The Asian Poker Tour(APT) Asian Series Manila trophy spends the season at home as Mike Takayama overcame a huge chip disadvantage to win the crown. Entering the table with less than a Million chips in hand, his consitent play won him the title and PHP 3,453,000 top prize.
According to a Press Release by APT, here is an excerpt of the APT Manila action.
Takayama’s rise to the top began with a huge double up against Samad Razavi on a board showing A♠ 2♥3♣ 10♣ 4♣. Takayama had A♣ 10♠ for top two pairs against Razavi’s two pair of A♦ 2♠. With that win, he moved to the top of the chip count.
Shortly after, Takayama eliminated Raymi Sanchez in 4th place with his cowboys surviving against Sanchez’s A-8that did not find any light on the board. At the three-handed stage, Takayama started chipping away on Razavi and Jay Lubas‘ chips. He then claimed another hefty pot against Lubas that escalated his already massive pile of chips to around 4.5 million.
Takayama then railed Razavi in 3rd place with his A♦ J♠ landing a higher flush against Razavi’s A♣ 5♠on a board that ran 10♥ 10♠ 7♠ 6♠ 8♠. He then entered the heads up stage against Lubas with an overwhelming advantage of 6.2M chips versus Lubas’ 1M chips.
The heads up stage was not easy for Takayama who at one point doubled up Lubas when his pocket tens lost to Lubas’s full house on a board showing 7♦ K♠ 2♠ 8♥ 8♠. Lubas then started attacking Takayama’s stack and eventually stole the chip lead away from him. But that was short-lived. Takayama would not be affected and ruthlessly chipped away at Lubas’ stack until he reclaimed the lead and sealed the deal when his K♠ 8♥landed a dominating two pair on a board of 4♥ 8♠ J♠ K♦ 9♦.
Mike Takayama bagged the P3,453,000 first place purse and is the APT Asian Series Manila Main Event Champion!
The final prizes of the APT Manila Main Event are as follows-
| Rank | Player Name | Prize Money(PHP) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mike Takayama | 4,017,000.00 |
| 2 | Jay Lubas | 2,286,000.00 |
| 3 | Sam Razavi | 1,535,000.00 |
| 4 | Ray Sanchez | 1,078,000.00 |
| 5 | Dennis Huntly | 866,000.00 |
| 6 | Alex Lee | 686,000.00 |
| 7 | Emmanuel Imperial, Jr. | 539,000.00 |
| 8 | John Jay Magadan | 425,000.00 |
Here are the compiled results of the APT Manila
| Event | Winner | Country | Prize |
| NLH Re-Buys + 1 Add-On | Lim Dae Hoon | Korea | ₱202,000 |
| Ante Up for Charity | Kunal Shetty | India | ₱92,000 |
| Mix Game PLH / PLO | Bryan Huang | Singapore | ₱185,000 |
| Open Face Chinese Pineapple 60 Max | Jae Kyung Sim aka Simba | Korea | ₱111,300 |
| High Rollers | Feng Zhao | Singapore | ₱1,474,000 |
| Head Hunter | Gerard Bringley | USA | ₱522,500 |
| Ladies of Poker | Rosemarie Villamar | Philippines | ₱78,400 |
| No Limit Hold’em 1 | Kai Paulsen | Norway | ₱379,000 |
| Pot Limit Omaha Hi | Adam Monaghan | Australia | ₱233,800 |
| Deep Stack Turbo | SJ Kim | Korea | ₱204,600 |
| No Limit Hold’em 2 | Abdulrachman Niko | India | ₱644,200 |
| Ante Only Turbo | Lim Choo Kwang | Malaysia | ₱137,600 |
| Heads Up 64 Max | Lin Xiao Gang | China | ₱372,000 |
| Deep Stack Turbo | Ben Loo | Malaysia | ₱307,500 |
| 6 Handed | Nguyen Van Sang | Vietnam | ₱546,400 |
| Main Event | Mike Takayama | Philippines | ₱3,453,000 |