A showdown of chips & cash

MANILA, Philippines - The recently-concluded Asian Poker Tour 2009 at the Dusit Thani Hotel was a success. Players and guests were treated like kings and queens of the poker tables.

Everybody also witnessed the mastery and skills of the world poker superstars such as JC Tran, David “Chino” Rheem, Nam Le, Quin Do, Steve Sung and Kwang Soo Lee who played for the highly-anticipated Poker Pack. 

Celebrities also graced the event to play for their respective charitable institutions. Among them were Tessa Prieto-Valdes for Assumption Mission Schools, John Estrada (Cancer Patient Kids), Priscilla Meirelles (Red Cross), Antonio Aquitania (Kapuso Foundation), Gary Lising (Cribs Foundation), Eric Mana with Lara Morena (Operation Smile), Will Devaughn (Project Brave Kids), Troy Montero and Aubrey Miles (Help The Kids To Learn) and Vince Hizon (Vince Hizon Charity). The event might have been fun gathering for them, but they took their games seriously as if millions of cash prizes were up for grabs.

Members of the press also participated in the games. 

At the end of the day, it was hometown boy Neil Arce who took home the title as the Grand Champion of the Asian Poker Tour Philippines 2009 with P8-M.

The final day witnessed the showdown between Day 1A chip leader Arce against the Day 2A chip leader Steve Yeah from Korea. It was a battle of unexpected twists and turns. In the beginning, Arce was behind in chips to his Korean counterpart. But as the game progressed, Arce fought back on the heads-up battle and took over the chip lead against Yeah. 

“This is just great,” confessed Arce. “I always felt it would come down to me and Steve. For me, the key to winning the tournament was position. I was lucky Steve sat on my right — if he was on my left it would have been a completely different final table.”

Yeah, on the other hand, had to settle for another runner-up finish. Last year, he failed to snatch the grand title in Asian Poker Tour Macau from Yevgeniv Timoshenko, a Ukranian-born poker champ from the US. He is still considered, though, as one of the most promising young poker players in the world. 

The Asian Poker Tour Philippines 2009 was presented by iPoker Network, Titan, Dafa Poker, PKR, PartyPoker, Everest Poker, 888, JBet Poker, Japanese Poker League, 32 Red Poker, Microgaming Network and the National Poker League.