MANILA, Philippines - Juan Jose Nasser ruled the fifth leg of the P10 million Philippine Poker Tour yesterday, outplaying unheralded Carlos Cortes in a see-saw showdown to pocket the P330,000 top prize at the Midas Touch Poker Sports Club in Pasig.
The 28-year-old Davaoeno, the overall chip leader at the start of the final table, went into the heads up duel slightly behind in chip count. He, however, took the first two pots to regain the upper hand, only to lose it to Cortes.
Nasser, more popularly known as Augie in the poker circle, then recovered brilliantly in the next two hands before delivering the final blow that gave him a berth in the Battle of Champions among all 10 leg winners in March next year. He also earned a seat in the Asian Poker Tour’s Asian Series Manila which began yesterday at the Resorts World Manila.
Finishing third worth P62,000 was Iranian student and Day 2 chip leader Ghesam Nejad followed by Ernie Batalla, Lester Edoc, Edwin Marzan, Martin Corpuz, Derek Leano, Oliver Diego and Rafael Gabriel in that order in the top 10.
Peter Albrecht topped the Head Hunter Bounty side event, defeating Jessie Leonarez in the heads up round to claim the P15,600 prize and the trophy. Jonathan Dimaculangan won the No Limit Hold’Em Freezeout at the expense of Giselle Raloto while Claude Bernacer, winner of the Ladies tournament in the fourth leg, bagged the Pot Limit Badugi side event.
The sixth leg of the nationwide series will be held at the Squeeze Poker Club in Angeles City Oct. 18-23.
The tour then moves on to Cebu and Davao and back to Cebu in the succeeding stages.