MANILA, Philippines - Dexter Bryan Luna came back from the brink of elimination in the final table to rule the Philippine Poker Tour’s inaugural leg at the Metro Card Club in Pasig Monday.
Luna, a 34-year old Makati businessman who started playing poker barely a year ago, defeated Joseph San Diego in a thrilling heads up contest to win it all and pocket the top P612,000 prize in the P1.7 million tournament.
The marathon 13-hour final day of 22 players ended when Luna’s suited AK clubs held over San Diego’ suited J9 clubs. The flop revealed a 3c Ad and 4h. San Diego needed a miracle to snatch the win but it never came as the turn showed an 8h and the river flashed a 2s.
“I just got lucky in the final stage,” said Luna who thus earned a seat in the Final Table of Champions in March next year. “You see anything can happen in poker. I never imagined winning this one especially for someone who just wanted to learn the art of bluffing a year ago.”
San Diego, who rued that he went card dead during the heads up, settled for P273,000 runner-up prize. Richard Tampepe, the overall chip leader at the start of the final day, finished third worth P106,000.
Also making it to the final table were Ian Brion, car dealer Jonathan Morales, Edwin Hui, Rey Villegas, Bernie Angeles and Westly Sioco.
A total of 341 entries joined the tournament which according to PPT founder lawyer Jojo Allado surpassed expectations.
The next leg is scheduled June 21-26 at Resorts World Manila followed by the third leg at Let’s All In Poker Club in Pasay on July 19-24. The series returns to Resorts World Manila Aug 9-14, back to Metro Card Club Sept. 13-18, and again at Let’s All In Oct. 25-30.
Allado said a leaderboard system offering cash rewards will be implemented to choose a PPT Player of the Year by yearend.