APT: Neil Arce Wins Philippines Main Event

MANILA, Philippines (1 February, 2009) – Neil Arce won the Asian Poker Tour Philippines $2,500 no-limit hold’em main event on Feb. 1, and took home $185,000 for topping a field of 262 players. The heads-up showdown between Day 1A chipleader Arce and Day 1B and Day 2 chipleader Steve Yeah came into the showdown as the Filipino was behind in chips to the Korean, 1,572,000 to 1,048,000.

On the final hand, Arce again made a move for Yeah’s chips with a 100,000 raise, Yeah raised $300,000, Arce moves all in and Yeah quickly calls.  To Arce’s dismay, his Ks Qs was completely dominated by Yeah’s Ad Kh. Then came the  flop of 4s 6c 7h, as the crowd gasped, the dealer made the turn and it was…Queen of Hearts! Finally as the dealer made the burn and it came up 6h, Arce was mobbed by his friends and supporters and the heads up action came to an end!

Here is a look at the chip counts when things got started at the final table:

Seat 1: Ron Kluber (USA) — 310,000
Seat 2: Cicurel Didier (Switzerland) — 182,000
Seat 3: Steve Yea (South Korea) — 754,000
Seat 4: Vesa Leikos (Finland) — 94,000
Seat 5: Neil Arce (Philippines) — 377,000
Seat 6: Kim Tae Hyung (South Korea) — 168,000
Seat 7: Susumu Toge (Japan) — 102,000
Seat 8: Liz Lieu (USA) — 144,000
Seat 9: Casey Kastle (Slovenia) — 503,000

Heads-Up Chip Counts

Steve Yea: 1,570,000
Neil Arce: 1,050,000

The Asian Poker Tour has been licensed by the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation. The Asian Poker Tour is supported by the iPoker Network, Titan, Dafa Poker, PKR, PartyPoker, Everest Poker, 888, JBet Poker, Japanese Poker League, 32Red Poker, Microgaming Network and the National Poker League. Full details can be found at http://www.asianpt.com/