The stage was always set for Binh Nguyen to do something special in Manila.
With 430 players stumping up the US$2,500 buy-in to create the largest-ever tournament prize pool in Filipino history, the Efraim C. Genuino International Poker Tournament had attracted plenty of local interest, not least because the final table was staged in the middle of a packed SMX Convention Centre on the opening day of the Asia Gaming and Entertainment Expo, complete with bright lights, cameras and a raucous crowd of spectators. A host of big name players made the trip to the Philippine capital for the event, including the likes of Tony Hachem, fresh from his win at the ANZPT Perth just days ago, Macau Poker Cup winner Raymond Wu and international poker legend Barry Greenstein.
When the dust settled after four days of play, Nguyen, who currently lives in Las Vegas, had to contend with a tough final table that included “Mr Macau” Charles Chua, gifted internet player Terrence Chan, South Korea’s Sunny Jung and local hero Kirby Te, the only Filipino player who made the final table. Always displaying a confident control of his huge stack, the American, who came second at the WPT LA Poker Classic in 2009 to win over US$900,000, showed particular class and dominated the closing stages against the short-stacked Chua and the rookie Gordon Huntly.
As his advantage with the big stack grew bigger he dispatched first Choon Kwang Lim then Sunny Jung, and then Chua to take a more than 3 to 1 advantage into the heads up against Huntly, an amateur player from Edinburgh, Scotland. Huntly, though, was up for the fight, doubling up with a flush over flush to seize the lead, and then aggressively hammering away at Nguyen, who for the first time in the tournament seemed like he had lost his way. Huntly patiently played a waiting game, at one point reaching the three-to-one advantage Nguyen had started with. But Nguyen regrouped, won back the chips he’d lost and in the last hand saw his pocket sevens survive a race against the Scot’s K-Q to bag his first major title.
“I wanted to have fun,” said Huntly. “I didn’t play great throughout but I watched them very closely but not close enough. [Nguyen is] a worthy champion.”
A delighted Nguyen, who is in Manila on vacation with close friend and fellow final tablist Victor Chang, said, “This might be the best vacation I’ve ever had.”
FINAL TABLE PAYOUTS
1st – Binh Nguyen (USA) – $260,700
2nd – Gordon Huntly (UK) – $166,800
3rd – Charles Chua (Malaysia) – $93,850
4th – Terrence Chan (Hong Kong) – $71,500
5th – Sunny Jung (Korea) – $54,700
6th – Choon Kwang Lim (Singapore) – $44,300
7th – Victor Chang (USA) – $33,900
8th – Kirby Te (Philippines) – $26,600
9th – Jackal Lee (Chinese Taipei) – $19,800
