APC: Lee Seok Young tops Day 1C; 37 advance out of 112 entries; Ashley De Guzman wins the Deep Stack Turbo

The crowd continued to grow at the Asia Poker Championship with 112 entrants drawn to the Metro Card Club for Day 1C. By day’s end, the field thinned to just 37 players. Korea’s Lee Seok Young bagged up the biggest stack of 349,000, which was equivalent to over eight starting stacks. Young overtook Day 1A chip leader Joemark Vasay for the overall third position in the Day 2 list while Day 1B chip leader Federick Cruz maintained high command. Other players advancing in Day 1C were WSOP bracelet winner / reigning APC champion Mike Takayama, Malaysian player William Teoh, 2018 RVS Cup champion Marco Almerez, Norwegian pro Henrik Tollefsen, and notable locals Christopher Mateo, Maxwell Philippe Rosete, and Vamerdino Magsakay.

Lee Seok Young

Day 2 qualifiers: 70 players

Chips in play: 9,680,000
Average stack: 138,285
Day 1A: 10 advanced out of 48 entries
Day 1B: 23 advanced out of 82 entries
Day 1C: 37 advanced out of 112 entries
Cumulative entries: 242
Cumulative qualifiers: 70 players

The survivor list has grown to 70 players. They have to wait out two more entry heats before getting back on the felt on Saturday, August 13 at 6pm for Day 2. Up next is Day 1D which gets rolling on Friday, August 12 at 1pm. Buy in is Php 44,000 with unlimited re-entries. Attempting for multiple stacks is allowed however only the largest stack moves forward.

A repeat reminder, changes have been made to registration and level duration. To give players ample chances at the hefty pot, registration will stay open throughout Day 1, closing before the first deal of Day 2. Day 1D blinds increase at a slower 45 minute pace. This is followed by Day 1E (Turbo) which will see blinds increase every 20 minutes.

Day 1D: Friday, August 12 @1pm
Day 1E (Turbo): Saturday, August 13 @11am

Starting stack: 40,000
Opening blinds: 100 – 100
Format: BB Ante

All players with chips at the end of Level 11 bag up and return on Saturday, August 13 at 6pm. Day 2 will play out six levels or to ITM whichever comes first. Change has also been made to the payout structure. Players will be happy to know that more players will see the money. The event now pays out 12% of the field.

For players that make it to Day 3, which takes place on Sunday, August 14 at 1pm, there will be a rollback to a 30 BB ratio and a seat draw. Same goes for the Final Table on Monday, August 15 at 1pm. The final table will also see blinds increase at a slow 60 minute pace and it will revert from BB Ante format to a Regular Ante format. The final table will also be streamed live on the Metro FB page.

Side Events

Filipino player Edilberto Gopez emerged as the first side event champion after he took down the Mystery Bounty tournament. Gopez outlasted the 93 entrants to pocket the sweet Php 267,100 first prize. In addition, he earned 8 secret bounties amounting to Php 190k for a combined score of Php 457,100.

Buy in: Php 16,000
Entries: 93
Main prize pool: Php 930,000
Bounty pool: Php 465,000
ITM: 11 places

Next side event champion was Ashley De Guzman who shipped the Deep Stack Turbo. De Guzman topped the 90-entry field to claim the Php 409,500 first prize. This was his first ever recorded live tournament victory.

Buy in: Php 16,500
Entries: 90
Prize pool: Php 1,350,000
ITM: 11 places

While waiting for the starting days to complete, why not try out the side events. You may just bump up your bankroll and take home an APC trophy. We’ve listed the events below. Make sure to check the schedule for the starting times. At the time of writing the Power Button was in progress.

Power Button – Thursday, August 11 – Php 11,000 (in progress)
No Limit Hold’em – Friday, August 12 – Php 11,000
High Roller – Sunday, August 14 – Php 110,000
Monster Stack – Monday, August 15 – Php 22,000

Brief history of the APC

The APC is a fairly young series. Its first run at the Metro was in 2020 with entry at half of today’s price. Despite the heavily populated local turnout, the event was a huge success, seeing 429 entries to more than double the Php 5M guarantee. After a four-way ICM deal, Noel Araniel became the first champion for a career high score of Php 1,525,877, however a significantly larger payout went to third placer Martin Gonzales amounting to Php 2,238,066.

Two years later, the second edition was held in June 2022. The buy in was bumped up to Php 44,000 and the guarantee was raised to an ambitious Php 20 Million. Unlike previous, the event was in collaboration with KMGM. This produced a huge turnout of 544 entries, mostly Koreans and Filipinos. The guarantee was also exceeded to a larger Php 21,107,200. Metro Team Pro / WSOP bracelet champion Mike Takayama shipped it for a massive US$ 6,000,000 reward.