Manila, Philippines, January 2017 – The first Asian Poker Tour festival of the year wrapped up its opening day at Resorts World Manila with lots of action at the felt. The APT Kickoff 2017 saw the NLH Welcome Event close up with the Final 8 players remaining and Korea’s Byun Choul Seung lifting up the first trophy at the Ante Up for Charity event.

NLH Welcome Event from 120 down to the Final 8

The NLH Welcome Event, the first event of the APT Kickoff 2017, had a healthy start with 120 entries for a total prize pool of US$17,460. The field was lit up with many notable players such as APT POY 2016 champion Iori Yogo, APT RPOY Korea champion Hung-Sheng Lin, pros Tetsuya Tsuchikawa and Kunal Patni, and even past APT Main Event champions In Chul Sin, Joven Huerto, and Alexis Lim. However, all of them would fail to reach the money round.

Midway through the day, many players were at par for the chip leader position but it was Allan Daypuyart who crossed the 200k range well before any other player. The money round was finally reached when past APT Main Event champion, John Tech, eliminated Elan Zak, leaving 18 players with a guaranteed profit.