The Asian poker felt has seen some of the finest Indian performances in 2015. Team India has made a remarkable presence in every tournament winning titles and making several final-table and cash finishes. The streak of success continued in the APPT Season 9 Manila with 6 money finishes in 5 days of action. Team Thrill pro Dhaval Mudgal’s runner-up finish in the Event 6: ₱5,000 NLH Freezeout has been the highlight of the tournament for Team India so far. He bagged the runner-up cash prize of ₱138,180 in this event.
Dhaval started off with a deep run in Event # 2: ₱20,000 Deepstack NLH but missed the money finishing 10th (7 places paid. However, he continued his good run in the Event 1: Warm-Up event placing 22nd for ₱29,900. Dhaval’s fellow Team pro member Shravan Chhabria won also made into the money finishing 36th for ₱24,900. Dhaval also min-cashed in the Event 5: ₱2,500 KO Bounty. Another Indian player, Nikhil Agarwal won ₱24,900 finishing 32nd in the same event. In the Event 4: Deepstack PLO Champion, Rohit Bhalla made a final table finish (6th) bagging ₱69,700.
Team India at APPT 9 Manila has grown bigger and stronger with Adda52 Team Spades pros Amit Jain & Aditya Sushant joining the contingent for further events in the series.
Event 1: Warm-Up
The inaugural event of APPT 9 Manila drew 570 entries across 3 flights and Alex Lee of Malaysia went on to clinch the trophy on Day 2. Alex took home ₱1,082,200 in top prize with the APPT trophy. In the final hand, Lee’s Q♣8♠ dominated Edmil Marcelo’s 6♣5♣ on the board of A♦3♣3♠Q♥2♠. 3 Indian players – Dhaval Mudgal, Shravan Chhabria and Nikhil Agarwal made it to the money list of this event. Here are the final table results:
| Position | Player (Country) | Prize (in PHP) |
| 1 | 1st Alex Lee (Malaysia) | 1,082,200 |
| 2 | 2nd Edmil Marcelo (Philippines) | 671,800 |
| 3 | 3rd Yen Han “Pete” Chen (Chinese Taipei) | 415,500 |
| 4 | 4th Peter Ronn Baterina (Philippines) | 317,000 |
| 5 | 5th Lester Edoc (Philippines) | 218,900 |
| 6 | 6th Collin Ho (Singapore) | 174,200 |
| 7 | 7th In Sin (South Korea) | 141,800 |
| 8 | 8th David Lee (USA) | 119,400 |
| 9 | 9th Fu Bang “Pipi” Huang | 99,500 |
Event # 2: ₱20,000 Deepstack NLH
Fu Bang ‘Fubo’ Huang outplayed a short field of 58 players in the ₱20,000 Deepstack NLH event winning the trophy with the top prize of ₱340,040. Juyoung Lee of Korea finished runner-up bagging ₱216,300 in cash prize. From Team India, Dhaval finshed 10th place, 3 short of money. Here are the final table results:
| Position | Player (Country) | Prize (in PHP) |
| 1st | Fu Bang ‘Fubo’ Huang (Chinese Taipei) | ₱340,040 |
| 2nd | Juyoung Lee (Korea) | ₱216,300 |
| 3rd | Renan Morales (Philippines) | ₱144,200 |
| 4th | Maroto Takahashi (Japan) | ₱113,300 |
| 5th | Victor Raul Onoja Perez (Peru) | ₱82,400 |
| 6th | Iori Yogo (Japan) | ₱72,100 |
| 7th | Yen Han ‘Pete’ Chen (Chinese Taipei) | ₱61,800 |
Event # 3: ₱2,000 Rebuy Champion
Out of 102 entries in this event, Hideki Takafuji from Japan triumphed the battle to win the ₱155,500 in first place prize. Takafuji beat Hui Yao of China in the heads-up to win the title. 12 players who made it to the money are:
| Position | Player (Country) | Prize (in PHP) |
| 1 | Hideki Takafuji (Japan) | (₱155,500) |
| 2 | Hui Yao (China) | (₱105,600) |
| 3 | John Tech (Philippines) | (₱70,400) |
| 4 | Alex Ward (UK) | (₱55,700) |
| 5 | Sam Aik Chuan Nee (Malaysia) | (₱44,000) |
| 6 | Anton Chernykh (Russia) | (₱38,100) |
| 7 | Brian Gibbons (UK) | (₱32,300) |
| 8 | Woochul Cho (Korea) | (₱26,400) |
| 9 | Jinduk Kim (Korea) | (₱20,500) |
| 10 | Mikhail Oleinikov (Russia) | (₱14,756) |
| 11 | Kenny Lim Teck Wee (Brunei Darussalam) | (₱11,700) |
| 12 | Nelia Nepomoceno (Philippines) | (₱11,700) |
Event 4: Deepstack PLO
Charles Esteban of Philippines grabbed the top place earning him ₱268,720 with the APPT event title. 10 players were paid out of 76 entries in this tournament. From Team India, Rohit Bhalla placed 6th bagging ₱69,700. Here are the players making it to money:
| Position | Player (Country) | Prize (In PHP) |
| 1 | Charles Esteban (Philippines) | 268,720 |
| 2 | Eugene Co (Philippines) | 179,100 |
| 3 | Iori Yogo (Japan) | 119,400 |
| 4 | Xiao Chuan Zhang (China) | 99,500 |
| 5 | Maria Carmen Esdaile (Philippines) | 79,600 |
| 6 | Rohit Bhalla (India) | 69,700 |
| 7 | Edison Marzan (Philippines) | 59,700 |
| 8 | Rolf Galasen (Norway) | 49,800 |
| 9 | Bohan Xiao (China) | 39,800 |
| 10 | Watai Yuichi (Japan) | 29,900 |
Event 5: ₱2,500 KO Bounty
The bounty event saw 251 players joining the battle making a prize pool of ₱410,634 and ₱125,000 in bounties. See Ming Siong of Singapore topped the field to clinch the trophy and ₱83,000 in top prize. Dhaval Mudgal min cashed in this event placing 26th out of 27 ITM players. Here are the final table results:
| Position | Player (Country) | Prize (In PHP) |
| 1 | See Ming Siong (Singapore) | ₱83,000 |
| 2 | Si Yan Phua (Singapore) | ₱60,000 |
| 3 | Soo Ghee Lim (Singapore) | ₱60,000 |
| 4 | Alexis Lim (Philippines) | ₱32,800 |
| 5 | Renato Villanueva (Philippines) | ₱25,900 |
| 6 | Roberto Cruz (Philippines) | ₱20,500 |
| 7 | Victor Raul Onoja Perez (Peru) | ₱16,400 |
| 8 | Maxim Doronin (Russia) | ₱13,334 |
| 9 | Almond Cabral (Philippines) | ₱10,300 |
| 10 | Johnnie Saksvik (Norway) | ₱8,200 |
Event 6: ₱5,000 NLH Freezeout
192 players vied to win form the prize pool of ₱838,080 in this event. Dhaval Mudgal ran deep in this event and was up against Jose Drilon in the heads-up. In the end it was Jose winning the trophy with top prize of ₱209,400. Dhaval bagged ₱138,180 for the runner-up finish. Here are the top 10 money-finishers:
| Position | Player (Country) | Prize (In PHP) |
| 1 | Jose Drilon (Philippines) | 209,400 |
| 2 | Dhaval Mudgal (India) | 138,180 |
| 3 | Hideki Takafuji (Japan) | 88,000 |
| 4 | Daisuke Ikeda (Japan) | 71,200 |
| 5 | Diana Tan, (Philippines) | 56,600 |
| 6 | Samad Razavi (UK) | 46,100 |
| 7 | Kenji Kurashina (Japan) | 37,700 |
| 8 | Anton Chernykh (Russia) | 29,300 |
| 9 | Iori Yogo (Japan) | 20,900 |
| 10 | Noel Araniel (Philippines) | 16,800 |
₱50,000 Main Event will start on August 06 and will run till August 09. The winner of the main event will get HK$100,000 entry to 2015 ACOP Main Event along with the top prize. Stay Tuned to OPN India for further updates on APPT 9 Manila.