Czardy Rivera is the 2013 APT Manila Main Event Champion

Czardy Rivera created a record of sorts when he won the 2013 APT Manila Main Event becoming the third Filipino poker player in 3 years to have taken the Manila leg title home. It was an all Philippines affair in the heads up battle as Rivera defeated Lester Edoc to win the top prize of PHP 4,270,000. The second highest attended ATP Main Event with 389 players saw Victor Torres come in third and Indian Kavish Kukreja finish in fourth spot.

It wasn’t an easy battle for Rivera who made his way through aggressively the 5 day Main Event. Specifically on the final table, he had tough resistance from Edoc and Torres. Rivera has now bought the ATP Manila title home for the third straight year after fellow countryman Jav Medina won in 2012 and Vic De Guzman won in 2011. A total of 45 players finished in the money this year with 15 of them being from the host nation itself. 

In the last side event of the 2013 APT Manila, Michael Capinpuyan won the six handed event for a payout of PHP 309,900. At the end of the event, APT and Resorts World Manila also announced that poker will return to the same venue again in December with the APT-RWM Iron Man Poker Challenge.To be held from 11th to 15th December, the poker tournament will look to break the Guinness World Record for the longest continuous poker tournament. 

The current record was set in August of 2012 in the Delaware Park’s Ironman Poker Challenge in Delaware, USA. The tournament ran for 36 hours, 34 minutes and 11 seconds from August 25th at 12 noon and finished on August 27th 12:36 a.m.