APPT Cebu draws record-breaking numbers

Celina Lin was one of the many players to take part in APPT Cebu.

Poker in the Philippines appears to be alive and well as PokerStars.com APPT Cebu attracted the largest field every assembled in the country.

A total of 319 players bought in to PokerStars' third foray into the Philippines. The field created a prize pool of $622,000, of which $158,000 will be awarded to the winner.

This year PokerStars shifted the event from downtown Manila to the five-star Shangri La Resort in the province of Cebu.

Players from 36 countries took part including players from as far as Mongolia, Sweden, Russia, Guam and the Ukraine.

APPT Cebu also drew a number of professional players including Team PokerStars Asia Pros Celina Lin, Tae Jun-Noh, Bryan Huang and Jonathan Lin as well as Team PokerStars Australian Pros Tony Hachem and Eric Assadourian.

Last year at APPT Manila, Australian Van Marcus beat Jun-Noh heads-up to take down a first-place prize of $162,856.

The 2009 edition of APPT Cebu will culminate with a final table this Sunday. The tour's next stop will be the Grand Final in Sydney, which takes place Dec. 1-6, 2009. Qualifiers for the event are currently running on PokerStars.com.