) in the APPT Manila Main Event a day before. He was the best of the eight Indians who cashed in the Main Event.

Bettering Sriharsha’s run in the High Roller was Sahil Agarwal, who made it to heads-up again Lee, and the two players agreed on a deal, being almost similar in chip stacks. Agarwal took his live poker earnings past the $200k mark, with his prize of PHP 4,656,260 (~INR 60.66 lakh), which was by far his best career live cash. Agarwal also finished 84th in the Main Event.

Popular pro and India’s first WSOP bracelet winner, Aditya Sushant was also a part of the High Roller, but he was busted in 18th and ended up becoming the bubble boy. Ironically, he was sent to the rail by Agarwal himself, whose Ace-Jack turned out to be better than Sushant’s pocket Nines.

Final table results:

1. Hon Cheong Lee – PHP 4,676,260 (~$87,953)
2. Sahil Agarwal – PHP 4,656,260
3. Konstantin Pogodin – PHP 2,446,000
4. Maxim Befus – PHP 2,025,000
5. Randy Lew – PHP 1,633,000
6. Yilin Yang – PHP 1,288,000
7. Xin Fan – PHP 985,000
8. Jae Wook Shin – PHP 741,000
9. Sriharsha Doddapaneni – 553,000

After a great outing in Manila, these pros will now be looking at bigger prizes in upcoming Asian and world poker events. You can keep following their progress here on GutshotMagazine.com.

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