2009 Asian Poker Tour - Manila

Main Event
Day: 1a
Event Info

2009 Asian Poker Tour - Manila

Final Results
Winner
Winning Hand
kq
Prize
$185,000
Event Info
Buy-in
$2,500
Prize Pool
$635,500
Entries
262
Level Info
Level
21
Blinds
6,000 / 12,000
Ante
2,000

Castle, on the Verge of Elimination, Doubles Up

Kastle survives a close one.
Kastle survives a close one.
Casey Kastle limped into the pot from early position. Three other people limped in behind him before the player in the big blind raised to 4,500. Kastle was playing roughly 12,000 behind and shipped it all into the middle. That cleared out all of the limpers, but the big blind made the call.

BB: {J-Spades} {J-Diamonds}
Kastle: {9-Spades} {9-Hearts}

Kastle thought the big blind may have just been making a move, but he turned over a real hand that had Kastle's pocket nines in bad shape. The flop changed things around, coming {9-Diamonds} {7-Diamonds} {K-Hearts} to give Kastle a set. That was the winning hand after the turn and river came small cards, {2-Spades} and {4-Spades}. He now has 25,200.

Tags: Casey Kastle

Disaster for Oborne

Toto Leonidas
Toto Leonidas
Damien Oborne has been on a long downswing that just got almost as long as it can get. He wound up all in with {A-Diamonds} {9-Diamonds} against the {A-Spades} {Q-Spades} of Toto Leonidas. Oborne flopped a diamond draw, {8-Clubs} {6-Diamonds} {4-Diamonds} to go along with his outs to a pair of nines, but it never filled. The turn and river bricked out {2-Clubs} and {4-Clubs}.

Leonidas now has 15,500 chips. Oborne was left with just 425.

Tags: Damien OborneToto Leonidas

Suzuki Runs Good

Norihito Suzuki has been crushing his table today, but he's also picked up a pinch of luck when he's needed it. Just before the dinner break was called, Suzuki sent two somewhat short-stacked players to the rail on the same hand. He led out on a flop of {A-Spades} {9-Clubs} {8-Spades} after one opponent checked. A player behind Suzuki raised all in and the first player called all in for less. Suzuki called as well for another three-way all-in pot!

Suzuki: {A-Clubs} {10-Clubs}
Player 1: {7-Spades} {5-Spades}
Player 2: {A-Diamonds} {Q-Spades}

Suzuki was in extremely rough shape. One player had a better pair of aces than he did; the other had a flush draw, taking away one of Suzuki's two-pair outs. But it was no problem for Suzuki; he hit running tens {10-Diamonds} {10-Spades} to make a full house and take out two opponents.

Suzuki now has a whopping 102,425 chips.

Tags: Norihito Suzuki

Level: 7

Blinds: 250/500

Ante: 50

Sombero Eliminates Another

Wally Sombero is feeling very comfortable in the Dusit Thani ballroom that is serving as the venue for this event. Despite the chill in the air from the HVAC system, Sombero is running hot. He led out 2,300 in a three-way limped pot on a flop of {Q-Hearts} {4-Clubs} {8-Clubs}, then was faced with a big decision when the player in the small blind check-raised all in for 8,400. Sombero made the call with {Q-Spades} {9-Hearts} and was elated to see that his intuition was correct -- his opponent was on a flush draw with {10-Clubs} {3-Clubs}.

"Red! Red!" Sombero called out as the dealer burned and turned the rest of the board. He got his request. The turn and river were both red cards -- {K-Diamonds} and {4-Diamonds}. Sombero's pair of queens held up to increase his count by another 9,500 chips total.

Tags: Wally Sombero

Overheard at the Tables

Eddie Hearn found no callers after moving in for 16,000 over the top of a button raise to 1,600. He showed queens when no one else called.

"He's my mate," Hearn said, pointing at the button player. "We talked earlier. I've got confidence."

"I'd have a lot of confidence too if I was in the small blind with queens," another player responded.

At the next table over, Casey Kastle and Toto Leonidas were discussing the pros and cons of the schedule for the 2009 World Series of Poker, which was released earlier in the week.