Arce brings home Asian Poker Tour Championshi

The Dusit Thani Hotel in Manila played host to the 2009 Asian Poker Tour in the Philippines and it was a local man, 25 year-old Neil Arce that took home the crown.

Arce won US$185,000, beating a field of 262 players that were representing over 40 countries in total. South Korean Steve 'joonhee' Yea came in second in the Main Event which had a total prize pool of US $635,500. Ironically, Yea also finished second at the 2008 Asian Poker Tour in Macau back in August of 2008.

Arce was the chip leader after Day 1A and he was confident enough that he guaranteed victory to Asian Poker Tour CEO Chris Parker even before the event got underway.  At the final table Arce found himself third in chips and facing a tough group of opponents including Yea and Kasey Castle, a finalist at the Asian Poker Tour Macau 2008.

But Arce knew that it would come down between him and Yea. "I always felt it would come down to me and Steve. For me the key to winning the tournament was position. I was so lucky that Steve was sat on my right - if he was on my left it would have been a completely different final table. I played with Steve all day yesterday when he was on a charge and kept out of his way. I knew that to get anywhere at the final table I had to keep applying pressure and my game plan worked perfectly."

Yea , who has now finished as a runner-up in the last two Asian Poker Tour tournaments was left saying that he would win it next year. Other notable names in the field included David Saab (2008 Asian Poker Tour Philippines winner), David Steicke (2009 Aussie Millions Highroller event winner), Michael Pedley, Rory Rees Brennan (2009 PartyPoker.com Irish Poker Championship winner) and WSOP bracelet winners Toto Leonidas and Mansour Matloubi.