Seoul native Kim Gap Young has been the story of this tournament since early on Day 2. He has seemingly been in cruise control, never dipping below a medium-sized stack. That's probably not a surprise to anyone who knows that Kim learned at the feet of one of the greatest tournament players of the Internet generation, Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier. Kim was first exposed to poker by ElkY when both were elite Korean Starcraft players.
Kim's biggest highlight in his five-year poker career so far was shipping a heads-up tournament online for $200,000. He considers himself part of the first generation of Korean poker players and is hoping to add to his accolades with a win here in Cebu. Starting with 26% of the chips in play will certainly give him a leg up on the field.
A 27-year old IT Analyst from Sydney, Raymond Lapitan has flown under the radar for much of the tournament as he reaches the final table on the short stack. Lapitan has been playing poker for nine years after first watching the game on television.
Lapitan won’t be overawed at this final table, with experience playing at a WPT event against the world’s best – a moment that he credits as the highlight of his career. Lapitan finished 14th at the 2008 APPT Sydney Grand Final which was his previous biggest result before this final table.
Fabiano Michael, 31, is one of six players at this final table who are over 30 years old. That may not seem very old to most people but in the last five years, poker has become a young man's game. Michael considers himself foremost a limousine driver and only a part-time poker player. You can find him on the football pitch when he's not slinging the chips.
He wants all his friends to know that he's "very quiet". He'll have to make some noise if he wants to win the tournament as his 231,000 in chips lumps him in with the short stacks.
This 33-year old Australian expat now resides in Malaysia where he spends his days crushing the Pot-Limit Omaha tables. Yoon has been playing poker for most of his adult life but credits his friends and his girlfriend for inspiring him in the game.
Yoon’s tournament progress has been fascinating to watch. He entered Day 2 as the second shortest stack in the room but managed to claw his way back into contention. His defining moment came when his pocket kings managed to spike a set against Alexander Beeckx’s pocket aces and from there Yoon has taken full advantage of his second life to reach the final table in good shape as the second largest chip stack.
By making the final table of this tournament, 33-year-old Mikael Rosen has notched his first APPT cash outside of Macau. Rosen previously took fourth in the APPT Macau Main Event in 2008 and also notched three cashes at this year's APPT Macau poker festival.
He calls himself "Bubble King" because he's finished on or close to the bubble in several APPT events. He's been playing poker "forever" and curses his brother for getting him hooked on the game. He'll start the final table 3rd in chips, just behind Daren Yoon.
This final table marks Young-shin Im's fifth cash on the APPT in the last one and a half years - a remarkable feat considering she's only been playing poker for two years. She came close to making the final table of the 2009 APPT Macau Main Event, bowing out in 15th place, and considers that a career highlight. Im acknowledges that she had to get a bit lucky to get this far. She ran pocket queens into pocket aces in a battle of the blinds but caught a queen on the flop to stick around. She comes into the final table in 4th chip position.
Basilios Diakokomninos is a 23-year old business manager who has come all the way from the United States for this event after qualifying online on PokerStars. Diakokomninos has been playing poker for around five years but this final table is his career highlight.
For most of the tournament, Diakokomninos’ surname has been larger than his chip stack, but somehow he’s managed to squeak his way into the final nine. His key moment was when he made a flush with against an opponent’s pocket jacks to stay alive and reach this final table. However he has some work ahead of him, as he enters with the second shortest chip stack.
The final day of the PokerStars.net Asia Pacific Poker Tour Cebu Main Event has arrived with just one player only eight eliminations away from being crowned champion!
The 236 players that partook in this event all anted up PHP 100,000 to see a PHP 21,518,480 ($490,170) prizepool formed. Not only is there a coveted trophy and title of champion on the line, but also a mammoth PHP 5,810,000 ($132,346) first prize up for grabs.
Seat
Player
Country
Chip Count
BBs
Chip %
1
Richard En
Canada
198,000
16.5
4.4%
2
Jukka Juvonen
Finland
583,000
48.5
12.9%
3
Kim Gap Young
Korea
1,193,000
99.5
26.4%
4
Raymond Lapitan
Australia
158,000
13
3.5%
5
Fabiano Michael
Australia
231,000
19
5.1%
6
Daren Yoon
Malaysia
677,000
56.5
15%
7
Mikael Rosen
Sweden
670,000
56
14.8%
8
Young-shin Im
Korea
639,000
53
14.1%
9
Basilios Diakokomninos
USA
177,000
15
3.9%
After holding the Day 2 chip lead, Kim Gap Young - although losing it at times - managed to snag it once it again yesterday to see the Korean arrive at today's final table with over a quarter of chips in play.
Cunning and highly skilled players such as Daren Yoon, Mikael Rosen and Richard En will provide Young with the most difficulty, but fellow Korean Young-shin Im and Finish-player Jukka Juvonen can also not be ruled out.
Make sure to stay locked onto to PokerNews.com as the PokerNews Live Reporting Team provide the exclusive live coverage from 12:15 pm PHT as we play down to crowing the APPT Cebu Champion here on the PokerStars.net Asia Pacific Poker Tour at the beautiful Shangri-La Mactan Resort & Spa!
![[user80015]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
against an opponent’s pocket jacks to stay alive and reach this final table. However he has some work ahead of him, as he enters with the second shortest chip stack.
