The Asian Poker Tour (APT) officially concluded its first series of the year, the 2025 APT Manila Classic. The crown jewel of the series was the PHP 60,000 ($1,031) buy-in main event, which drew a record Philippines-based field of 1,202 entrants, smashing the PHP 60 Million guarantee and generating a prize pool of PHP 62,311,680 ($1,072,158). In the end, the largest share of the prize pool went to Russia’s Ivan Govoror who defeated Austria’s Samuel Mullur in heads-up, taking home a career high PHP 11,069,680 ($190,201).
Govorov’s journey in the tournament was nothing short of remarkable. He started the final table with the third shortest stack and was on the verge of elimination as he was left with just three big blinds at one point. However, he made a stunning comeback and went on to win the record-breaking main event title after beating WSOP bracelet winner Samuel Mullur in the heads-up battle.
This marked Govorov’s first APT title and overall fifth live victory, earning him a career-best $192,498 payday and his maiden Asian Poker Tour trophy. With this victory, his lifetime tournament earnings exceeded $588,000.
2025 APT Manila Classic Main Event Quick Recap
The PHP 60K (~$1,031) buy-in Main Event ran from February 10th to 16th at the Metro Card Club, attracting a record 1,202 entries across four starting flights. The massive field shattered the PHP 60 million guarantee, generating a total prize pool of PHP 61,181,680 (~$1,072,622).
A total of 175 players shared the prize pool and among them were several Indian pros including Ish Agarwal (167th – $1,635), Raju Jaruplavath (145th – $1,635), Rahul Darak (137th – $1,843), Jayaram Bharath (103rd – $2,069), and Somasekhar Sanampuri (98th – $2,069).
Besides them, two players made it into the Day 4 of the tournament but unfortunately failed to reach the final table— Rishi Mehra (33rd – $3,878), and Siddharth Karia (27th – $5,304).
2025 APT Manila Classic Main Event Final Table Quick Recap
The final table began with Russia’s Dmitri Belikov leading the final nine with a stack of 8,890,000 chips, followed by Japan’s Hiroya Iwamoto. However, both players quickly lost their lead as Iwamoto became the first casualty, busting in 9th place for $14,242. Adalsteinn Karlsson followed soon after, finishing 8th for $18,346.
Despite starting with a middling stack, Jie Zhang couldn’t withstand the aggression of Or Nezer, exiting in 7th place for $25,754. Meanwhile, Mullur showcased his high-stakes experience, eliminating the final table chip leader, Dmitrii Belikov in 6th place for $33,788.
Mullur held over half the chips in play at this point, while Govorov fell to the short stack after an intense battle with Dylan Foster. However, Govorov doubled up to stay alive, while Alexander Ugay busted in 5th place for $45,155 after running ace-jack into Nezer’s pocket kings.
As play continued four-handed, Foster found himself all-in against Mullur, but the Australian flopped a Broadway straight with ace-king, cracking Mullur’s set of jacks. With the blinds rising, Govorov fell to just 3 BBs, but he managed to double up through Nezer, keeping his tournament life alive.
A few hands later, Nezer attempted a bluff against Mullur, but the Austrian hero-called with one pair, eliminating Nezer in 4th place for $58,935. With three players left, Govorov shifted gears, steadily chipping up to overtake Mullur as the chip leader.
Despite his efforts to climb back, Foster’s run ended in 3rd place for $79,592 after his king-ten lost to Govorov’s ten-seven, which improved to a straight on the turn.
Heads-Up Battle
The heads-up duel started with Govorov having a 2-to-1 chip advantage against Mullur. Everyone thought of a big and long battle between the two, but the heads-up ended in just four hands. On the final hand of the tournament, Muller shoved his stack with ace-four unfortunately to face the ace-king of Govorov.
The board ran out 8c-Qs-8d-9h-Kd and Ivan Govorov sealed the victory. Samuel Mullur, fresh off from his final table finish in the 2025 WSOP Paradise $100k Triton Main Event, collected $113,154 for his runner-up finish.
2025 APT Manila Classic Main Event Final Table Payouts
| Rank | Player | Payout |
| 1st | Ivan Govorov | $190,201 |
| 2nd | Samuel Mullur | $111,804 |
| 3rd | Dylan Foster | $78,643 |
| 4th | Or Nezer | $58,935 |
| 5th | Alexander Ugay | $45,155 |
| 6th | Dmitrii Belikov | $33,385 |
| 7th | Jie Zhang | $25,447 |
| 8th | Adalsteinn Karlsson | $18,127 |
| 9th | Hiroya Iwamoto | $14,072 |
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Source: Asian Poker Tour
Image Credit: Asian Poker Tour
