This article first appeared in the Nov/Dec 2015 issue of WGM.
After a busy few months that saw me fly to Vietnam, return to Macau, across to Las Vegas for the World Series of Poker and back to Macau again, it’s been nice to stay close to home for a while with just two Asian Poker Tour (APT) events on Railbird Ronny’s radar – both of them in the Philippines.
First stop was the beautiful province of Cebu, where a number of records tumbled.
And who else should it be at the heart of the action? None other than three-time APT Player of the Year Sam Razavi!
Already on track for an unprecedented fourth consecutive POY title, Razavi took his dominance of the APT to absurd new levels in Cebu as he proceeded to win an incredible four side events! The Englishman won the Ante Up for Charity, PLO, Deep Stack Turbo and 6-handed events for a total of PHP502,500 (HK$84,700) in winnings.
It also proved to be a historic event for Norway’s Henrik Tollefsen, who became the first two-time APT Main Event champion following his previous success at APT Macau in 2013.
Tollefsen was one of 160 players to take their seat on Day 1 and quickly emerged as the one to beat as he surged into the chip lead and never strayed too far from his place near the top of the leaderboard.
He then managed to outlast a tough final table that boasted the likes of Japan’s Iori Yogo, who finished third, and runner-up Roger Spets to claim the title and a PHP1,717,000 (HK$289,790) payday.
From Cebu it was off to APT Manila at the beautiful Resorts World Manila, where Singapore’s Yah Loon won his first ever APT title and a top prize of PHP3,503,600 (HK$589,380).
Usually a cash game player, Loon showed great discipline to keep it tight and outlast a field of 341 players.
“I played at the Pavilion once and I actually bubbled but this is the biggest field I’ve played,” he said of his victory. “I just played my game, the way I would play in cash games. Because they see I am tight, I also bluffed several times and stole pots.”
The Asian Poker Tour rounds out 2015 with events in Cambodia and Vietnam before heading back to Manila for the APT Finale in the APT Poker Room.