Asian Poker Tour

What was expected to be a dogfight of a Final Table ended up being one of the shortest anyone could ever remember. At the end of the day, it was the Philippines’ own Neil Arce who won the 2009 Asian Poker Tour Philippines Main Event.

The heads-up showdown between Day 1A chipleader Arce and Day 1B and Day 2 chipleader Steve Yeah became Arce’s personal showcase. Coming into the showdown, Arce was behind in chips to Yeah, 1,572,000 to 1,048,000.

Their heads-up battle began with Arce taking chip lead over Yeah, after a few hands of back and forth action the tide turned to favor Arce when he won a huge hand with a Queen-High straight against Steve Yeah to take 1.7million to 800,00 chip lead. After which, it was just a case of Arce bullying Yeah into folding a few times before the final hand came.

On the final hand, Arce made a move for Yeah's chips with a 100,000 raise to which Yeah made a raise of his own for 300,000. Arce then moved all-in to which Yeah called, the crowd was on its feet for this one because should Arce take the hand, he would eliminate Yeah and become the new Asian POker Tour Philippines Main Event Champion.

Unfortunately for Arce, his Ks Qs was completely dominated by Yeah’s Ad Kh. With the flop of 4s 6c 7h, it was looking more and more likely that Steve Yeah would double-up, leaving Neil Arce’s chip stack severely crippled.

The turn delivered a Queen of Hearts! Arce let out a loud ‘Yeah!’ followed by a cheer from the Filipino crowd. When the dealer made the burn and it showed 6h, the whole gallery exploded and Arce was mobbed by his friends and supporters – both stunned and delirious about the way the board turned in his favour.

The Final Table started off with a bang when after only two hands, two players already hit the rail. Fittingly, it was both Arce and Yeah that most of the eliminations. The first to go was Kim Tae Hyung who was dispatched by Arce. On the very next hand, Casey Kastle eliminated Vesa Leikos in an eerie carbon copy of Hyung’s elimination. Soon after, Liz Lieu hit the rail courtesy of Steve Yeah. He soon added to his list of victims by eliminating Ron Kluber and Susumu Toge. Not to be outdone, Arce took out fourth placer Cicurel Didier and third placer Casey Kastle, thereby setting up a showdown with Steve Yeah. In the end, it was Neil Arce who came out victorious in front of a partisan Filipino crowd cheering on his every move.

For Steve Yeah, it was another bridesmaid finish after also placing runner-up in last year’s Asian Poker Tour Macau Main Event to Yevgeniy Timoshenko. Devastated as he was, there’s no denying that Steve Yeah is one of the most promising young poker players in the world.

But for today, it was the hometown boy who made all the right moves and for his efforts, Neil Arce is the 2009 Asian Poker Tour Philippines Main Event Champion!

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