The Asia Pacific Poker Tour (APPT), one of the leading tours on the Asian circuit, concluded its eleven day run. The premier poker festival took place from July 27 to August 6, 2023 at the world class Okada Manila Hotel and saw players from all over the world to battle for the 39 trophies on display.
The festival generated an impressive PHP 204.1 Million (USD 3.6 Million) in prize pool. While we saw several big names in participation, topping the headlines was China`s Yuanning Wu who shipped the record-breaking PHP 65K APPT Manila Main Event for a whopping PHP 11,414,730 in top prize.
The Main Event saw players from all over the world, resulting in a staggering in 1,354 entries and creating a new APPT Manila record prize pool of PHP 76,832,730. The event had a dream ending for China’s Wu who emerged as the victor to win his debut APPT title. He not only earned a whopping PHP 11,414,730 but also headed home with package worth PHP 105,000 to an upcoming APPT tour.
Also making mark in the main event was India’s Vasa Kaushal who finished 29th for PHP 312,000. Srinivas Polishetty (36th for PHP 269,000), Bagaria Raj Vardhan (54th for PHP 226,000), Haney Daryanani (120th for PHP 120,000) & Chirag Sodha (188th for PHP 102,000) also cashed the event.
Final Table Payouts (PHP)
- Yuanning Wu – PHP 11,414,730*
- Christopher Mateo – PHP10,000,000*
- Gyuhyuk Lee – PHP5,501,000
- John Tech – PHP4,074,000
- Nino Pansier – PHP3,184,000
- Riku Sasahara – PHP2,398,000
- Archie Mariano – PHP1,833,000
- Thomas Ward – PHP1,301,000
Featuring among the other prominent winners from the series were UK’s Ashley Patterson (Event #2: PHP 20K APPT Kick-Off for PHP 2.02 Million), Singapore’s Dingxiang Ong (Event #9: PHP 35K APPT National forPHP 2.20 Million), Philippines’ Mike Takayama (Event 25: PHP 500K APPT Super High Roller forPHP 2.59 Million), South Korea’s Wooram Cho (Event 45: PHP 250K APPT High Roller for PHP 3.57 Million), and Japan’s Yuki Honjo (Event 47: PHP 15K APPT Mini Main Event for PHP 1.15 Million), all etching their names on the victor’s stage in marquee side events of the mega series.
Team India
In a remarkable display of skills, Indians scored over a dozen of cash finishes in the series. Chirag Sodha and Asish Ghosh headlined the list of Indian cashes. Chirag cashed an impressive three tournaments, namely Event 34: PHP 65K APPT Manila Main Event (188th for PHP102,000), Event 39: Knockout Turbo [PHP5K Bounty] Freezeout (7th for PHP 63,000) and Event 50: Last Chance Super Hyper Turbo (19th foPHP 16,000). On the other hand, Ghosh cashed Event #2: PHP20K APPT Kick-Off (87th for PHP 31,500) and Event 11: Knockout Turbo [PHP5K Bounty] Re-entry (13th for PHP 24,600).
Vasa Kaushal (29th in Event 34: PHP 65K APPT Manila Main Event for PHP 312,000, Srinivas Polishetty (36th in Event 34: PHP 65K APPT Manila Main Event for PHP 269,000), Bagaria Raj Vardhan (54th in Event 34: PHP 65K APPT Manila Main Event for PHP 226,000), Haney Daryanani (120th in Event 34: PHP 65K APPT Manila Main Event for PHP 120,000, Mahek Jagrut (61st in Event #2: PHP 20K APPT Kick-Off for PHP 35,500), Animesh Jah (17th in Event 10: PHP 15,000 NLH Re-Entry for PHP 25,700), and Chirag Shah ( 13th in Event 28: Deepstack Re-entry for PHP 55,000) also cashed the series.