Asian Poker Tour -- Neil Arce Wins Philippines Main EventSteve Yea Finished Second Again as Arce Walked Away with $185,000 |
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Neil Arce won the Asian Poker Tour Philippines $2,500 no-limit hold’em main event on Feb. 1, and he took home $185,000 for topping a field of 262 players. The stop in Manila that was hosted at the Dusit Thani Hotel was the first of 2009 for the APT, and it featured seven events in all, including a celebrity charity tournament that kicked things off on Jan. 27. Arce defeated 2008 APT Macau runner-up Steve Yea in the final heads-up battle. The final table was a quick one, lasting just three hours, while Arce booked his victory. Joining Arce and Yea at the final table were professionals Liz Lieu and Casey Kastle. Arce played strong throughout the event, he finished day 1A with the chip lead and he took the third-largest chip stack into the final table.
The field of 262 players produced a prize pool worth $635,500, with $185,000 of that going to Arce. It should also be noted that members of the APT-sponsored Poker Pack, Nam Le and Steve Sung, made deep runs and cashed in the event. Sung finished in 13th place, and he took home $7,000, and Le finished in 12th place and took home $8,000. Here is a look at the chip counts when things got started at the final table:
Seat 1: Ron Kluber (USA) -- 310,000
Seat 2: Cicurel Didier (Switzerland) -- 182,000
Seat 3: Steve Yea (South Korea) -- 754,000
Seat 4: Vesa Leikos (Finland) -- 94,000
Seat 5: Neil Arce (Philippines) -- 377,000
Seat 6: Kim Tae Hyung (South Korea) -- 168,000
Seat 7: Susumu Toge (Japan) -- 102,000
Seat 8: Liz Lieu (USA) -- 144,000
Seat 9: Casey Kastle (Slovenia) -- 503,000
The first two hands at the final table produced two eliminations. Arce eliminated Kim Tae Hyung in ninth place ($12,000) on the first hand, and then Kastle eliminated Vesa Leikos in eighth place ($16,000) on the second hand of play. With the final table down to seven players, Yea got active and he grew his stack to 850,000. He then held pocket queens when Lieu moved all in for 100,000. She was eliminated in seventh place and took home $22,000.
Yea went on to score the next two eliminations after that, as well. He knocked out Ron Kluber in sixth place ($30,000), making an ace-high diamond flush on the turn against him. Susume Toge was Yea’s next victim, falling in fifth place ($36,000) with just 10-4 in the hole against Yea’s ace-high. Arce got back into the act and put a halt to Yea’s momentum when he flopped an ace with A-5 in the hole against the pocket jacks of Cicurel Didier to knock him out in fourth place ($46,000).
Kastle put up a good fight for third place, winning a couple of pots early against Yea and Arce, but his stack soon dwindled down to 133,000, which he moved all in preflop holding A-K. Arce called him down with A-6, and the board ran out J-6-5-10-3 to knock Castle out of the tournament in third place ($70,000).
Heads-Up Chip Counts
Steve Yea: 1,570,000
Neil Arce: 1,050,000
Arce took the lead in the heads-up match in one of the biggest hands at the final table. Yea raised 30,000 from the button, and Arce made the call. The flop was dealt 10
8
3
, and both players checked. The turn fell 9, and Arce checked. Yea bet 32,000, and Arce check-raised to 100,000. Yea made the call, and the river brought the Q. Arce led out for 80,000, and Yea raised to 280,000. Arce made the call and flipped over J 10. Yea mucked when he discovered his opponent’s straight, and he was knocked down to 800,000.
Arce now held 1,700,000, and he quickly slammed the door on his final opponent. Arce raised to 100,000 preflop, and Yea reraised to 300,000. Arce moved all in, and Yea made the all-in call. Yea turned over A K, and Acre flipped up K
Q. The board ran out 7 6 4 Q 6, and Yea was eliminated in second place ($100,000). That made Arce the last man standing in Manila, and he won $185,000 in first-place prize money. This was the second career cash for Arce; he finished in 35th place at last year’s APT Philippines main event.
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