Wilson Lim Takes Down APPT Manila Main Event for $243,324
A total of 1,364 entries were gathered in the APPT Manilla Main Event ₱20 Million Guaranteed at the City of Dreams Manila Resort and Casino and only 41 remained at the start of Day 3. When the final curtain came down it was Wilson Lim taking home the prestigious APPT Main Event Trophy, an astounding ₱12,970,000 first place prize, and the PSPC Platinum Pass worth $30,000 USD. Lim bested Yuan Chao Li in a heated heads-up battle and the runner-up received a respectable ₱7,960,000 for his efforts.
Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize (₱) | Prize (USD) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Wilson Lim | Singapore | ₱12,970,000 | $243,324 |
| 2 | Yuan Chao Li | China | ₱7,960,000 | $149,334 |
| 3 | Bin Zhang | China | ₱4,745,000 | $89,019 |
| 4 | Samuel Welbourne | United Kingdom | ₱3,438,000 | $64,500 |
| 5 | Jiang Ho Huang | Singapore | ₱2,318,000 | $43,487 |
| 6 | Sebastian Wong | Singapore | ₱1,664,000 | $31,217 |
| 7 | Daesoon Kang | Korea | ₱1,400,000 | $26,276 |
| 8 | Kenny Shih | United States | ₱1,205,000 | $22,606 |
| 9 | Jun Zhou | China | ₱1,029,000 | $19,305 |
The players dropped relatively fast throughout the whole final day of this tournament and it was not until the final table when all remaining really started to tighten up their style of play. Li took advantage of this, bullying the table all the way until heads-up play. Raising every opportunity that he could and being anything but prudent when it came to the style he was playing.
Lim played almost all day as a short stack and at one point was down to just over one big blind. His patient play and fortuitous run of cards helped him jump out of the short stack role and into the winner's circle.
Lim: "After a few years I started improving and now I earn most of my money just from poker."
Lim came into the final table as the short stack but fought his way to the top.
"Before I came to the final table, there were two tables and I had less than one big blind, so I just went all-in blind," he said. "I doubled and doubled until I was a big stack."
When asked how he felt about winning the largest Main Event of the APPT as well as a PSPC Platinum Pass to the Bahamas, Lim said: "Awesome and overwhelming for me, I played very long hours for this one because the schedule is so tight and I got maybe less than six hours of sleep every night."
Lim continued: "I have been playing poker for about 10 years now, it was about one or two years in that I started to realize poker was more than just gambling and I can improve myself. After a few years I started improving and now I earn most of my money just from poker."
Final Day Action
It was during the 31st level of play when Hudson Wong moved all in from the button, being called down by Samuel Welbourne in the small blind, he would fall to Welbourne's flopped set and be dubbed the final table bubble boy. The first to exit the final table wasJun Zhou who was in the big blind when he decided to call Kenny Shih's shove from under the gun. Zhou's ace could not overcome Shih's pair of nines and he was sent home.
Shih found himself on the bad end of a few hands shortly after busting Zhou and would end up finishing in eighth when he moved all in from under the gun and found a caller in Sebastian Wong. Shih's king-ten could not surpass Wong's ace-ten as he was sent home. Daesoon Kang grinded a short stack for most of the day and just when he was on the verge of getting out of the short stack position, he took a bad river card against Lim, whobested him with big slick and sent him to the rail.
The chip leader coming into Day 3, Wong, would be the sixth-place finisher when he shoved all in from the button and found a caller in Welbourne from the big blind. Wong failed to connect with the board as Welbourne sent him packing with ace-high. After dwindling down to a short stack, Jiang Ho Huang was in the big blind when he decided to make a stand when Lim moved all in from the small blind. Huang could not connect with the board as he fell to Lim's nickels and was eliminated in fifth.
The fourth-place finisher was United Kingdom's Samuel Welbourne, who had a few bad hands leading up to his eventual demise and almost all of which were against Li. Welbourne found himself short stacked and moved all in from the button, only to be called by Li, who would eliminate him with his pair of aces. Bin Zhang found chips early in the day with a couple of fortunate double ups with aces and cruised easily to the top three. Zhang found himself all in against Lim and just could not manage to hit a card, as Lim sent him home in third.
It was the beginning of level 37 when Li moved all in for the last time during this tournament. Lim called the all in and the crowd went ecstatic as there would be a chance to see an end to the tournament, with a winner being crowned during the process. Lim's ace-five had Li beat on every street when all the cards were up it was Lim's flush pulling in the pot and ending the tournament.
