14 Aug APC edges over guarantee; Hwang Seong Il and William Ysmael close Day 2 with massive stacks
Another smashing success for the Asia Poker Championship as Day 1E (turbo flight) drew 95 entries for a cumulative 502 entries and a prize pool just over the Php 20 Million guarantee. This heat was followed by Day 2, which closed with 66 players, two of them knocking on a million in chips. Well known Korean player Hawng Seong Il bagged up the chip lead of 962,000 and Philippine player William Ysmael trailed with 926,000. Other notables into the next stage were defending APC champion Mike Takayama, 2019 APC champion Noel Araniel, Day 1B chip leader Federick Cruz, local high roller Florencio Campomanes, rising young gun Vamerdino Magsakay, recent Metro Card Club 2M champion Jason Kyle Magbanua, and local pro David Erquiaga.
Coming Day 3, which gets underway on Sunday, August 14 at 1pm, the first race will be to the money with 60 gunners guaranteed pay. This means, six players will walk away empty handed. Once the cash is intact, they play down to the Final 8. Fans and railbirds can catch the conclusion live at the Metro on Monday, August 15 starting at 1pm or you can kick back on the couch and watch the live stream on the Metro’s FB page.
Date: August 9 to 15
Buy in: Php 44,000
Guarantee: Php 20,000,000
Entries: 502
Prize pool: Php 20,080,000
ITM: 60 places
Payouts: TBD
End of Day 2 survivors: 66 players
| Last Name/First Name | Table | Seat | Chips |
| Hwang Seong Il | 23 | 2 | 962,000 |
| Ysmael William | 21 | 1 | 926,000 |
| Gopez Edilberto Jr | 17 | 6 | 777,000 |
| Tabucal Ivanchev | 26 | 4 | 712,000 |
| Cruz Federick | 22 | 4 | 634,000 |
| Almusajin Mark Jerick | 26 | 8 | 587,000 |
| Park Inho | 27 | 1 | 529,000 |
| Campomanes Florencio | 24 | 4 | 517,000 |
| Jang Jung Su | 23 | 4 | 512,000 |
| Shin Kyeong Rim | 26 | 2 | 510,000 |
| Tan Ryan | 26 | 5 | 448,000 |
| Kim Seon Jong | 21 | 5 | 429,000 |
| Oh Se Kyung | 25 | 8 | 427,000 |
| Chin Min Weng | 22 | 5 | 425,000 |
| Venoza Jerico | 27 | 3 | 410,000 |
| Bueza Michael | 24 | 7 | 406,000 |
| Galvez Renniel | 23 | 9 | 392,000 |
| Kim Kyung Pyo | 25 | 3 | 384,000 |
| Magsakay Vamerdino | 26 | 7 | 375,000 |
| Choi Kyong Min | 17 | 4 | 345,000 |
| Kim Ju Won | 27 | 8 | 326,000 |
| Espela Marco | 23 | 5 | 309,000 |
| Park Lae Chul | 27 | 4 | 306,000 |
| Catalig Jeremy | 26 | 3 | 304,000 |
| Park Je Young | 22 | 8 | 302,000 |
| Pak Seok Won | 21 | 2 | 290,000 |
| Huerto Joven | 17 | 9 | 287,000 |
| Takayama Mike | 25 | 2 | 285,000 |
| Lee Seok Young | 24 | 2 | 280,000 |
| Javier Jimmie | 21 | 7 | 279,000 |
| Cho Young Jin | 22 | 7 | 272,000 |
| Kitchen Jody | 25 | 4 | 271,000 |
| Erquiaga Dave Jansen | 22 | 9 | 265,000 |
| Aban Leonard | 17 | 1 | 259,000 |
| Kim Hyun Kyu | 24 | 1 | 238,000 |
| Kim Da Hye | 21 | 8 | 237,000 |
| Kim Min Ku | 21 | 6 | 234,000 |
| Yoon Wook | 25 | 5 | 232,000 |
| Villanueva Jr Renato | 21 | 4 | 230,000 |
| Magbanua Jason Kyle | 24 | 6 | 227,000 |
| Villa Hernan Jaybee | 24 | 5 | 225,000 |
| Mangaliman Benjie | 23 | 6 | 213,000 |
| Min Yu Jung | 27 | 6 | 213,000 |
| Araniel Noel | 27 | 2 | 209,000 |
| Yoon Ji Won | 24 | 8 | 177,000 |
| Lai Alexander | 23 | 8 | 175,000 |
| Castillo Richard | 23 | 1 | 170,000 |
| Chua Christopher | 17 | 8 | 169,000 |
| Seo Chun Ho | 23 | 3 | 166,000 |
| Brion Adrian | 17 | 2 | 166,000 |
| Lagatuz Jeorge | 17 | 3 | 158,000 |
| Pamplona Junnie | 27 | 9 | 154,000 |
| Lu Ferdinand | 22 | 6 | 154,000 |
| Jeong Hyunhee | 25 | 1 | 150,000 |
| Vasay Joemark | 24 | 9 | 150,000 |
| Cho Sunil | 26 | 9 | 146,000 |
| Almerez Marco | 27 | 7 | 146,000 |
| Oh In Taek | 17 | 7 | 130,000 |
| Angeles Aron Pj | 23 | 7 | 127,000 |
| Castillo Ellezer | 27 | 5 | 122,000 |
| Kim Hanyul | 25 | 6 | 118,000 |
| Gomez Raymundo | 24 | 3 | 113,000 |
| Sia Joseph | 26 | 1 | 98,000 |
| Ablola Wilfredo | 17 | 5 | 92,000 |
| Cheung Jose Marquez | 21 | 9 | 59,000 |
| Boller Line | 22 | 2 | 52,000 |
Chips in play: 20,080,000
Average stack: 299,701
Day 3 structure
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 place
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
On Thursday night, Elmer Kalaquian came out on top at the Power Button side event. This was his first victory in three years. He pocketed a cool Php 223,596.
Entries: 90
Prize pool: Php 900,000
ITM: 11 places
Entries: 110
Prize pool: Php 1,100,000
ITM: 13 places
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.
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