Chun Yuan Chen Storms To Victory At APT Challenge

China’s Chun Yuan Chen stormed to victory at the Metro Card Club, capturing the APT Challenge title in commanding fashion. From start to finish, Chen dominated the final table. After knocking out Mandeep Singh in 4th place, a three-way ICM deal was reached with Chen locking up the biggest share. He earned a payout deal of PHP 629,027 + PHP 160,359 that was set aside for the eventual champion, and won a seat worth PHP 85K to the APT Manila Main Event.

In collaboration with the Asian Poker Tour, the APT Challenge 5M GTD kicked off on October 9 with six entry flights across four days attracting 599 entries. With buy in at PHP 10,000 (~US$ 175), it breached the guarantee for a prize pool of PHP 5,450,900 (~US$ 92,245).

Buy in: PHP 10,000 (~US$ 175)
Guarantee: PHP 5,000,000 (~US$ 87,365)
Entries: 599
Prize pool: PHP 5,450,900 (~US$ 92,245)
ITM: 86 players

Final Table Payouts

*Three way ICM deal reached

In addition to the champion, 2nd and 3rd placers – Badrudin Ampatuan and Tracy Crisostomo – also won a seat to the upcoming APT Manila Main Event.

You can relive the final table race to the top via the Metro Card Club Livestream channels on the Metro Facebook Page and Metro YouTube.

Final Day rundown

The final day of the APT Challenge brought the return of the final 18 players with three APT Main Event decorated players in the lineup – Lester Edoc, Czardy Rivera, and Renniel Galvez. Leading up to the final table, 2024 Batang Metro champion Mark Jerick Almusajin fell in 16th place, followed out shortly after by Moises Esparagoza in 13th place, then Thomas Young busted in 10th place to form the final table.

While all three APT champions made the cut, it was quickly down to two after Lester Edoc fell in 9th place. Edoc nosedived on a failed bluff. Galvez was booted  in 7th place and Czardy Rivera settled for 5th place. As mentioned above, Chen eliminated Mandeep Singh in 4th place and an ICM deal was reached.

It took just over half an hour for Chen to close it out. Second biggest stacked Tracy Crisostomo was outdrawn into 3rd place with {qh}{10h} straight at the flop for Chen over {kh}{jd} two pair for Crisostomo on a board {ks}{jh}{as}{qd}{9s}. On the first heads up hand, Chen dominated with {9c}{9s} over Badrudin Ampatuan‘s {6s}{6d} on a brick board.

Congratulations to the newest champion Chun Yuan Chen!

Anthony Castro Wins The Closer Event 

The last side event of the festival was The Closer Event with 55 runners taking interest. Anthony Castro wrapped it up to claim the PHP 73,485 top prize plus a seat worth 12,000 to the APT Manila National Cup.

Buy in: PHP 5,000
Entries: 55
Prize pool: PHP 235,235
ITM: 8 places