After four days of terrific poker action in Manila Bay, Ying Ling Chua outlasted a field of 268 players and ultimately defeated Markus Garberg heads up to win the WPT National Philippines Main Event at Solaire Resort & Casino.
The 35-year-old conference manager from Malaysia takes home PHP 4,048,700 ($86,180) to go along with the WPT National Trophy. Garberg earned PHP 2,840,700 ($60,440) for his efforts, and Kai Paulsen, who entered as the chip leader, fell in third place for PHP 1,827,200 ($38,870).
WPT National Philippines Main Event
1st: Ying lin Chua – PHP 4,048,700 ($86,180)
2nd: Markus Garberg – PHP 2,840,700 ($60,440)
3rd: Kai Paulsen – PHP 1,827,200 ($38,870)
4th: Michael Tse Hua – PHP 1,352,500 ($28,770)
5th: Jiabin Cui – PHP 1,015,300 ($21,600)
6th: Louis Nyberg – PHP 811,900 ($17,270)
Chua came into the final day right in the middle of the chip counts, and stayed fairly quiet during the first few orbits of the final table even though there was a lot of action at the start. Louis Nyberg was eliminated in sixth place in Hand #10 at the final table, and Jiabin Cui followed him out seven hands later in fifth place.
With four players remaining, Chua picked up the pace and moved into the chip lead after winning several pots in a row without a showdown. Then Michael Tse Hua got cold-decked when he ran his set of fives into Kai Paulsen’s flush to finish in fourth place.
Just 31 hands into the final table, they were down to the final three players, and in Hand #39, it looked like it would be down to two. Garberg got it all in with A-9 against Chua’s Q-Q, but Garberg caught a nine on the flop and another on the river to stay alive and double up. The action slowed down after that, and all three players had similar chip stacks. Paulsen, who started the day as the chip leader, slowly lost chips during three-handed play and became the short stack. Paulsen then got it all in after the flop with a flush draw against Chua’s set of tens, but Paulsen never improved and was eliminated in third place.
Chua took the chip lead into heads-up play against Garberg, but it was Garberg who got the best of it in the early stages and briefly gained the chip lead. But the chips eventually found their way back to Chua.
With Chua holding a slim lead, all the chips found their way into the middle preflop. Chua tabled 2-2 and was flipping for the title against Garberg’s A-K. The board never brought any help for Garberg, and Chua’s deuces held up for him to take home his first WPT National title.
World Poker Tour would like to extend a very warm thank you to Senior Vice President of Casino Marketing Cyrus Sherafat and his amazing team at Solaire Resort & Casino for another tremendous festival. Solaire continues to provide world-class service to players, media members, and attendees from all over the globe, making the property one the premiere gaming and resort destinations in not only the Philippines, but all of Asia.
For a look at what’s coming up on the World Poker Tour, check out our schedule of upcoming events here.