JAPANESE TETSUYA TSUCHIKAWA WINS THE WPT NAT’L PHILIPPINES MAIN EVENT #WorldPokerTour
By Jamil Buergo
October 28, 2014
Japanese Tetsuya Tsuchikawa won the inaugural World Poker Tour National Philippines Main Event on Monday night at the posh Solaire Resort and Casino in Paranaque City. He bested a field of 385 players from around the world to claim his first WPT title and the first Japanese earn such distinction. A frequent visitor to the country, he won his first major title where he also started to play the sport. He took home a total of Php 7.7M prize money.
The final table consisted of six players, including the last filipino player Andrew Gaw. Tetsuya started the final table in 5th place with 805,000 amount of chips. Incidentally, runner-up Kevin Ang of Malaysia started the final table with the shortest stack at 425,000. Both players doubled up in the early goings to elimination.
In the heads-up play, Tsuchikawa had 4.1M while Ang was not far behind with 3.6M. On the final hand (100th hand of final table), Ang started the action with a minimum raise of 200,000 on the small blind. Tsuchikawa immediately called on the big blind and the flop was dealt a 7-6-3. Tsuchikawa checked while Ang bet 160,000. Tsuchikawa then raised to 410,000 which Ang called. The turn showed an Ace which Tsuchikawa bet 475,000. Ang called which ended up showing a Queen on the river. Tsuchikawa checked while Ang moved all in. It took a while for Tsuchikawa to call before calling it to the delight of the crowd watching. Ang showed his 8-6 card for a pair of sixes while Tsuchikawa had a 10-7 for a pair of sevens to end the tournament.
Andrew Gaw of the Philippines ended up sixth in the tournament. The reigning Asian Poker Tour Head-Up champion took home Php 1.4M as a consolation. Min Fei Chow of Malaysia salvaged third place honors while Japanese Yuichi Sumida took the fourth spot and Douglas Olsson of Sweden ended up at fifth.
WPT National Philippines Results (in USD)
1st. Tetsuya Tsuchikawa – $156,849
2nd. Kevin Ang – $109,794
3rd. Mun Fei Chow – $70,582
4th. Yuichi Sumida – $52,283
5th. Douglas Olsson – $39,212
6th. Andrew Gaw – $31,370
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