Hand #32: Kenny Shih moved all in from early position for around 1,900,000, Jun Khun took his time before making the call and the two players turned over their hands with Zhou at risk of elimination.
Kenny Shih: 
Jun Zhou: 
The flop came down 
and Shih was still ahead with his nines. A 
on the turn changed nothing as Zhou would need an ace. The river came down the 
and Zhou failed to connect, being eliminated by Shih's nines.
Hand #48: Kenny Shih moved all in from early position, Sebasting Wong moved all in over the top from the small blind and the two players turned over their hands with Shih at risk.
Sebastian Wong: 
Kenny Shih: 
The flop came down 
and Wong was still ahead with his ace-high. The 
hit the turn and Shih would need a king. The river came down the 
and Shih could not connect, being eliminated by Wong's ace-high.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
4,850,000
3,330,000
|
3,330,000 |
|
||
|
Busted | |
Hand #55: Yuan Chao Li raised to 500,000 from middle position. Wilson Lim three-bet shoved from the hijack for 3,800,000. Daesoon Kang, on the button, called for less, putting at risk his last 1,300,000. Li gave up his hand.
Wilson Lim: 
Daesoon Kang: 
Kang hit a pretty favorable flop of 
. But the 
turn and 
river completed the board and that was it for Kang eliminated in 7th place for ₱1,400,000.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
5,400,000
1,600,000
|
1,600,000 |
|
Busted |
Hand #68: Sebastian Wong moved all in on the button for 2,185,000. Samuel Welbourne, in the big blind, called.
Samuel Welbourne:
Sebastian Wong: 
The board came 
and Welbourne won the pot, sending Wong out in 6th place for ₱1,664,000
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
9,100,000
2,110,000
|
2,110,000 |
|
|
Busted | |
|
|
||
Hand #97: Lim moved all in from the small blind and Jiang Ho Huang made the call from the big blind, players turned over their hands and Huang would be at risk of elimination.
Wilson Lim: 
Jiang Ho Huang: 
The flop came down 
and Lim was still ahead with his nickels. A came on the turn and Huang picked up some counterfeit outs to go with his overs. The on the river changed nothing as Lim sent Huang home in fifth.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
Busted |
Hand #101: Samuel Welbourne moved all in for 3,075,000 from the button and Yuan Chao Li called from the small blind, players turned over their hands and Welbourne would be at risk.
Yuan Chao Li: 
Samuel Welbourne: 
The flop came down 
and Welbourne instantly stood up out of his seat to leave. A came on the turn and Welbourne sighed as he awaited the river which came the 
, eliminating him from the tournament to Li's pair of aces.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
Busted |
Hand #131: Bin Zhang moved all in from the button for around 3,500,000 and Wilson Lim made the call, players turned over their hands and Zhang would be at risk.
Wilson Lim:
Bin Zhang:
The flop came down with no help to either player as the dealer fanned out 
. The fell on the turn and Lim would need to dodge a nine or ten to eliminate his opponent. The on the river sealed the deal for Lim as he eliminated Zhang from the tournament.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
28,595,000
95,000
|
95,000 |
|
|
12,325,000
8,725,000
|
8,725,000 |
|
Busted |
Hand #167: Wilson Lim raised to 1,200,000 from the small blind. Yuan Chao Li responded by moving all in for 7,900,000. Lim snap-called.
Wilson Lim:
Yuan Chao Li:
The board came 
for Lim to win the tournament for ₱12,970,000 and the Platinium Pass valued at $30,000 to the PokerStars Players NL Hold’em Championship (PSPC).
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
40,920,000
11,120,000
|
11,120,000 |
|
|
Busted |
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 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.
This concludes the PokerNews coverage of the APPT Manilla, see you at the next event!
