Tzai Wei Phua Wins the APPT Megastack for a Platinum Pass and ₱2,440,000 ($45,918)
23-year old Singaporean Tzai Wei Phua started the final table of the APPT Megastack as the chip leader and even though the chip lead moved around the table among his opponents during the day, in the end, Phua managed to clinch the win against Yisha Chen. Phua added an extra ₱2,440,000 ($45,918) to his poker bankroll and one of the five PSPC Platinum Passes (worth $30,000) up for grabs at the APPT Manila, which will take him to the Bahamas from January 5th-11th.
During the break of the Main Event, the tournament room was emptied so both Chen's and Phua's rail had to leave the room. It so happened to be that when the final hand took place, none of their friends were there to witness it.
Chen raised to 500,000 from the button and Phua opted to make the call.
The flop brought them the 
and Phua checked. Chen looked at Phua and decided to bet 400,000. Phua glanced at his cards once more and raised to 1,200,000. Chen took another glimpse at her cards and called.
They both checked through the 
on the turn to the 
on the river. Phua looked at his stack and then announced he was all-in. The dealer threw the all-in button in front of Phua and Chen snap-called.
Phua tabled 
for the turned wheel, Chen looked a bit stunned and then threw her closed cards over the line. The dealer turned around the 
to show what Chen held. After both their stacks were counted, Phua was deemed to have the bigger stack and Chen was eliminated in 2nd place.
Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize (PISO) | Prize (USD) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tzai Wei Phua | Singapore | ₱2,440,000 | $45,918 |
| 2 | Yisha Chen | China | ₱1,512,000 | $28,454 |
| 3 | Ming Hong Teoh | Malaysia | ₱936,000 | $17,614 |
| 4 | Konstantin Pogodin | Russia | ₱709,000 | $13,343 |
| 5 | Bertrand Ortiz | Philippines | ₱482,000 | $9,071 |
| 6 | Darian Kok Tan | Malaysia | ₱369,000 | $6,944 |
| 7 | Masakazu Myamoto | Japan | ₱306,000 | $5,759 |
| 8 | Wang Meng | China | ₱255,500 | $4,808 |
| 9 | Piet Pape | Germany | ₱216,000 | $4,065 |
The PokerStars Players NL Hold’em Championship takes place January 6–10, 2019 on the Bahama's. When Phua was asked how he felt about going there he replied: "It's so surreal. The entire journey was so tough, from Day 1 until today. At one point today, I had the second shortest stack for a period of time and I started with the chip lead. I think I showed stamina and endurance. Learned to not give up, picking my spots well, and of course, at the end of the day, I felt I got really lucky. So luck played a big factor as well. After I won, I didn't know how to react. It's so surreal. I can't believe this has happened. I am at a loss for words."
Phua indicated that he's a cash game player and used to play online a lot before it got banned in Singapore. Today is August 9 which is the National Day of Singapore. Phua hopes that this will give Singaporeans some inspiration as there is a certain amount of stigma surrounding poker in Singapore. He hopes his win will show that people can make a living from playing poker. Phua started playing more tournaments and even bubbled the Aussie Millions Main Event last year.
"The usual big names will be at the PSPC but I don't have anyone in particular that I really want to play against," Phua said when questioned about who he was looking forward to playing in January. "I think the exposure will be immense. I'll be able to meet the best poker players in the world. On a personal level, regardless whether I cash or not, from a networking perspective, I will be able to improve my poker talking theory and establishing contacts and connections that can last a lifetime."
Phua has been playing for 4-5 years, but according to himself his recorded lifetime results aren't worth much and he still can't really comprehend how he managed to do this. He finds poker has been extremely draining but also rewarding. The trick to poker, according to Phua, is finding the right balance in many aspects which can be used in poker but also outside of the poker world.
All in all, Phua's first PokerStars event has brought him an amazing result and he wanted to thank his friends for his good run here in Manila. His friends said it was meant to be for him to win on the National Day of Singapore. As he was predominantly a cash game player, he believes he does well in the early and middle stages but was a bit uncertain about the later stages. During the breaks, he would approach his friends to run through strategy and ranges.
"Success is the sum of everyday efforts. Even though I got lucky, I believe to some extent, I made my own luck. Because I worked so hard. I slept really late last night, I checked the seat draw, made plans on which big blinds to attack." Phua had one more message for other aspiring players: "Luck is inevitable in poker tournaments. Variance is there, we should control what we can control. Putting in more effort to gain an edge in the tournament, it is something we should always do. And if it means spending more hours of the table doing homework, that's definitely something aspiring players should do."