APT Online 2024 Recap: Events #12 - #14

Boasting $20 million in prize pool guarantees and running November 10th to December 1st, 2024, the third exciting instalment of the Asian Poker Tour Online 2024 (APTO) has entered the third quarter with 14 of the scheduled 20 Trophy Events all wrapped up. 

You can catch up with the previous action here:

• APT Online 2024 Recap: Events #1 & #2 – APT Online Bounty Kickoff & Superstar Challenge

• APT Online 2024 Recap: Event’s #3-#5 – Thailand National Cup, Double Stack & Vietnam National Cup [Bounty]

• APT Online 2024 Recap: Events #6-#8 – Sunday Super Stack, Mini Main Event, APT Online Invitational $10K Added

• APT Online 2024 Recap: Event #9 - #11 – Philippines National Cup [Deepstack Bounty], King of the Jungle Bounty 6-Max, Korea National Cup

Events #12-#14 played out between November 23rd – 24th awarding a further USD 2,685,408 in prize money in addition to the three physical APTO trophies, including the first of the festivals coveted big three lion trophies, with three new champions crowned. 

Upcoming Highlights

Upcoming highlights in the next recap include action from the TWD 3,300 (USD 103) Event #15: Taiwan Poker Classic, which comes with a TWD 5 million (USD 156,588) guarantee and runs Tuesday, November 26th. Then there is the USD 525 Event #16: Omaholic Bounty Masters which comes with a USD 100,000 guarantee and runs Thursday, November 28th, followed by the CNY 1,100 (USD 155) Event #17: China Zodiac Classic [Bounty] and its CNY 1.5 million (USD 211,180) guarantee running Saturday, November 30th.

Event #12: APT High Roller 8-Max [2-Day Event]

The first of the APTO series marquee events awarding the coveted Bronze Lion APT High Roller Trophy, the $1,500 buy-in Event #12: APT High Roller 8-Max [2-Day Event] came with a USD 500,000 prize pool  guarantee and drew an elite field of 477 high rollers, generating an impressive USD 679,725 prize pool.

After a total of 27 hours and 25 minutes of gameplay spanning two days, Malaysia's “Biao Guo” emerged victorious, claiming a USD 106,341.83 top prize after cutting an ICM deal with heads-up opponent “Urmo Velvelt” of Estonia with the latter walking away with the event’s largest payout of USD 108,960.72 for his runner-up finish. Vietnam’s “Truong_Think”, a Natural8 player, rounded out the podium, earning USD 69,188.88 for third-place.

Notables to have finished deep in the event included Bryn Kenny from the United States, number one on the global all-time money list for live earnings of USD 73,041,916. Kenny finished 12th place for USD 6304.05, three spots away from the final table. Argentina’s All-time Money List number three Damian Salas also ran deep in the event, finishing in 19th place for USD 4724.89. A total of 71 runners cashed the event, with the final table payouts as follows:

Event #13: Mystery Bounty Hunter - $100K Top Bounty

The USD 210 Event #13: Mystery Bounty Hunter - $100K Top Bounty [Day 2] saw 852 players return to action from an combined field of 9,254 Day 1 entries from multiple starting flights, making it the second largest field of the festival to play out so far.

The tournament easily exceeded the guaranteed prize pool of USD 1,500,000 with the final prize pool coming up to a total of USD 1,787,872.80. All returning Day 2 players were guaranteed a min cash of USD 224.97 although everyone had their eyes set on the guaranteed top bounty of USD 100,000. 

After nearly nine hours of gameplay, Kazakhstan’s “AgGro_KinG” emerged as the champion, claiming the first-place prize of USD 109,075.87 with a bounty reward of USD 6,540 for a combined haul of USD 115,615.87. “AgGro_KinG” outlasted Russia’s “V Solovev”, who finished in second place earning USD 119,201.74 plus an additional USD 2,420 in bounties, making them the highest overall earner of the event.

Slovenia’s “traheho” completed the top three with a third place finish, pocketing USD 73,342.84 and a bounty reward of USD 3,570. The coveted USD 100,000 bounty was popped relatively early in the tournament by Brazil’s “CHICOTE”, who finished in 552nd place. 

The final table payouts were as follows:

Event #14: Deepstack Turbo Blaze

The faster-paced Event #14: Deepstack Turbo Blaze drew a high number of entries, with 1,894 players registering for the USD 125 event. The tournament featured a guaranteed prize pool of USD 150,000, which ultimately generated a total prize pool of USD 217,810.

After a span of just over six hours, the Netherlands’ “Bowrot-“emerged as the champion, claiming the top prize of USD 26,929.24 after a great performance at the final table. In the final heads-up battle, they outlasted China’s “Imprisonment”, who secured the runner-up position with a payout of USD 20,764.83.

China’s dominant representation at the final table was evident, with four players finishing in the top five coming from the country. “DINGDINGzz” claimed third place, earning USD 16,011.87, while “MengGan123” and “MingChao Xu” finished in fourth and fifth place, taking home USD 12,346.84 and USD 9,520.70, respectively. Natural8’s “Data Lurker” from Hong Kong finished in seventh place, taking home USD 5661.04.

The final table payouts were distributed as follows: