Filed by Sean Callander




The name of Brett Parise will be etched in poker history forever as the first winner on the new PokerStars.net Asia Pacific Poker Tour (APPT).

Parise, a 22-year-old political science student originally from Indiana in the USA, outlasted a field of 255 players at the Hyatt Hotel and Casino in Manila, Philippines, to pocket the first prize of $179,775: one of the biggest tournament prizes ever awarded in Asian poker.

What makes Parise’s performance more impressive is that he qualified for the tournament via a free-entry tournament on PokerStars.

Holding a 2:1 chip lead when the heads-up battle with Thailand-based US lawyer Ira Blumenthal started, Parise gradually wore down his more experienced opponent. On the final hand, Parise called the all-in bet of Blumenthal with a pair of 10s. Blumenthal’s hand of J 5 was dominated and did not improve on a board of Ks Qc 9c Kh 9h.

The minor placings were filled by another US student Nicholas Bamman (third), PokerStars’ player Van Marcus (Australia) and Maor Feldinger, an Israeli student playing in his first major poker tournament.

The APPT continues next month at the Paradise Seoul Casino at the Walker Hill Hotel in Seoul, South Korea. That event is scheduled for September 26-30. The APPT grand final will then be held at Star City Casino in Sydney from December 13-16.

Final results (APPT Manila, Hyatt Hotel and Casino, Manila, Philippines)

Brett Parise (USA) $179,775
Ira Blumenthal (Thailand) $113,858
Nicholas Bamman (USA) $62,921
Van Marcus (Australia) $44,940
Maor Feldinger (Isreal) $35,955
Roger Spets (Sweden) $26,966
Bas van Liere (Netherlands) $20,974
Kazuhiro Sato (Japan) $14,981
Derrick Hernandez (Philippines) $11,386
Steve Junhee Yea (South Korea) $8390
Carlo Gosselin (Thailand) $8390
D’amor Nario (Philippines) $8390
Alexander Fitzgerald (USA) $5993
Carlos Lascano (Philippines) $5993
Ronald Javier (Philippines) $5993
Se Jin Lee (South Korea) $5993
Eric Sia $4794
Nicolas Chouity (Lebanon) $4794
Steven Djingga (Indonesia) $4794
Kelly Flynn (USA) $4794
Seung Soo Jeon (South Korea) $4794
Ronald Singson $4794
Jean-Marc Hauducoeur (France) $4794
Dan Idema (Canada) $4794