APPT Manila - Live Updates

We almost don’t believe it but we have a winner in Manila! In the final hand of the tournament Tae Jun Noh bet $151,000. Van Marcus called and the flop came 8♥ 6♠ 3♣.

Noh bet $200,000 and Marcus went all-in. Noh tanked for a minute but then, for the first time in the heads-up match, we had an all-in and a call. The players revealed their respective hands:

Marcus: 9♦ 7♦

Noh: J♣ 8♦

Noh had top pair but Marcus had a straight draw, and with the way he’s been running today you almost wanted to give the edge to him.

It just so happened that the turn came T♦ to give Marcus the straight and the tournament!

Marcus will take $162,856 back to Australia for his final-table heroics, while Noh has to settle for $103,142 for second place.

It’s been a wild ride of a final table that took place over the span of 16 hours and featured more suck-outs than we’ve ever seen.

We’d like to thank the exceptional staff at the Hyatt Manila and of course the folks at PokerStars.com who organized another fantastic tournament.

We’ll see you at the Grand Final of APPT Season 2, which takes place in Sydney on Dec. 3. Now if you'll excuse us we've got a plane to catch!

Check back for a recap blog and winner interview.

The final table of APPT Manila has transformed from a battle into an all-out marathon, with the two remaining players getting a serious test in stamina.

It’s roughly 4 a.m. local time and many members of the media are starting to rebook their flights, and most of the fans are asleep in their chairs.

To make matters worse the players have drawn even with each other and it’s still very much anybody’s game. Neither player seems willing to give up an inch and every blind is still fiercely defended as the sun starts to rise over the bay in Manila.

Van Marcus has begun to turn on the heat once again and has taken back control of the chip lead, partially thanks to following hand.

Tae Jun Noh completed and Marcus checked. The flop came 5♥ 3♥ 2♦ and Noh bet $100,000. Van made a massive reraise to $500,000.

Noh looked extremely frustrated by the raise and after a few minutes of thought he folded 3-2 face up. Marcus showed a single four as he raked the pot, looking somewhat frustrated. A few of the people in the audience think it was a good lay-down, but only Marcus knows for sure.

After the hand Noh has around $1 million and Marcus has approximately $1.8 million.

Tae Jun Noh has finally gotten himself all the way to level ground with Van Marcus. The most recent hand drew him even.

In the hand Marcus completed but Noh bet $100,000. Marcus made the call and the flop came J♣ 8♠ 4♥. Both players checked and the turn came Q♦. Noh led out for $200,000 and that was enough to secure Noh the pot.

Both players have around $1.3 million right now and we could be in for a hell of a long night.

We've made it to Level 26 and you may have noticed this is the last blind structure that is listed for this event. We don't know what they'll do next for blinds but we're sure tournament director Danny McDonagh will think of something.

The Level 26 blinds are $25,000/$50,000 with a $5,000 ante.

Tae Jun Noh is battling his way back into the tournament. He’s won the blinds several times in the last 10 hands or so and just won a decent pot post-flop.

In the hand Van Marcus bet $90,000 from the button and Noh called. The flop came A♦ T♦ 5♠ and Noh checked but Marcus bet 100k. Noh insta-called and the turn came 9♠. Both players checked and the river came 2♦.

Both players checked again and Noh flipped over K♠ T♣, which inspired Van to muck his hand. After the hand Noh was over $1 million and closing in on Marcus.

Van Marcus has been pounding Tae Jun Noh in the first 20 or so hands of heads-up play. We’ve yet to have either player go all-in but the majority of the hands have been taken with a bet by Marcus either pre-flop or on the flop.

Noh will have to make a move relatively soon as he’s already down to $700,000 chips.

After four and a half hours of three-handed play we are finally down to heads-up. In his last hand Hyoung Jin Nam shoved from the small blind and Tae Jun Noh called from the big blind.

Nam revealed 5♥ 4♥ and would need some help against Noh’s A♣ 6♥. Unfortunately for Noh the board came J♠ 8♦ 2♦ Q♥ 3♦ and that was enough to finish Nam. It was a great showing for the skilled Korean, who if not for a sick suck-out by Van Marcus might have won this event.

Here are the chip counts at the beginning of heads-up play:

In a recent hand all three remaining players limped to a flop of A♠ 6♥ 4♥. All three players checked and the turn came 4♣. Tae Jun Noh bet $40,000 and both Hyoung Jin Nam and Van Marcus called. The river came 3♣.

Jun bet $40,000 but Marcus reraised to $110,000. Nam folded immediately and after a couple minutes of consideration so did Noh.

Marcus is starting to run away with this tournament. Here are the chip counts after the hand:

We've made it to Level 25 here at APPT Manila and we've now been three-handed for over four hours. It's still anybody's game, although Hyoung Jin Nam is the short stack thanks to the most recent suck-out by Van Marcus.

The new blinds are $20,000/$40,000 with a $5,000 ante.

Van Marcus simply cannot be beat when he is all-in on the final table of APPT Manila. In the last debacle of a hand, Marcus completed from the small blind and Hyoung Jin Nam bet $75,000 from the big blind.

The flop came 7♠ 6♦ 4♦ and Nam bet $50,000. Marcus reraised to $190,000, and after thinking for a minute, Marcus announced he was all-in.

Marcus stood up, paced around the poker room and finally made the call. Nam flipped over 8♣ 5♠ for the made flush, while Marcus could only manage 9♦ 8♠ for the straight draw.

The turn came K♠ and Marcus was drawing extremely thin; only a five or ten could save him from elimination.

Fortunately for Marcus he runs like God, and the river came 5♣ to give him the nine-high straight. Marcus doubled up and is our new chip leader with $1.16 million.

It’s not exactly what the hardworking media staff here at APPT Manila wanted to see, but the three remaining players in the event have pulled almost even with each other thanks to a recent Van Marcus hand.

In the hand Marcus and Hyoung Jin Nam saw a board of 9♣ 6♥ 3♦ 9♥ with little action. On the turn, however, Marcus bet $30,000. Hyoung reraised to $80,000 and Marcus called.

The river fell 3♣ and both players checked. Marcus showed A♣ 2♠ for two pair with an ace kicker. It was apparently enough, because Nam mucked.

After the pot Marcus was up to over $1 million for the first time in this tournament.

We've been playing poker for approximately 10 hours now and it feels like about seven of those hours have been three-handed. We've reached Level 24 and the new blinds are $15,000/$30,000 with a $5,000 ante.

We’ve just witnessed another example of Van Marcus’ extraordinary fortune here at APPT Manila. In the hand Tae Jun Doh folded the button and then Marcus open-shoved for his last $342,000 from the small blind.

“Oh my god,” said an exasperated Nam as he considered calling.

After a few minutes Nam decided to call. The players flipped over their cards:

Nam: A♦ K♣

Marcus: K♥ T♣

Although Marcus was once again dominated, it almost seemed like a foregone conclusion that he would find a way to win, and that’s exactly what happened when the board came 9♣ 9♠ 8♣ … T♦! The 9♦ came on the river to fill up Marcus and he is once again very much in this game with $750,000 chips.

Marcus has apparently appeased the poker gods somehow because he is running like God at this final table.

Hyoung Jin Nam seems to have gotten the hang of the conservative play that has been going down three-handed, and is starting to splash chips around. It seems to be working, as Van Marcus and Tae Jun Noh are folding to the pressure.

In a recent hand Noh bet $60,000 from the button and Marcus called from the small blind. Jin reraised to $174,000 from the big blind, and both players folded.

The chip counts are now as follows:

It’s all about the blind-stealing right now. We’re not seeing many flops and we’re seeing even fewer large bets. It’s gotten so bad that Hyoung Jin Nam just asked the tournament director to up the blinds. We don’t know about the other players at the final table but we’re on board with that idea.

We're still three-handed and we've made it to Level 23. Play has slowed right down and the three remaining players seem to be willing to grind it out against each other. The new blinds are $12,000/$24,000 with a $4,000 ante. Here are the chip counts as players enter the 23rd Level:

Tae Jun Noh just proved he can pull a pretty sick bluff no matter what his stack size is. In the hand Noh bet $40,000 pre-flop and Van Marcus made the call.

The flop came Q♠ Q♣ 9♣ and Van Marcus bet $60,000, but Noh came over the top for $160,000 more. Marcus thought for several minutes but eventually folded his hand.

Noh quietly turned over 5♠ 3♦ for the stone-cold bluff as he raked the pot. The kid's got game!

We finally have our fourth-place finisher and we won’t be having an all-Korean three-handed affair. In the hand, Hyoung Jin Nam bet $36,000 but Chang Yong Suk reraised to $141,000.

Nam thought for a minute and asked the dealer to count out Suk’s chips. The dealer told him Suk had $308,000 left behind. Apparently that was good enough for Nam because he announced he was all-in. Suk called and the players revealed their hands:

Suk: A♠ 9♦

Nam: Q♣ J♥

The board came J♦ 3♣#h5♥ 6♦ and the jack on the flop was enough to seal Suk’s fate. Suk will finish in fourth place for $37,999.

We finally have our fourth place finisher and we won’t be having an all Korean three-handed affair. In the hand Hyoung Jin Nam bet $36,000 but Chang Yong Suk re-raised to $141,000.

Nam thought for a minute and asked the dealer to count out Suk’s chips. The dealer told him Suk had $308,000 left behind. Apparently that was good enough for Nam because he announced he was all-in. Suk called and the players revealed their hands:

Suk: A♠ 9♦

Nam: Q♣ J♥

The board came J♦ 3♣ 3♥ 5♥ 6♦ and the jack on the flop was enough to seal Suk’s fate. Suk will finish in fourth place for $37,999.

The all-in players at APPT Manila simply refuse to die, and Tae Jun Noh is the latest player to come back from the dead.

In the hand, Tae Jun Noh bet $30,000 pre-flop, and both Hyoung Jin Nam and Chang Yong Suk came along for the ride.

The flop came A♠ 8♦ 5♥ and Nam checked, but Noh bet $100,000.  Suk got out of the way and Nam made the call.

The turn came 6♣ and Nam checked but Noh shoved all-in for $250,000. Hyoung thought for a couple minutes, counted his stack and then made the call. The players revealed their hands:

Noh: A♥ K♦

Nam: 7♠ 6♠

The river was a meaningless T♦, and Noh doubled up to stay alive in this tournament.

The short stack of the table seems to have benefited the most from the dinner break. Van Marcus bet $42,000 from UTG and Tae Jun Noh called from the big blind.

The flop came T♥ 8♠ 5♦ and Noh checked, but Marcus bet $60,000. Noh called and the turn came 4♥. Noh announced he was all-in, having Marcus insta-called.

Marcus tabled A♣ T♣ for top pair, which was ahead of Noh’s A♥ 5♥.

The river fell A♦ and Marcus suddenly looks like a dominant player at the final table of APPT Manila. He now has close to $600,000.

Hyoung Jin Nam and Chang Yong Suk have been going at it all night and they just had another massive tilt five minutes into the new level.

In the hand it was Tae Jun Noh who opened for $30,000 but Nam reraised to $65,000 from the small blind. Suk came in firing from the big blind and popped it up to $146,000. Noh got out of the way and Nam made the call.

The flop came Q♥ J♥ 5♣ and Nam checked but Yuk bet $150,000. Nam wasted no time and immediately announced he was all-in. With over $600,000 in the pot Noh decided couldn’t make the call and laid down his hand.

Nam is up to approximately $1.5 million chips and is in danger of running away with this tournament.

The four remaining players have returned from their dinner break and it's time to get serious about crowning a champion here at APPT Manila.

The new blinds are $8,000/$16,000 with a $2,000 ante. 

We are once again live from the televised final table of APPT Manila and here's a chip count as the players head into action:

He put in a noble effort here at APPT Manila, but the last surviving Filipino player has been eliminated. In his final hand Tandoc open-shoved for $89,000 and Tae Jun Noh called from the big blind. The players flipped over their cards:

Tandoc: K♥ 2♥

Noh: A♣ J♣

The board came 7♣ 3♦ 2♣ 4♣ and the turned flush was enough to give Noh the check mark. Tandoc will receive $29,314 for coming in fifth. You have to give it to the locals for putting on a great show here in Manila.

We're now on the 60-minute dinner break.

Hyoung Jin Nam just grabbed the chip lead from Chang Yong Suk in dramatic fashion. In the hand, Suk bet $35,000 from UTG and Nam reraised to $100,000 from the big blind. Suk eventually made the call, and the flop came down Q♣ 8♠ 2♠.

Nam led out for $45,000 but Suk reraised to $225,000. Nam thought for a minute and then announced he was all-in for $150,000 more.

Suk made the call and tabled T♠ 7♠ for the flush draw. Nam flipped over Q♦ Q♠ for the flopped set. The turn came J♥ and gave Suk some more outs with the straight draw. Unfortunately for him the river was the J♠, which gave Suk his flush but also filled up Nam.

Nam is the new chip leader with over $1 million.

If you had any doubts about Van Marcus' extraordinary run of luck here at the final table of APPT Manila, you can rest easy now. He’s definitely lucky.

The most recent suck-out occurred when Marcus open-shoved for $160,000 and Hyoung Jin Nam called. Nam had him dominated with Q♣ Q♦ against Marcus’ 7♥ 7♣.

It looked like Marcus would finally be relegated to the rail, but the poker gods had other ideas.

The flop came A♥ 7♠ 3♥ to give Marcus middle set and the lead in the hand. Nam missed on both the turn and the river, affording Marcus a new lease on his tournament life.

Van Marcus has had an amazing run of luck at APPT Manila, and after a recent hand we’re starting to believe he’s destined to win this tournament.

In the hand Marcus open-shoved from the button for about $130,000 and Chang Yong Suk decided to make the call.

It turned out that Suk was quite far in the lead with A♣ T♠ versus Marcus' Q♠ T♦.

The flop came A♠ Q♣ 7♦, which meant Marcus was drawing pretty slim. Only one of the two remaining queens could save him as his ten was negated by Suk’s hand.

It just so happened that the Q♥ peeled off the turn and Marcus had hit his two-outer! The river was a meaningless 8♠ and Marcus doubles up to approximately $270,000.

You might remember that yesterday Marcus hit a one-outer to win a massive pot versus Hans Nordstrom. So you could safely say he’s running well. Yeah.

We just saw the biggest hand of the tournament and it was a pretty bizarre one. In the hand Chang Yong Suk bet $25,000 from mid position, but Hyoung Jin Nam reraised to $80,000 from the big blind. Suk called and the flop came 9♦ 7♠ 3♠.

Nam led out for $65,000 and Suk once again called. The turn came 8♠ and Nam fired another bullet, this time worth $150,000. Suk tanked for several minutes but then once again called.

Suddenly we had the biggest pot of the tournament on our hands, with over $600,000 invested into pot.

The river fell 2♥ and Nam, quite inexplicably, made a min-bet of $10,000. Chang announced he was all-in and Nam folded instantly.

Chang is now our chip leader with approximately $1.3 million.

We’ve reached Level 20 and blinds are now $6,000/$12,000 with a $2,000 ante.

The chances of Van Marcus improving on his final-table finish of fourth place in this tournament last year are getting slimmer by the minute.

In the most recent hand Tae Jun Noh bet $20,000 pre-flop and Marcus reraised to $60,000. Noh thought for a minute and then made the call.

The flop came K♣ 4♣ 3♠ and Marcus led out for $65,000. Noh wasn’t letting him go, however, and announced he was all-in, easily covering Marcus.

Marcus thought for a minute and then, frustrated, threw his hand into the muck. He’s down to approximately $150,000.

The Koreans are still leading the way after the big Lee Nelson bust-out, and we’ve got some approximate chip counts:

Team PokerStars Pro's Lee Nelson had the opportunity to make history at the final table of APPT Manila by becoming the only member of the team to win an event on the tour.

Unfortunately for Nelson he will have to wait until at least APPT Sydney to do it as he has been eliminated from Manila.

Nelson had been increasingly busy at the final table and lost a pivotal coin flip to bust out of the tournament.

In the hand Lee bet $30,000 pre-flop and Tae Jun Noh reraised an extra $50,000. Nelson decided he had had enough and went all-in for his last $230,000. Noh insta-called and the players flipped over their cards:

Nelson: 8♥ 8♣

Noh: A♣ K♦

It was a classic race situation with Nelson’s tournament life on the line. Unfortunately for Nelson the flop came A♠ 6♥ 2♠ to put Noh in the lead.

There seemed to be a lot of Noh supporters in the crowd as people were chanting “Jun, Jun, Jun!” (Perhaps it was because they just wanted the most experienced player out of the tournament so that local player Ramil Tandoc would have a better shot at winning the event.)

At any rate the turn came 7♥ and the river finished with the 5♥ to eliminate Nelson. He will receive $21,714 for coming in sixth, and a huge pat on the back from the people at PokerStars.com.

Lee Nelson is the most experienced final-table player here, and has been getting active in most recent series of hands. Nelson stole the blinds and antes in three consecutive hands, and it’s obvious that everyone is giving the seasoned pro some serious respect.

In the most recent hand Lee bet $30,000 pre-flop and Van Marcus called. The flop came T♣ 5♣ 5♥ and Nelson immediately shoved for $156,000.

After the hand Nelson was up to approximately $270,000.

We have our seventh-place elimination and to the delight of the crowd, it’s not the sole surviving Filipino player.

In the hand, short-stacked Manish Sansi moved all-in for $130,000 from middle position and Ramil Tandoc immediately reshoved for his last $160,000 from late position.

Everyone else decided to let the two short stacks fight it out and got out of the way. Sansi showed 9♦ 9♥ but Tandoc had him beat with J♦ J♠.

The entirely crowd cheered loudly for the local hero Tandoc and we headed to the flop, which came J♥ 4♠ 2♣ to put the Filipino firmly in the lead with a set of jacks. Sansi would need running nines if he hoped to survive but the turn came 2♠ and sealed his fate.

Sansi will receive $16,285 for coming in seventh. Tandoc is up to over $300,000 after the hand and suddenly has some chips to work with.

We’ve made it to Level 19 here at the final table of APPT Manila. Over the last hour of play we’ve seen short stacks Ramil Tandoc and Manish Sansi both add to their stacks by taking down the blinds on several separate occasions.

We’ve also seen PokerStars main man Lee Nelson lose a sizable pot to chip leader Chang Yong Suk. Aussie Van Marcus has been surprisingly quiet and has yet to win a notable pot. As we mentioned before the Koreans are dominating.

The blinds are now $5,000/$10,000 with a $1,000 ante.

Here are the chip counts at the start of level:

We have our second elimination at the final table of APPT Manila and unfortunately for local supporters it was another Filipino player.

In the hand Manish Sansi limped from early position but Tae Jun Noh, who has been aggressively raising all day, popped it up to $26,000 from middle position.

Everyone else got out of the way … except for Benjamin Lim. Lim shoved for his last $56,500 from the button.

Sansi folded and, after thinking for several minutes, Noh decided he was priced in and made the call. Lim showed K♠ J♥, but he was in big trouble against Noh’s A♠ T♠.

The board ran out Q♣ 4♣ 2♣ Q♦ 4♥ and we’re down to just one Filipino player (Ramil Tandoc) at the final table. Lim will receive $12,482 for finishing eighth. That’s a lot of pesos!

We've reached Level 18, which is somewhat strange because we got there last night. This is of course due to the blinds being pulled back a level because of the APPT promise of over 40 big blinds in the average stack starting the final table.

Blinds are once again $8,000/$4,000 with a $1,000 ante.

The chip counts have changed slightly after the elimination of Rainier Aquino, and we thought we'd share them with you. Take special note of the Korean dominance in the top three spots:

We have our first casualty at the final table and it’s not exactly a surprise who it is. In the hand Tae Jun Noh bet $15,000 from middle position and local Rainier Aquino decided to shove for his last $30,000 from the small blind.

That wasn’t exactly enough to scare anybody away, and Hyoung Jin Nam decided to call from the big blind, as did Noh.

The two live players decided to check the board of A♦ 7♦ 2♣ Q♣ 7♥ to the river, where Noh decided to bet $40,000. The players revealed their hands:

Rainier: A♣ T♥

Nam: A♠ 4♠

Noh: 7♠ 3♠

Noh takes the pot and eliminates Aquino in surprising fashion with a very marginal starting hand. The largely Filipino crowd cheers for Aquino as he heads for the exit. He will receive $9,228 for coming in ninth.

We've had our first decent hand at the APPT Manila final table and it's the Koreans who are running the show. In the hand Chang Yong Suk, or Michael, opened for $15,000 chips from late position. Lee Nelson called from the small blind and Van Marcus from the big.

The flop came Q♠ 4♠ 2♥ and Lee immediately checked but Marcus bet $27,000. Suk reraised to $65,000, and both Lee and Marcus gave it up.

The young Korean adds an extra $65,000 or so to his stack.

After nearly two hours of delays, due to the TV production crew setting up, we are finally live from the final table here at APPT Manila. Tournament Director Danny McDonagh has announced the blinds will be rolled back to Level 17 to fulfill the APPT’s promise of at least 40 big blinds in the average stack at the final table.

Greetings and welcome to PokerListings' coverage of the final table of APPT Manila on the second season of the tour.

We're currently set up on the sidelines of the high-production-value final table, and we'll playing from nine players to an eventual winner.

The biggest story of the final table is that of Lee "Final Table" Nelson, who is attempting to become the first Team PokerStars Pro member to win an APPT event. Even more impressive is the fact that Nelson was the only member of Team PokerStars Pro to take part in this event.

Nelson is joined by three Koreans, three Filipinos, an Aussie and a Chinese player, so the table definitely has an international feel to it.

Last year this tournament went until 3:30 a.m. before they had a winner, but we're hopeful that the aggressive Koreans, who are currently the chip leaders, will crank up the action here. 

We're approximately 30 minutes away from go time so be sure to keep checking back to get the very best live updates east of Hawaii.

Here's a look at the final-table chip counts: