Brett Parise: PokerStars Asia Pacific Poker Tour - Manila Champion
Brett Parise is the PokerStars Asia Pacific Poker Tour (Manila) Champion and $180,000 richer. Â
PokerStars.net recently brew up a storm in Manila by hosting the Asia Pacific Poker Tour. One of the highlights of the tour was a Main Event, which was a three-day No Limit Texas Hold’em Tournament with a buy-in of $2,500 and a prize pool of nearly $600,000.
255 poker players from 30+ countries joined in the tournament, which also saw some big names like PokerStars pros 2005 WSOP Main Event Champion Joe Hachem of Australia and 2004 WSOP Player of The Year Daniel Negreanu of the United States.
For three days, the 255 poker players played some gruelling poker. The last day’s final table saw some rather impressive action, but eventually the championship fell to the hands of 22-year old Brett Parise from California, USA, who made it to the tournament by coming out on top in a massive field in a Pokerstars.net freeroll tournament.
A short-stacked Ira Blumenthal, who runs a law firm based in Bangkok, Thailand, pushed his chips all-in with J-5 suited, and was immediately called by Parise who was holding pocket tens. Ira’s cards saw some outs on the flop and turn, but eventually Parise’s tens held up and he was immediately crowned the PokerStars Asia Pacific Poker Tour - Manila Champion, and pursed for himself a hefty $179,775. It may seem like small change compared to Las Vegas main event prizes, but that first prize pot was THE biggest prize ever for a poker tournament in the Philippines. And definitely, the Asia Pacific Poker Tour was the biggest thing to happen in the Philippine poker scene.
Ira Blumenthal collected $113,000+ for his 2nd place achievement.Â
The Philippines had representation in the final table care of Derick Hernandez, a 35-year old who runs a cabinet-making business, but he was the first to be eliminated in the final table with an unlucky run with his Aces. Hernandez was re-raised from the small-blind, and he pushed all-in with his AA, running into Parise’s 10-10. The flop threw a 10, giving Parise a set, and Derick’s hopes were shattered with a 9th place finish, pocketing for himself $11,000+ from the prize pool.
45-year old Japanese poker afficionado Kazuhiro Sato entered the final table with the short stack. Eventually, his dwindling stack was forced all-in on his blind when Ira Blumenthal made a raise with Jacks. Sato flipped over 4-5 off, caught a 4 on the flop, had an open-ended on the turn, but died on the river, eliminating him at 8th with a $14,000+ prize.
30-year old Dutchman Bas van Liere was the 7th to be eliminated when he pushed all-in with Ace-10 suited, and was called by the pokcet Kings of 25-year old Maor Feldinger who was playing in his first live tournament. The Kings held up and Bas va Liere will return to the Netherlands $20,000+ richer.
40-year old Swedish native Roger Spets, who has been based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia for the past 10 years running a wealth management company, was eliminated in 6th place. It was the first ever live tournament for Spets, whose spent most of his poker career playing on-line at PokerStars. Spets pushed all-in with Sixes and was met with Ira Blumenthal’s Jacks. Spets couldn’t improve and took the 6th place finish with a prize of $26,000+.
Maor Feldinger of Israel moved all-in with J-9 suited and was called by Nicholas Bamman with A-7 off. The 7 on the river was the difference, and Feldinger busted out at 5th, taking a prize of $35,000+.
24-year old Australian Van Marcus came into the final table as the chipleader, and looked to take command of the entire tournament with his impressive tournament poker plays. After all, Van Marcus is a PokerStars SuperNova VIP, which means that he’s got a lot of good credentials. Apart from his PokerStars achievements, he’s also made deep money in WSOP events and Aussie Millions events. However, he ended up getting eliminated at 4th place when he pushed all-in UTG with A-5 off, and was called by Brett Parise in the small blind with A-J off. The board gives 2 more jacks, and Van Marcus goes down at 4th,colelcting a $44,000 prize.
23-year old Nicholas Bamman from Princeton, New Jersey, USA, had a good run, but his luck ran out when his Kings pushed all-in and was called by Parise’s A-7 off. A seven showed on the flop and another creeped up in the turn, and a devastated Bamman couldn’t be saved by the river, eliminiating him at 3rd, but also giving him a hefty prize of $62,000+ for his success.
The PokerStars Asia Pacific Poker Tour leaves Manila with a sigh, but Asia Pacific Poker Tour President Jeffrey Haas says that they’ll be back.
In the meantime, the PokerStars Asia Pacific Poker Tour will head off to Seoul, South Korea and to Sydney, Australia.
Many thanks to pokernews.com for the live coverage, updates and photo releases.Â
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