Austria’s Matthias Lipp Wins Record-Breaking Zodiac Classic for PHP 4.1M (~USD 71.6K)

Mini Main Event Sets New Tour Country Record; Raju Jaruplavath & Seungmook Jung Share Chip Lead

APT MANILA CLASSIC 2025 SCHEDULE| OFFICIAL RESULTS | PLAYER LISTS | IMAGES | WINNERS

MANILA, PHILIPPINES, February 14, 2025 — Happy Valentine’s Day poker lovers and welcome back to the APT Manila Classic, with the festival—run in partnership with the Metro Card Club—entering its eighth day here at the Grand Ballroom of the prestigious Crowne Plaza Galleria.

Highlights of the day were the crowning of two new champions in the PHP 100,000 (~USD 1,720) Zodiac Classic – Sponsored by Natural8—which you can read about below—and the PHP 1.5M (~USD 25,775) Superstar Challenge, which you can read about in the side event press release and on the APT Blog.

The three opening flights of the PHP 6,000,000 (~USD 103K) Mini Main Event also played out, with the tournament drawing a record Philippines-based field for a combined total of 608 entries (346 unique) over Flights A, B & C – more on this below.

However, it was the record 1,202-strong PHP 60,000 (~USD 1,030) Main Event that captivated the watching rail birds attention, with the tournament reduced to the last nine players, setting up a thrilling final table for Saturday.

There were 48 players in contention at the start of the penultimate day, all guaranteed a PHP 94,000 (~USD 1,615) share of the PHP 62,311,680 (~USD 1,070,650) prize pool and all hoping to earn a spot at the nine-handed final table.

It took eight gruelling 60-minute levels to set up Saturday’s final table line-up, which will be an all-male affair with the last woman standing—Vietnamese poker vlogger Ngoc Huyen “Gemmy” Quach—receiving no love on Valentine’s Day, departing in 15th place at the hands of Russia’s **Dimitrii Belikov**.

Vietnam's Ngoc Huyen “Gemmy” Quach turned her free Main Event ticket into a 15th place cash

While Quach will be disappointed not to have made the final table, the fact she won her seat via the N8 Beat the Pros invitational freeroll for a free trip to Manila, and then spun this up into a PHP 548,000 (~USD 9,416) payout for infinite value ROI will provide her with a great story for her vlog. You can read more about her magical main event run HERE.

It is Belikov bringing the overnight chip lead into the final table, with the Russian player powering into pole position after winning a huge coin flip in a four-bet pre-flop all-in pot against Lithuania’s Egidijus Digrys that left the latter on life support; Digrys subsequently hit the rail in 13th place for PHP 610,000 (~USD 10,480). Belikov will be returning with 8,890,000 in chips, valued at 56 big blinds when the tournament resumes.

Japan’s Michihiko Matsuda came within touching distance of a place at the final table, falling in tenth place for PHP 679,000 (~USD 11,667) at the hands of compatriot **Hiroya Iwamoto** to conclude the Day 4 action and shoot Iwamoto up to second on the leaderboard with a stack of 8,225,000 (51 big blinds).

Israel’s Or Nezer rounds out the top three stacks, concluding the action with 6,660,000 in chips (42 big blinds), with other notables to fight their way through to the final table including Australia’s Dylan Foster (6,615,000), Day 3 frontrunner **Jie Zhang (5,320,000), Austrian high roller Samuel Muller (2,150,000), and OnLive qualifier Adalsteinn Karlsson of Iceland (1,700,000).

MAIN EVENT FINAL TABLE STACKS

*Blinds calculated at level 31: 80,000/160,000 with a 160,000 big blinds ante

For APT Manila Classic 2025 Final Table Player Profiles please CLICK HERE

Main Event Final Table. Back row (l-r): Dylan Foster, Adalsteinn Karlsson, Samuel Muller, Alexander Ugay. Front row (l-r): Jie Zhang, Iwamoto Hiroya, Dmittrii Belikov, Or Nezer, Ivan Govorov

Notables to make Day 4 but come up short of a place in the final nine included Flight B frontrunner Lars Kamphues (19th for PHP 425,000), Day 3 frontrunner Po-Shuo Huang (20th for PHP 425,000), India’s Siddharth Karia (27th for PHP 305,000), and Rishi Mehra (33rd for PHP 223,000), and Spain’s Javier Zarco (45th for PHP 190,000).

For Main Event Day 4 Player List please CLICK HERE

For Main Event Day Final Table Draw please CLICK HERE

The Final Day gets underway at 11am local time on Saturday, February 15, where the nine remaining players will battle it out for the award-winning 24K Gold Lion APT Main Event trophy and title. The action will be live streamed via the official APT YouTube channel.

You can follow all the Main Event Day 4 action as it happened via the APT Blog, or watch the action as it played out via the Main Event Day 4 live stream.

All tournament information can be found on the Main Event - Day 4 tournament page.

Austria’s Matthias Lipp Wins Record-Breaking Zodiac Classic for PHP 4.1M (~USD 71.6K)

Zodiac Classic champion Matthias Lipp

All the festival’s record-breaking action was not exclusive to the Main Event, with the tour’s largest and richest Philippines-based Zodiac Classic – Sponsored by Natural8 playing out to an exciting conclusion.

Just 72 players out of the initial 228 entries (165 unique) returned for the Final Day, all looking to make the paying positions and earn a share of the PHP 19,699,200 (~USD 338,474) prize pool, with their eventual goal being the coveted Silver Lion silhouette trophy and the PHP 4,168,200 (~USD 71,619) top prize.

Play recommenced at 11:15am local time (GMT+8) on level 14 with blinds of 1,500/3,000 with a 3,000 big blind ante with the Philippines John Tech returning in pole position with the overnight chip lead.

It took close to six levels to reach the money bubble, with the departure of Hong Kong’s Jason Chau mid-way through level 19 guaranteeing the remaining 31 players a payday of at least PHP 173,000 (~USD 2,970).

It took five full 40-minute levels to whittle the field down to the final table, with start-of-day frontrunner Tech falling just short and exiting in tenth place for PHP 360,000 (~USD 6,185).

France’s Oliver Bithell brought the chip lead into the nine-handed final table, with a 282,300 (~10 big blind) stack, with Austria’s Matthias Lipp (273,600), and Spain’s Javier Zarco (218,900) sitting close behind in the counts.

It was Matthias Lipp who claimed the accolades, along with the PHP 4,168,200 (~USD 71,619) top prize, following up on his deep Main Event run to earn a second cash of the festival and his maiden APT title.

China’s Zihao Wang took silver and a PHP 2,805,000 (~USD 48,196) payout for his runner-up finish, making his fifth score of the series, with Spain’s Javier Zarco taking bronze, earning PHP 1,978,000 (~USD 33,986) for his second cash of the series, with the final table paying out as follows:

ZODIAC CLASSIC FINAL TABLE RESULTS

Other notables to make the money included Japan’s John Matsuda (14th for PHP 292,000), the UK’s Scott Margereson (PHP 262,000), former APT Super High Roller champion Thanisorn Saelor (18th for PHP 232,000), the Philippines Marco Espela (21st for PHP 213,000), Germany’s Martin Finger (22nd for 213,000), the Philippines Lester Edoc (24th for PHP 193,000), Germany’s Niko Koop (27th for PHP 193,000), and the Philippines Richard Marquez (31st for 173,000).

For Zodiac Classic Final Day Player List please CLICK HERE

For Zodiac Classic Results please CLICK HERE

All tournament information can be found on the Zodiac Classic - Final Day tournament page

Mini Main Event Sets New Tour Country Record; Raju Jaruplavath & Seungmook Jung Share Chip Lead

India's Raju Japuplavath & South Korea's Seungmook Jung share the Mini Main Event chip lead

Just like its bigger brother, the PHP 25,000 (~USD 430) Mini Main Event attracted a record-breaking field, setting a new tour country record for field size and attracting a total of 608 entries (346 unique) across the three opening flights.

A total of 86 players advanced to the final day from across the three flights, and all are now guaranteed PHP 41,000 (~USD 700) a share of the PHP 13,132,800 (~USD 225,649) prize pool, with the eventual champion walking away with a PHP 2,525,800 (~USD 43,400) top prize – making this the richest APT Mini Main Event ever to run in the country, and the second richest Mini Main Event the tour has ever run.

For Mini Main Event Prize Pool & Payouts please CLICK HERE

Unusually, there are two players sitting at the summit of the chip counts, both bagging the exact same stack; Philippines National Cup champion Raju Jaruplavath topping the 224-strong Flight A, and South Korea’s Seungmook Jung leading the 227-strong Flight B, with both bagging 914,000.

A total of 32 players from Flight A made it through, as did 32 from Flight B. The USA’s Jesse Rivera topped the 157-entry Flight C and will be returning third in the overall chip counts after bagging a stack of 860,000 with a further 22 players successfully making it through from the final flight, with the top ten stacks coming into the Final Day as follows:

MINI MAIN EVENT TOP TEN STACKS

The 86 combined survivors from the three starting flights will unite for the Final Day, with other notables making the cut including the Philippines Terry Gonzaga (481,000), Thailand’s Kiwanont Sukhum (423,000), the Philippines John Costiniano (175,000), South Korea’s Sangbum Kim (146,000), and Main Event bubble boy Kenneth Anthony (69,000) – who has turned his free bubble consolation prize into a cash of at least PHP 41,000.

For Mini Main Event Flight A Player List please CLICK HERE

For Mini Main Event Flight A Survivors please CLICK HERE

For Mini Main Event Flight B Player List please CLICK HERE

For Mini Main Event Flight B Survivors please CLICK HERE

For Mini Main Event Flight C Player List please CLICK HERE

For Mini Main Event Flight C Survivors please CLICK HERE

For Mini Main Event Final Day Draw please CLICK HERE

All tournament information can be found on the Mini Main Event - Flight A tournament page, the Mini Main Event - Flight B tournament page, and the Mini Main Event - Flight C tournament page.

Action for the Final Day gets underway at 11:15am on Saturday, February 15 with the tournament playing down to a champion.