APC: Day 1B sees Federick Cruz advance as chip leader; 23 out of 82 entries bag up

Filipino player Federick Cruz delivered an outstanding performance at the Metro Card Club. Not only did he bag the chip lead at Day 1B of the Asia Poker Championship, Cruz also overtook Day 1A leader Joemark Vasay to claim the overall Day 2 top spot. Since live poker events were given the green light this year, Cruz has been seen crushing heats and reaching multiple final tables. At Day 1B, he amassed 409,000 which was equivalent to a staggering 10 starting stacks. In several days, Cruz will enter Day 2 with 163 BB. Also having a great day was Korea’s Min Ku Kim who bagged up 370,000 to take second rank. Down several notches was inaugural APC champion Noel Araniel with 211,500. Other notables making it through were RVS Cup champion Christopher Chua, Metro Team Pro Czardy Rivera, and young gun John Matsuda. Day 1B drew 82 entries with 23 surviving the 11 rounds.

Day 2 qualifiers: 33 players

Chips in play: 5,200,000
Average stack: 157,575
Day 1A: 10 advanced out of 48 entries
Day 1B: 23 advanced out of 82 entries
Cumulative entries: 130
Cumulative qualifiers: 33 players

The 33 combined survivors have several days off before returning on Saturday, August 13 at 6pm for Day 2. They await the results of the next three starting days. Buy in is Php 44,000 with unlimited re-entries. Attempting for multiple stacks is allowed however only the largest stack moves forward.

A couple of things to keep in mind, 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 1 blinds now increase at a slower 45 minute pace except for Day 1E (Turbo) which increases every 20 minutes.

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

Starting stack: 40,000
Opening blinds: 100 – 100
Format: BB Ante
Day 1A – Day 1D level duration: 45 minutes
Day 1E level duration: 20 minutes

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.

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

More side events to take down. This is a great way to bump up your bankroll and take home an APC trophy while waiting for the starting days to complete. We’ve listed the events below. Make sure to check the schedule for the starting times. At the time of writing the Deep Stack Turbo was in progress.

Deep Stack Turbo – Wednesday, August 10 – Php 16,500 (in progress)
Power Button – Thursday, August 11 – Php 11,000
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 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.