LOCAL FAVOURITE NEIL ARCE WINS 2009 ASIAN POKER TOUR PHILIPPINES!
SIX DAY MANILA POKER EXTRAVAGANZA DRAWS TO A CLOSE
Manila, Philippines - 1st February 2009 - 25-year-old Neil Arce sent the
local crowd wild with delight by taking down the 2009 Asian Poker Tour
Philippines at the
Dusit Thani Hotel in Manila. Arce conquered a field of 262 runners
representing over 40 countries to scoop the first prize of US$185,000.
The runner-up was Steve 'joonhee' Yea from South Korea who also finished
second at the 2008 Asian Poker Tour Macau in August 2008. Leading
Tournament Director Matt Savage oversaw the action in the $2500 + $200
Main Event which had a total prize pool of US$635,500 with 27 places
being paid.
"This is just great," said Arce, who is a well known figure on the
Filipino poker circuit through running the Metro Card Club in Manila. "I
always felt it would come down to me and Steve. For me the key to
winning the tournament was position. I was so lucky that Steve was sat
on my right - if he was on my left it would have been a completely
different final table. I played with Steve all day yesterday when he was
on a charge and kept out of his way. I knew that to get anywhere at the
final table I had to keep applying pressure and my game plan worked
perfectly."
Arce had been chip leader after Day 1A and had even guaranteed Asian
Poker Tour CEO Chris Parker before the event got underway that he would
emerge victorious in the tournament. He was third in chips at the final
table and faced some formidable opponents including the impressive Yea
and internationally respected professionals Liz Lieu and Asian Poker
Tour Macau 2008 finalist Kasey Castle. The key hand came just after the
talkative Arce had taken the chip lead from Yea. He showed willingness
over a series of hands to up the pre -flop aggression. On the final
hand, he made what had become a standard open for him of 100,000. Steve
Yea re-raised to 300,000. Arce moved all in and Yea called in a shot.
Arce held Ks Qs with Yea Ad Kh leaving Arce as 3 -1 underdog. The flop
came 4s 6c 7h and Yea was two cards away from a massive double up. Then
the turn came the Qh and the partisan crowd exploded. The river came 6h
which was of no use to Yea and the 2009 Asian Poker Tour Philippines had
itself a very popular champion! After two consecutive Asian Poker Tour
runner-up spots and a dominating performance over the last few days Yea
could only say, "next time I will do it," as he was commiserated by his
tight knit group of supporters. Live reporting, prize payouts and hand
specific details of the event can be found at http://www.asianpt.com/
and http://www.pokernews.com/live-reporting/
First out on the nine seat final table was Kim Tae Hyung from South
Korea, followed by Finland's Vesa Leikos. Glamorous US pro Liz Lieu went
seventh, followed by fellow American Ron Kluber and Japan's Susumu Toge.
Cicurel Didiwe from the Seychelles finished fourth and US pro Kasey
Castle in third. When it got heads-up Yea held the chip lead with
1,572,000 to Arce's 1,048,000. Notable cashes in the event include 12th
place for Nam Le and 13th place for his fellow member of The Poker Pack
Steve Sung. Australia's Michael Pedley finished 10th and Matchroom Sport
Director Eddie Hearn cashed in 16th.
Chris Parker CEO of the Asian Poker Tour said: "We would like to
congratulate Neil on his fantastic win and thank all the players for
making the 2009 Asian Poker Philippines such a successful event. We'd
also like to thank all our partners for making this all happen,
including the regulator PAGCOR."
"There were some tired eyes after the FHM/DafaPoker party but the
atmosphere around the final table was buzzing. Neil's win is fantastic
for poker in the Philippines - we hope that it strengthens the appeal of
the game even further."
Amongst those who were in the hunt for the title included Nam Le, Quinn
Do, David 'Chino' Rheem, Steve Sung and Kwang Soo Lee - all members of
the Asian Poker Tour's elite team of ambassadors - The Poker Pack - who
are currently in storming form on the international live circuit. They
joined a field that also included 2008 Asian Poker Tour Philippines
winner David Saab, 2009 Aussie Millions Highroller event winner David
Steicke, Michael Pedley, 2009 PartyPoker.com Irish Poker Championship
winner Rory Rees Brennan, Brian Huang, Ivan Tan, Andrew Scott and 1990
WSOP Main Event winner Mansour Matloubi. The Philippines was strongly
represented in the field including WSOP bracelet winner Toto Leonidas.
There were big contingents from South Korea and Japan, with 2008 Asian
Poker Tour Philippines runner up Chris Roh and Yea leading the charge
for South Korea and representatives from JBetPoker, Team J3PT and the
Japan Poker League making up a formidable Japanese contingent that
included Yasuhiro Waki and Yoshei Watanabe.
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