The APT Finale eventually found a new champion in Korea’s SJ Kim who outlasted all final 8 players yesterday at the APT Finale Macau 2016 Main Event, winning HKD 647,300 the first place prize and the APT Championship Ring. 
Kim’s win has not been easy so far. When the final 8 play kicked off yesterday, Kim was sitting on the second spot with 2,720,000 in chips. However, he played well, losing and gaining at some occasions. He also doubled up China’s Xie Wei Jian when his Ad-Ks lost to Ac-Qs after a queen showed up on the board. By this time, India’s Praveen Dwarkanath in 8th place. His As-8h were beaten by Luo’s Js-Js on a board that read 5c-Ks-9s-10c-2d. He earned HKD 70,800 for his efforts.
In a quest to climb up, Kim succeeded in railing China’s Yuan Hang Zhong in 7th place. But very soon, his stack took a beating again with Zheng raking it up in multiple times. After China’s Xi Xiang Luo was eliminated in 6th place, Zheng and Kim kept on slugging it out until Kim got a game-changing double up with his 3s-3h set to beat Zheng’s Ad-10h on a board of 7d-3d-2c-9c.5c. When the table was down to 4 players, Yunye eliminated Jian in the 5th place. With this win, Yunye’s stack soared up, but after a few hands only, Kim snatched all that from Yunye. In an interesting hand, Germany’s Steffen Endres moved all in with his short stack. Kim called and action moved to Yunye who also went all-in. Zheng folded and Kim made a call. Endres had 7c-7s, Yunye had Kc-Kh, and Kim with Ad-Ac. When the board completed, it was a double elimination, leading Kim into the heads-up match finally.
The heads-up match began between China’s Yifan Zheng and SJ Kim from Korea. After several small pot exchanges preflop between them, the final hand saw Yifan Zheng move all-in and Kim make a snap-call. Zheng held 5d-5c, but Kim had a better pair 10d-10h. The board came Ks- Js- 2s- 3s- Qs, giving Kim the 2016 APT Finale Macau title.
When asked how he felt, “I had so many chips, I was so happy, I felt I was going to win it.”
Final 8 Payouts:
1st Soojo Kim – Korea – HKD647,300
2nd Yifan Zheng – China – HKD369,500
3rd Lu Yunye – China – HKD249,000
4th Steffen Endres – Germany – HKD175,600
5th Xie Wei Jian – China – HKD141,500
6th Xi Xiang Luo – China – HKD112,700
7th Yuan Hang Zhong – China – HKD89,100
8th Praveen Dwarkanath – India – HKD 70,800
India`s Praveen Dwarkanath Finished 8th, Vivek Rughani Cashed out for 27th Place Finish
The 2016 APT Finale Macau has been a good festival from India’s point of view. India`s Praveen Dwarkanath who started Day 3 as the chip leader entered the final 8 with 660,000 in chips placing him sixth among the 8 finalists. He had a good run all through the event. However, after couple of bad bumps on the final day, he ended up finishing in the 8th place, taking home HKD 70,800. Among the other Indian players who impressed at the APT Finale Main Event was Vivek Rughani from Ahmedabad in Gujrat, who cashed HKD23,600 from his 27th place finish.