Twelve players, led by the flamboyant Wally “The Dream” Sombero, were given their Golden Coins as their entries into the APPT-Manila Main Event during the PBT APPT Level 2 Satellite last August 18.
Before the tournament, the atmosphere outside the Le Salon ballroom was that of a reunion, with friends seeing other friends that have been out of the poker circulation for one reason or another, and stories being bandied about. Most of Manila’s top players were in attendance, trying to get to the APPT Main event though the event. But as the players made their way into the ballroom, the action was hot and heavy right off the bat as even Eduardo Uy, PBT co-founder but only a player that day, went all-in on the second hand of the tournament. With the flop reading J,9,6 with two clubs, Uy’s all-in was called and was in good shape with his top two pair against his opponent’s nut-flush draw, having a 2-1 advantage going into the turn. But when the turn gave a club, Uy’s tournament life was at stake and he was a 9-1 dog with only four cards to save him but wouldn’t you know it, he spiked a 9 on the river giving him a full house and seriously crippling his opponent who was left with 500 of his original stack of 15,000.
As each player has an option for an add-on until the end of the third level, players awaited the calculation of the prize pool to see how many of them are going to go to the biggest poker tournament in the Philippines to date. As players frantically cajoled players who hadn’t added on yet as the time dwindled during level three, they were not sure if their efforts were going to be effective. Only after the break did the players received confirmation that there were indeed 12 of them going to the main event of the APPT. Each of the seats costing US$ 2,500 and represented by a Golden Coin, designed and made specifically for the event.
Bad beats abound as the size of the field gave rise to exotic hands, with full houses being beat by other full houses and the like. Tight play was the order of the day especially as the tournament wore on. Tables were quickly collapsed as players were eliminated. With two tables remaining, the tournament director asked for the redrawing of seats to give all players a fresh table. A slower pace greeted the top 20 as tight players became tighter. Spectators were excited with all-in declarations but were dashed as most were not met with other players all-ins.
With 14 players remaining, PBT-regular “M.M.” pushed all-in at the small blind position with his A-7 but bumped into big blind and PBT-original Harvey Ty’s pocket aces. As they said, it was all over but the crying as Ty was a 93% favorite going into the community cards. “M.M.” was eliminated when none of the sevens he needed came up but the case Ace did make an appearance on the river much to his chagrin.
Before the tournament, the atmosphere outside the Le Salon ballroom was that of a reunion, with friends seeing other friends that have been out of the poker circulation for one reason or another, and stories being bandied about. Most of Manila’s top players were in attendance, trying to get to the APPT Main event though the event. But as the players made their way into the ballroom, the action was hot and heavy right off the bat as even Eduardo Uy, PBT co-founder but only a player that day, went all-in on the second hand of the tournament. With the flop reading J,9,6 with two clubs, Uy’s all-in was called and was in good shape with his top two pair against his opponent’s nut-flush draw, having a 2-1 advantage going into the turn. But when the turn gave a club, Uy’s tournament life was at stake and he was a 9-1 dog with only four cards to save him but wouldn’t you know it, he spiked a 9 on the river giving him a full house and seriously crippling his opponent who was left with 500 of his original stack of 15,000.
As each player has an option for an add-on until the end of the third level, players awaited the calculation of the prize pool to see how many of them are going to go to the biggest poker tournament in the Philippines to date. As players frantically cajoled players who hadn’t added on yet as the time dwindled during level three, they were not sure if their efforts were going to be effective. Only after the break did the players received confirmation that there were indeed 12 of them going to the main event of the APPT. Each of the seats costing US$ 2,500 and represented by a Golden Coin, designed and made specifically for the event.
Bad beats abound as the size of the field gave rise to exotic hands, with full houses being beat by other full houses and the like. Tight play was the order of the day especially as the tournament wore on. Tables were quickly collapsed as players were eliminated. With two tables remaining, the tournament director asked for the redrawing of seats to give all players a fresh table. A slower pace greeted the top 20 as tight players became tighter. Spectators were excited with all-in declarations but were dashed as most were not met with other players all-ins.
With 14 players remaining, PBT-regular “M.M.” pushed all-in at the small blind position with his A-7 but bumped into big blind and PBT-original Harvey Ty’s pocket aces. As they said, it was all over but the crying as Ty was a 93% favorite going into the community cards. “M.M.” was eliminated when none of the sevens he needed came up but the case Ace did make an appearance on the river much to his chagrin.
The blinds escalation was frozen and the game went into hand-for-hand mode as there were only 13 players remaining and spectators and players alike were going back and forth from the two remaining tables and a cheer erupted when Halo player Garry Gaw went all-in. Giving some thought and counting his opponent’s chips, Sombero quietly contemplated the call, because a wrong call would see him lose about 40% of his healthy chip stack. The crowd was silent and then joyous as the Dream said “call,” and Gaw showed his A-7 to which gave way to some “Oohs” from the spectators but when Sombero showed his A-Q suited, everyone began to cheer for the Dream to finally end the tournament. With no help from the flop, turn nor the river, Gaw was unlucky 13 and the Level 2 Satellite was over and the remaining 12 players gave each other high fives, hugs and congratulatory hand shakes (in case they didn’t know each other).
With the win on the last hand, Sombero was declared the champion of the tournament based on his amassed chip which was over 400,000. Doctor Ronald “Doc Butch” Javier, another original PBT player, came in second and was the chip leader in the other table. Relatively unknown D. Carmona wound up with the 3rd most chips for the tournament and 3rd place for his efforts. Ty, Nok Atienza, Actress Jenny Hernandez, Eric Mendoza, Dennis Gamboa, Philip Abadilla, Shaun Bradley, Ronnel Sto. Tomas and newbie Dex Ong (in his first poker tournament!!) round out the magic 12.
With the win on the last hand, Sombero was declared the champion of the tournament based on his amassed chip which was over 400,000. Doctor Ronald “Doc Butch” Javier, another original PBT player, came in second and was the chip leader in the other table. Relatively unknown D. Carmona wound up with the 3rd most chips for the tournament and 3rd place for his efforts. Ty, Nok Atienza, Actress Jenny Hernandez, Eric Mendoza, Dennis Gamboa, Philip Abadilla, Shaun Bradley, Ronnel Sto. Tomas and newbie Dex Ong (in his first poker tournament!!) round out the magic 12.
We would like to thank all the players for their support in every and all PBT endeavors, because without you guys there wouldnt be a PBT. To Pokerstars.com for giving us the chance to prove ourselves, to PAGCOR's poker department especially to SMH Mabuhay Rosero for giving us the guidnace to be successful in this event, to the Hyatt Casino Filipino especially SBM JB Bangsil and Hyatt Hotel's GM Godfried Bogensperger and their rest of his tireless staff because without them this tournament would never been as successful and lastly to the dealers of Metro Asia, who were baptised in fire in this event but proved themseleves as capable poker dealers (but then again, I knew they could do it).
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