Manila, Philippines, January 2017 – The Asian Poker Tour is currently hosting its first event of the year, the APT Kickoff 2017, at Resorts World Manila. The final entry flight of the US$1,650 buy-in APT Main Event concluded tonight with France’s Benjamin Gonzva bagging up the largest stack of 319,000. Gonzva is a newcomer to the APT and is fresh off a big win in Cambodia.

Main Event Day 1B Chip Leader, Benjamin Gonzva

Throughout the day, Gonzva consistently sported a big stack then climbed higher after winning a double up in a set over set hand. His closest opponent is Korea’s Joo Hyun Park with 268,000 in chips. Park was seen collecting a pile of chips with his trip tens against Julian Hasse. Rounding out the top three was China’s Yin Zhang with 254,100 in chips. Zhang ousted one of the past APT Champions, Gerard Bringley, cracking pocket aces with two pair.

Day 1B of the APT Main Event closed up with 24 players remaining. Among them were UK’s Samad Razavi, Alexis Lim, Tien Quyet Pham, Marc Rivera, JC Sayo, and Head Hunter champion Hung Sheng Lin. India’s Kunal Patni also made it through, successfully accumulating more chips than at Day 1A. His shortest stack will be removed from play at the start of Day 2.