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2009 PokerStars APPT Seoul Crowns Winner.

September 28, 2008

An unlikely winner walked away with the title of PokerStars APPT champion earlier this week.  Facing some of the toughest players from his home country of Japan, Yoshihiro Tasaka battled through the odds and took down some fierce competition - as well as some highly talented Stars-sponsored players in the process.

The APPT event, which was making its most recent stop in Seoul, Korea, attracted a modest field of 165 entrants, with Team PokerStars players Greg Raymer, Hevad Khan, and Bertrand Grospellier all making appearances.  The 2-day event saw some of the top front-runners knocked to the rail, with the final 9 sitting in to duke it out for the $128K 1st place prize.

In a span of just over 13 hours, the aforementioned Yoshihiro Tasaka took his average chip stack and turned it into a decent lead throughout much of the latter part of the tournament.  His remaining threats, online poker bad ass Dan “Rekrul” Schreiber and California player Brian Kang, went out in a disappointing 6th and 3rd place, respectively.

Heads-up action would only last a couple hands soon thereafter, with the final hand playing out with Tasaka having to make a rather awkward call with 9 2 off suit versus the A 4 off suit of his opponent Hidenario Shiono.  When a 9 spiked on the flop, that was the brutal end for Shiono, as he walked away with a heartbreaking 2nd place finish.

Tasaka was very excited about his win and showed a lot of emotion during the entire match.  Being that he and his heads-up rival were both from a country that supposedly has outlawed online poker, they sure played like beasts during the entire tournament.

“I am very happy to take home the APPT Seoul title tonight after a long game of play,” said Yoshihiro. “I share this victory with my fellow countrymen who came across to South Korea to take home the title, especially Hidenari-san who came second today.”

Yoshihiro Tasaka took home $128,250 and the prestigious first place trophy for his APPT Seoul win!

Here are the final results and payouts:

Place Name Country Prize
1st Yoshihiro Tasaka Japan $128,250
2nd Hidenari Shiono Japan $80,156
3rd Brian Kang United States $44,085
4th Fam Yat Singapore $32,062
5th Yuri Masaki Japan $26,050
6th Dan Schreiber United States $20,033
7th David Horvath Hungary $16,031
8th Daniel Williams Canada $12,023
9th Sam Faqiryar Canada $8,015

Written by SoCalPokerChick · Filed Under Live Poker News 

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