APT Macau 2017: Zarvan Tumboli Takes Down Opening Event For HK$74,300

Zarvan Tumboli
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  • PG News June 16, 2017
  • 3 Minutes Read

It has been a long journey for Zarvan Tumboli (cover image) who started playing poker at the age of 16 and has been a consistent winner these past few years. Yesterday was a red-letter day for the 25-year old who won his first international title at the Opening 300K Guaranteed event at Asian Poker Tour (APT) Macau 2017, banking HK$74,300 (~₹6.14 Lakhs).

APT for the first time ever has teamed up with the Macau Billionaire Poker group for the APT Macau 2017 series that is currently being hosted at the Babylon Casino. There are a total of 18 events on tap in the nine-day schedule from June 14 – 22.

The Opening Event was the only event in the schedule with a guaranteed prize pool. The HK$2,200 buy-in event had a slow start with the first entry flight attracting 49 runners while the second entry flight registered another 90 entries, taking the total field to 139 runners making for a small overlay on the advertised prize pool.

The last day of the event saw 36 survivors returning to play down to a winner with the start-of-the-day chip leader Japan’s Ryota Hisayama continuing his impressive run as he managed to hold on to his lead for the most part of the day. Hisayama eventually settled for the runners-up place after Tumboli won it all in the heads-up battle.

Tumboli started the final table fifth in chips and slowly climbed his way to victory. He managed to eliminate the third-place finisher Yuan Hang Zhong and started the heads-up play with 2:1 chip advantage. Tumboli asked Hisayama if they could discuss a deal which was declined and the roller coaster heads-up battle began.

Hisayama started off strong taking down several pots to take the lead but Tumboli soon retook a 2:1 chip advantage. Hisayama got lucky in a hand when he rivered a three-of-a-kind against Tumboli’s two pairs and took the commanding lead only to lose it all shortly thereafter.

A few hands later, Tumboli’s two pairs helped his reclaim the lead. The last hand of the event saw Hisayama announcing all-in holding and he got the call from Tumboli who tabled . The board ran sealing the pot and the title for Tumboli while Hisayama took second place for a consolation HK$43,500 in prize money.

PokerGuru spoke to Zarvan earlier today to ask him about his win and the interesting facts about how he reached the venue just in time after missing his flight from Dubai. Here are a few excerpts:

“So I missed one flight and had to book another flight for 3am the same night. The tournament had already started when I landed. I hurried with my bags and went straight to the casino to late register for the event. There were 20-25 mins left for the deadline so managed to comfortably register at last. I had once thought that I will ask a friend to register for me and just get my stack on the table if I don’t make it in time. I was very tired too as I had been travelling for two days, so for nearly 2 days I hadn’t slept and I was thinking whether I should go ahead and play or not. I had this event in my planned pack so I did not want to miss it. Glad I did it. I managed to get a triple up on the last level of play that day and from there started the grind. I chipped up slowly and surprisingly till the final table I had never risked my tournament life. That was a big thing. I picked up a few important pots and on final table it was boom-boom! I remember one hand where I was down 120,000 when seven people remained and I managed to get two double ups back to back. So, once I had a good stack I then decided to grind it slowly and steadily. When it was 3-handed I eliminated the third-place finisher and held a massive lead going into the heads-up battle. I had like 1.5 million chips against the opponent’s 500,000. At one point, I came down a bit so we had like equal stacks. We traded the lead for quite some time until I doubled up from him. From there it was straight victory for me.”

The champion then described his winning moments “Obviously it feels amazing, I feel elated, still trying to digest the fact that yes this has happened. It’s so amazing when all your Indian friends and poker players are rooting for you on social media and constantly railing you. There were a lot of Indian guys there who were constantly getting updated when the announcements about chip counts or important hands was made. They used to come to the table to see the big hands and it was a lot of fun. They all were playing tournaments simultaneously and after every half hour they would come and ask what’s happening, how am I doing and all.

I was able to find comfort table spots and managed to automatically play some good poker and now I am staying for ACOP Platinum series here in Macau and let’s see how it goes from there.

Zarvan’s parting words were “Be fearless in the pursuit of what sets your soul on fire! Make your passion your paycheck and the best feeling in the world is getting paid to do what you love. Do it with all you heart and results will automatically follow!”

Keep following the latest updates from APT Macau 2017 right here on PokerGuru!

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