APPT Manila Goes To Van Marcus

Published on 17 Nov 08 11:06 by Weirutz

285 players overall generated a prize pool of $542,856 at the PokerStars Asia Pacific Poker Tour (APPT) in Manila. Amongst the last nine participants was also the Team PokerStars Pro Lee Nelson.

Lee Nelson had entered Day 1B of the PokerStars Asian Pacific Poker Tour Manila with several other greats of the poker scene. However, many of them quickly dropped out of the field of 136 players for that day.

Early Eliminations of some Pros

Carter Gill already had to clear his seat in the second blind level when he went all-in with 57 on the flop of 724. His opponent, however, showed 67, the board didn't help Gill, and he had to join the rails.

John Phan also had to leave early on. Short-stacked, he pushed his remaining chips across the line with on the board of after hitting a pair of sevens and drawing for the flush. The Dane Henrik Hvidberg called immediately and showed . The river with the didn't give Phan any of his outs and so sealed his early elimination.

Chip Lead for Tasha Ellis after Day 1B

Meanwhile, the biggest hand of the day was played by Englishwoman Tasha Ellis. With she managed to kick three players out of the tourney who held , TT and 99. Already the flop of gave her the ace and so the top pair. Turn and river had no further influence.

Based on this hand she was able to extend her chip stack over the course of the day and finished the second starting day as the chip leader with 112,100 chips.

Together with the survivors of Day 1A, 77 players joined the tables on the following Day 2.

APPT Manila

Main Event Period of time:
13.11. - 16.11.2008

Buy-in:
$2,350

Participants:
285

Prize pool:
$542,856

On the Road to the Final Table

Team PokerStars Pro Lee Nelson was rather short-stacked when he joined the table with exactly 32,000 in chips. However, he was able to double through quickly after winning with against the pocket kings for his opponent.

Other tables also saw their share of action. Especially happy was probably Van Marcus. On the board of he held a set with and moved all-in. However, his hopes got crushed when the Swede Daniel Nordstrom flipped over for the higher set. Marcus already stood up and got ready to join the rails when the dealer turned over the last card: !

After this, things continued to go well for Marcus. A short time later, he sent David Saab to the rails who held . Marcus had , and they held up on the board of , giving him the temporary chip lead. Driven on by this, he continued playing very aggressively and was able to build up a good starting position for the last day.

Lee Nelson was able to collect further chips as well. With pocket queens he flopped a set and took another player from the table.

Tasha Ellis, chip leader of the second starting day, was eliminated as twelfth and so shortly before reaching the final table. The two chip leaders of the first starting day, Michael Shell and Chang Yong Suk, had completely different experiences throughout their day. Shell already left his table on rank 25, while Chang Yong Suk extended his chip stack constantly and joined the final table as second in chips.

Decisions at the Final Table

On the final table, he had a rather promising start and was a clear chip leader for some time. However, after losing several pots against the very aggressively playing Van Marcus, Suk had to join the rail as fourth. Lee Nelson was eliminated even earlier, finishing sixth.

This final table attracted attention in another way, however. With only three players left at the table, the game became very tight and tedious. It took over four hours until one player had to join the rail and the heads-up could begin, but it definitely did not re-invent the word "action" either! Tae Jun Noh and Van Marcus trudged around so that an APPT tournament saw the 27th blind level for the first time ever. During three more hours, they seemed to simply move their chips back and fourth. Several railbirds had literally fallen asleep already when the final hand was played at 4:30 AM local time.

It was once again Van Marcus who needed a slice of luck to win the pot. On the flop of , he put his opponent all-in. Tae Jun Noh called and showed for the top pair. Van Marcus flipped over for the open-ender. Already on the turn came the , giving Marcus the straight and so the tournament win. For his first place, he received $162,856.

Below now the final table:

APPT Manila Main Event The Final Table
Rank	Name	Prize money
1	Van Marcus	$162,856
2	Noh Tae Jun	$103,142
3	Hyoung Jin Nam	$54,285
4	Chang Yong Suk	$37,999
5	Ramil Tandoc	$29,314
6	Lee Nelson	$21,714
7	Manish Sansi	$16,285
8	Benjamin Lim	$12,485
9	Rainier Aquino	$9,228