APT Finale Philippines 2018: Iori Yogo, Kosei Ichinose, and Jae Wook Shin among the final winners

The Asian Poker Tour wrapped up their last event of the calendar year with the ten-day APT Finale Philippines 2018 at Resorts World Manila. The event ran from November 27 to December 6. Among the players to claim the last of the trophies was Japanese pro Iori Yogo. Also finishing strong was Kosei Ichinose who not only won a second event, he also topped the APT Player of the Series race.

Iori Yogo wins the Championships Event

The Championships Event ended with a very familiar face on the winner’s stage, Japanese pro Iori Yogo. Yogo is a regular at the APT circuit and has shelved numerous trophies. Yogo overcame the 71 player field of the Championships Event to become the first to win this event twice. He claimed PHP 2,872,800 (US$54,700) which may not be his single largest career payout but so far it is the single largest for the year.

2018 has been a profitable one for Yogo at the APT. In addition to this victory, he won the Championships Event in April and the Main Event in August. He has now accumulated over US$1.2M in live tournament winnings.

Payouts
Prize pool: PHP 10,330,500 – Buyin: PHP 165,000 – Entries: 71 – ITM 12 places

1st Iori Yogo – Japan – PHP 2,872,800
2nd Anthony Thong Boon Tee – Malaysia – PHP 1,915,100
3rd Bobby Zhang – Australia – PHP 1,337,100
4th Aditya Sushant – India – PHP 973,300
5th Lim Yohwan – Korea – PHP 735,600
6th Roger Spets – Sweden – PHP 574,900
7th Henrik Tollefsen – Norway – PHP 463,000
8th Andrew Nguyen – USA – PHP 383,000
9th Jin Yong – Malaysia – PHP 324,000
10th Takao Shimizu – Japan – PHP 277,300
11th Jim Bonanno – Guam – PHP 237,000
12th Masaki Fujitani – Japan – PHP 237,000

Kosei Ichinose wins #2 at the Monster Stack and wins Player of the Series

With already one series title under his belt for the Short Deck High Rollers, Kosei Ichinose went on to win the Monster Stack event. He overcame the 117 runners to claim the PHP 693,400 first prize. Ichinose was the only player to win two events at the finale.

Final 8 payouts
Prize pool: PHP 2,837,200 – Buyin: PHP 27,500 – Entries: 117 – ITM: 20 places

1st Kosei Ichinose – Japan – PHP 693,400
2nd Tan Chong – Singapore – PHP 462,300
3rd Luen Hei Kwok – Hong Kong – PHP 322,800
4th Joshua Chargualaf – USA – PHP 234,900
5th David Chargualaf – USA – PHP 177,600
6th Amanpreet Singh – India – PHP 138,800
7th Aditya Sushant – India – PHP 111,800
8th Sebastian Wong – Singapore – PHP 92,500

Throughout the series, Ichinose cashed in four events:

• 6th – Main Event
• 1st – Short Deck High Rollers
• 1st – Monster Stack
• 3rd – Pot Limit Omaha Hi

This earned him enough points to win the APT Player of the Series title. He was awarded the APT Player of the Series Cup, Ring, an exclusive luxury watch, and US$800.

The Player of the Series also awarded the next two down the rung. These went to Lim Yohwan (2nd place) and Mike Takayama (3rd place). Both of them did not champion an event but ran deep in several to capture the respective POS trophies and US$100.

Lim Yohwan’s stats:

• 2nd – Main Event
• 5th – Championships Event
• 5th – NLH Single Day (Shot clock)
• 9th – Deep Stack Hyper Turbo

Mike Takayama’s stats:

• 2nd – APT-RWM Opening Event
• 7th – High Rollers
• 3rd – MegaSportsWorld Deep Stack Turbo
• 9th – WeLoveSport Deep Stack Turbo

Jae Wook Shin wins the High Rollers Single Day

Korean player Jae Wook Shin adds another big score before the close of the year. In May, he placed 2nd at the Manila Megastack Main Event for over US$46,500. Last night, he won PHP 1,493,800 (US$28,300) at the High Rollers Single Day event besting ten other highly decorated players that included Mike Takayama, Bobby Zhang, Lester Edoc, and Lim Yohwan. This was Shin’s first APT win since May 2016.

APT in 2019

Next year looks to be another strong year for the brand with twelve dates already announced. A first-ever stop in Tokyo and Taiwan have been added. Both take place in February 2019. The kickoff will once again be in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam from January 9 to 20.