Gary Thompson: APT High Roller Day 1 Chip Leader

The APT Manila 2024 series has been playing since October 28 with several poker events lined up until November 7. One of the highlight events of the series is the APT High Roller.

The Day 1 leg of the APT High Roller began earlier today with a record total of 134 entries meeting the PHP 200,000 buy-in for a seat and an opportunity to get a share of the PHP 23,396,400 (~USD 397,740) prize pool – making this the largest and richest APT High Roller the tour has run in the country.

The action lasted for nearly 12 hours over sixteen 40-minute levels with 26 players able to bag their chips to return for the final leg tomorrow. Gary Thompson of Ireland made it to the top of the chip counts at day's end, building a stack of 1,258,000 chips. Thompson is the only one who bagged over a million, but Taiga Ishiwatari of Japan is not so far behind with the second-largest stack of 980,000. Alexander Lynskey of Australia crossed the million mark late in the evening but had to settle for a chip count of 964,000 at the end of play, landing at the third spot in the leaderboard.

Thompson already landed a runner-up finish in the PHP 150,000 No Limit Hold'em - Single Day High Roller (Event #43) in this series, taking home a payout of PHP 1,650,000 ($28,341). Thompson has over $900,000 in total live earnings and a championship finish here will bring him closer to crossing the one-million mark.

VIncent Huang

Some of the notable players who failed to survive the day were recent APT Main Event finalists Renji Mao and Vincent Huang, who jumped straight from their final table exit into the APT High Roller. Philippine poker pros Mike Takayama and David Erquiaga also didn't get through. American Joey Weissman gave it two tries today, but wasn't able to advance.

Meanwhile, the rest of the top ten chip counts are listed below.

Play for the APT High Roller Final Day will resume for the 26 survivors at 11:15 AM in the Grand Ballroom of the City of Dreams Manila tomorrow, November 7, which will be the last day of the APT Manila Series.

A full APT High Roller Survivor List can be found by CLICKING HERE.

A full APT High Roller Payout List, complete with rough USD conversions, can be found by CLICKING HERE.

Day comes to an end.

Stay tuned for a recap.

Abraham Ceesvin

Andy Li open-jammed from the button for about 70,000 and was called by Abraham Ceesvin in the big blind for a heads-up showdown.

Andy Li: K 8

Abraham Ceesvin: A A

As soon as Li saw Ceesvin's hand, he stood up next to the table, resigned to his fate, and waited for the board to complete. The dealer dealt the flop: 6 J T , followed by the A turn and the 5 river.

Upon seeing the ace on the turn, Li said his goodbyes and made his exit, eliminated on the second-to-last hand of the day.

Jordan Westmorland

Juns Leong opened for 20,000 under the gun, and Jordan Westmorland, on the button, responded with a three-bet to 60,000. When the action was passed back to Leong, he shoved all-in for 160,000, and Westmorland quickly called.

Juns Leong: K K

Jordan Westmorland: A Q

Leong was ahead and feeling confident about his chances for a double-up, but the dealer spread the flop: A T 3 . Leong was still hoping for a set, but as the board completed, the J turn and the J river didn’t improve his hand. Westmorland scooped the pot, and Leong was eliminated from the tournament.

Chaoui Mehdi and Siyoung Lee were starting at a pot of 80,000 made mostly from their chips. Beside the pot was a board that read 8 J A 9 Q . Lee had the option from the big blind, but decided to double-tap the felt and pass it to Mehdi. Medhi took his time to play with some chips before counting out 77,000 to put across the betting line. Lee took one last look at his cards before chucking them goodbye.

The floor director has announced that this will be the last level of the night. Those who make it at the end of the level will bag their chips to return tomorrow for the APT High Roller Final Day.

At the start of this level, there are still 33 contenders still going at it from the 134 entries throughout the day.

After winning a huge pot, Chaoui Mehdi just left his chips as was when the dealer shoved them his way. Mehdi didn't stack them and just left them scattered and splashed for the next few hands. It's still uncertain if he played a hand with the disarrayed chips in that manner, but the floor director did give a strict warning for him to stack his chips properly or be given a penalty. We weren't sure what the penalty would be, except that the floor said, "I'm serious!" a few times in a row with the tone a bit more serious (pun intended) each time.

Upon further inspection, the floor director did explain that each player is entitled to an estimated count of a player's chips, and thus they must be arranged in a certain manner with the biggest denominations not hidden. There must be some order and not splashed in a mess the way they were in the case of Mehdi.

Seoha Lee

Gary Thompson opened for 21,000 and was three-bet by Jordan Westmorland on the button to 50,000. Joseph Cheong folded in the small blind, making way for Seoha Lee, who shoved all-in for 53,000, risking his tournament life.

Both Thompson and Westmorland called. The dealer spread the flop: 5 6 T . Thompson checked, and Westmorland bet 35,000 into the side pot, prompting Thompson to fold and leaving Lee and Westmorland heads-up for the main pot.

Seoha Lee: 8 8

Jordan Westmorland: A A

Seeing Westmorland's aces, Lee began chanting, "Spade, Spade..." hoping for a backdoor flush. Sure enough, his prayers were halfway answered as the J hit the turn, giving him a flush draw.

Lee’s chanting grew louder, now with more enthusiasm, as he awaited the river. Westmorland sat quietly, hoping his aces would hold. But the poker gods favored Lee as the river brought the 7 , completing his flush and securing him a dramatic triple-up.

Ryosuke Tomura

Ryosuke Tomuro opened for 16,000 and got called by the big blind Jason Magbanua to see a flop. The dealer flopped 4 K 3 .

Magbanua checked the flop to Tomuro who continued the pressure with an 8,000 bet. Magbanua flat-called. The turn A was dealt and Magbanua check-called Tomuro's bet of 16,000 again.

Magbanua still surfing the board, Tomura fired 65,000 on the river 7 and made the other player finally fold.

Alexander James Lynskey

There was a pot with a whopping 260,000 chips in the middle and a board beside it that showed 5 7 6 4 5 The two players responsible for adding chips to that pot were Alexander James Lynskey at the hi-jack and Zhen Chen at the button. By the time the river had showed, they had gotten tired of thinking and strained their poker faces, so they checked for a showdown. Lynskey was the first to show 7 9 which gave him top pair and was apparently enough to take down the pot.

The win made Lynskey's stack cross the 1 Million mark and looks like the first player to do so by our count.