PokerStars Sponsored Player, Van Marcus won the 2008 Asia Pacific Poker Tour Manila Main Event over the weekend, earning himself PHP 8,037,000 (about $162,856.98 USD). Van Marcus beat out a tough group to win the final table which included 3 local Filipinos, 3 equally tough Koreans and Team PokerStars Pro Lee "Final Table" Nelson.

During last year's inaugural APPT Manila event, Van Marcus also made the final table, coming in an impressive fifth place overall out of a difficult field of 255 players. This year Van Marcus trumped himself, beating out 284 other players and earning his first ever APPT title.

The Final Table finish positions for the PokerStars.net APPT Manila Main Event were as follows:

1st. Van Marcus- $162,857*
2nd. Tae Jun Noh- $103,143
3rd. Hyoungjin Nam- $54,286
4th. Chang Michael- $38,000
5th. Ramil Soriano Tandoc- $29,314
6th. Lee Nelson- $21,714
7th. Manish Sansi- $16,286
8th. Benjamin Ong Lim- $12,486
9th. Rainier Aquino- $9,229
(*All prize money shown in current USD exchange rate approximations)
For more information about the Asia Pacific Poker Tour, visit www.appt.com.

Story by Mark Anderson