Manila, Philippines, January 14, 2017 – Several days ago, the Asian Poker Tour opened its calendar year with the nine-day APT Kickoff 2017 at Resorts World Manila. Today saw the highlight tournament, the US$1,650 buy-in APT Main Event, enter its first day. After a scheduled eight rounds of play, it was Japanese player GACKT who ruled with a massive stack of 474,300.

Main Event Day 1A Chip Leader, GACKT

While no one came close to the leader’s arsenal, finishing in second position was Vietnam’s Van Sang Nguyen, fresh off a deep run at the Head Hunter event. Nguyen surged on the last hand of the night turning up a full house to oust a player and bag up 234,600 in chips. Rounding out the top three was another Japanese player, Yoichi Uesugi with 204,900 in chips.

The APT Main Event kicked off fairly quiet with only a few tables filled up. Despite the low numbers, there were many notable players coloring the field. Among those who made it through to Day 2 were APT POY 2016 champion Iori Yogo, past APT Main Event champions John Tech and Czardy Rivera, and notable players Tetsuya Tsuchikawa, Alex Lee, Kunal Patni, Lester Edoc, and Terry Gonzaga.