The second Asian Poker Tour Online (APTO) festival is in the books, with the jewel in the series crown – the $800 Event #14: Main Event – drawing a record field and concluding the scintillating series action, with Kazakhstan’s “whatsgoingon” claiming the prestigious APTO Golden Lion Main Event Trophy and the largest APTO first place prize ever awarded.
You can catch up on the rest of the series action with the below links:
Record-Breaking Main Event Crushes $2.5M GTD
The well-established Asian-based live poker tour’s second official online foray with Natural8 proved popular with poker players all over the world over, knocking the $2.5 million Main Event guarantee out of the park. The event drew 4,024 entries over 26 Day 1 flights, generating a whopping $3,058,240 prize pool – setting a new APTO record in the process.
Just 492 of these players were left in contention at the start of the tournament’s second and final day, all guaranteed a payout of $1,756.64, but all would be firmly focused on reaching the official nine-handed final table and claiming the lion’s share of the prize pool.
It was Kazakhstan’s “whatsgoingon” who would prove to be the king of the apex predators, coming into the final table as the second shortest stack and spinning their 15 big blinds up to the top of the chip counts before eventually defeating Poland’s “Flat White” after an epic four level long 53-hand heads-up battle.
The Kazakhstan-based player came into the confrontation with over a 2-to-1 chip lead they would not relinquish, piling on the pressure and whittling “Flat White” down to 6.5 big blinds at one point before the Poland-based player managed to find a timely double-up.
However, the blinds continued to climb, and “whatsgoingon” continued to pressure before “Flat White” moved in from the button for their last 23 big blinds with A5, with “whatsgoingon” making the call with 99.
The J 9 7 5 2 runout saw “whatsgoingon” hit the middle set to clinch the title and the sizable $362,070.37 Main Event top prize – the largest APTO first place prize ever awarded.
This is the second largest APT Main Event prize in the tour’s 15-year history, with the current live record set back at April’s APT Taipei 2023, which saw Natural8 Ambassador Punnat Punsri claim victory and a TWD $11,210,400.00 (~USD $365,270) top prize.
Final Table Live Stream
Watch the exciting Final Table action as it played out via the Natural8 YouTube channel, with English commentary provided by Henry Kilbane & Vidur Singhal. Coverage of the live stream is available in multiple languages:
English – feat. Henry Kilbane & Vidur Singhal
Thailand – feat. A Supakit
Taiwan – feat Gshan & BangChui
Vietnam – feat. Julien Tran & The Vinh
Hong Kong – feat. Stephen Lai and Alan King Lune Lau
APTO Main Event Final Table Results
| Rank | Player | Country | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | whatsgoingon | Kazakhstan | $362,070.37 |
| 2 | Flat White | Poland | $265,359.67 |
| 3 | JAKSTA | Montenegro | $194,512 |
| 4 | Paulo Brombim | Brazil | $142,581.72 |
| 5 | MRMAFFIA777 | Kazakhstan | $104,517.74 |
| 6 | Asheque Elahi | Bangladesh | $76,617.12 |
| 7 | ValuationExpert | Germany | $56,166.81 |
| 8 | beeboop | Mexico | $41,176.70 |
| 9 | hyperscraper | Austria | $30,189.34 |
Natural8 representatives to make the money but come up short of the final table included Natural8 Team Hot Ambassador Yu-Chung “Nevan” Chang (15th for $16,683.75), Natural8 Ambassador Eric “Six Poker” Tsai (36th for $9,481.52), Natural8 Team Hot Ambassador “Thai Ha” (67th for $6,209.91), and Natural8 Team Hot Ambassador “Punnat Punsri” (341st for $2,019.64).
Other notables to cash included China’s “xxyman” (23rd for $12,576.58), the USA’s “Joseph Cheong” (31st for $10,919.47), Australia’s “Joshua McCully” (38th for $9,481.52), WSOP Main Event 2020 champion “Damian Salas” (39th for $9,481.52), APT regular “Vincent Li” (42nd for $8,233.51), the Cambodia-based “SvenCalls” (51st for $7,150.18), China’s “Weiran Pu” (88th for $5,393.83), Russia’s “Anatoly Filatov” (137th for $4,070.33), APT Incheon 2023 Super High Roller champion “Milos Petakovic” (275th for $2,322.51), Spain’s “Sergi Reixach” (302nd for $2,322.51), Russia’s Artur “A Martirosian” (314th for for $2,322.51), former APTO Main Event champion “Sioul7” (347th for $2,019.64), and the USA’s “David Peters” (405th for $1,756.64) to name but a few.
Final Table Action
It was a lightning-fast final table, with the action wrapped up in a little over two and a half hours. Montenegro’s “JAKSTA” brought in the chip lead, returning with a stack of over 43 million – valued at 86 big blinds – with action resuming on level 23 with blinds at 250,000/500,000 with 540,000 big blind ante.
The short-stacked “hyperscraper” became the first casualty on the first level played; The Austria-based player moved all in pre-flop from the button for seven big blinds holding A5 over the top of a “Flat White” minimum open, with the latter making the call with KJ and spiking top pair on the jack-high runout – “hyperscraper” hit the rail in ninth for a $30,189.34 payday.
The next level saw the second elimination, with the Mexico-based “beeboop” moving all-in for seven big blinds with AT over the top of a “JAKSTA” early position raise. The latter called with J9 to put his opponent at risk and turned the nut straight to send “beeboop” to the rail in eighth for $41,176.70.
Level 25 saw Germany’s “ValuationExpert” depart, their stack devalued from four big blinds to zero after moving all-in preflop from under-the-gun holding 55 and running into the KKof small blind “whatsgoingon”. The premium pair held and “ValuationExpert” was out in seventh for $56,166.81, and “whatsgoingon” began their climb up the counts.
Six-Handed
Play continued six-handed until the start of level 27, with Bangladesh’s “Asheque Elahi” departing after a bluff backfired against “whatsgoingon” with the latter picking it off with a slow-played ace top pair to bring the field down to five – “Asheque Elahi” collected $76,617.12 for sixth and “whatsgoingon” climbed to third in the pecking order.
Later that same level, Kazakhstan’s “MRMAFFIA777” took a hit at the hands of “Flat White” to get short, before clashing in a hand with the second shortest stack “Paulo Brombim” that put the Kazakh on life support; their pocket eights losing a flip to the Brazilian’s QT. Montenegro’s “JAKASTA” administered the coup de grace the following hand when “MRMAFFIA777” was forced all-in from the small blind with 24, which lost out to their opponent’s K3. Kazakhstan’s “MRMAFFIA777” exited in fifth for $104,517.74.
Four-handed play lasted until level 30, with “JAKASTA” going from chip leader to short stack over the following three levels, with “whatsgoingon” the beneficiary and new tournament top dog.
However, it was Brazil’s “Paulo Brombim” who was next on the chopping block, calling a “Flat White” under-the-gun raise from the button with AQ before “whatsgoingon” woke up in the small blind with AKand squeezed to eight big blinds.
After “Flat White” got out of the way, “Paulo Brombim” moved all in and discovered the bad news. The 7J7 flop gave the Brazilian a sweat, but blanks on the turn and river saw “Paulo Brombim” depart in fourth for $142,581.72.
Montenegro’s “JAKASTA” managed to earn an extra $53,000 by laddering up to third place but could go no further. The former front runner departed two hands later, getting their last six big blinds in preflop holding KQ and losing out to the A8 of “whatsgoingon”, with “JAKASTA” receiving a pay-out of $194,512 for their third-place podium finish.
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