Manila Megastack 10: Yasutake Oka wins the Main Event; Roger Spets, Rex Clinkscales, Fu Huang, & Filipino pros run well

Players flocked to Okada Manila for the first PokerStars LIVE Manila event since the brand’s closure at City of Dreams. The tenth edition of the Manila Megastack ran a course of ten days, from December 7 to 16. A total of 26 events was offered with PHP 17 Million in guaranteed prizes. The festival culminated on the final day with Japan’s Yasutake Oka defeating local favorite Martin Gonzales for the Main Event title.

Other big cashers were Roger Spets, Mike Takayama, Lester Edoc, Fu Bang Huang, and Rex Clinkscales. We’ve got highlights for you below.

Yasutake Oka wins the Main Event

The Main Event came out strong with a PHP10M guarantee. As seen at nearly every PokerStars event in Manila, the guarantee was surpassed. 417 ponied up the PHP30K buy-in for a prize pool of PHP 10,921,230 (~US$205,900). After three quick days of action, Japan’s Yasutake Oka rose to victory and claimed the largest share of PHP 2,562,000 (inclusive of a P100K APPT Manila package).

This was a huge victory for Oka who overcame a tough final table that included seasoned players Si Young Lee, Florencio Campomanes, and at heads up, Martin Gonzales. Oka brought his stack from fifth rank to the champion’s seat to lift his first Spadie. This was Oka’s first major live win.

Final table payouts
Prize pool: PHP 10,921,230 (~US$205,900) – Buyin: PHP30K – Entries: 417 – ITM: 50

1st Yasutake Oka – PHP 2,562,000
2nd Martin Gonzales – PHP 1,542,000
3rd Robert Glasspool – PHP 952,500
4th Florencio Campomanes – PHP 730,500
5th Si Young Lee – PHP 541,000
|6th Joachim Chia Teck Wei – PHP 433,000
7th Marius Zalyps – PHP 354,230
8th Jesie Supnet – PHP 298,000
9th Harsh Dembla – PHP 243,000

Other players in the money but outside of the final table were John Carlo Sayo (12th), Julius Lagman (15th), Harold McDonald (17th), Richard Marquez (43rd), Aaron Lam (47th), Anthony Abram (49th), and Roger Spets (50th).

Roger Spets wins the P55K NLH Freezeout

Another event offering a guarantee was the PHP55K buy-in NLH Freezeout event. 66 players joined in to slide just past the P3M guarantee to PHP3,168,990 (~US$59,700). Only 7 players earned a piece. Sweden’s Roger Spets pocketed the largest load of PHP 1,046,000 (~US$19,700) for his victory.

Spets is a well-known player in the Asian live circuit. He attends various live events in the region each year. Just before this festival, he was at the APT Finale Philippines where he finished 6th at the Championships Event. His largest career score was back in 2013 at the APPT Macau ACOP Warm-Up for over US$55K. In addition to his win, Spets also cashed at the PLO and at the Main Event.

Payouts
Prize pool: PHP3,168,990 – Buyin: PHP55K – Entries: 66 – ITM: 7 places

1st Roger Spets – PHP 1,046,000
2nd Yoshiya Agata – PHP 665,500
3rd Joachim Chia Teck Wei – PHP 444,400
4th Byungwook Ahn – PHP 347,600
5th Lester Edoc – PHP 254,000
6th Aarom Weiming Lam – PHP 221,000
7th Harsh Dembla – PHP 190,490

Rex Clinkscales wins the opener

Backtracking to opening day, the PokerStars LIVE Manila doors blasted wide with 396 entries charging in for the kickoff. This big turnout more than exceeded the P3M guarantee for a much healthier PHP 4,056,307 (~US$76,500) prize pool. Shipping in the biggest payload of PHP 651,309 (~US$12,280) was USA’s Rex Clinkscales after defeating Gyeong Tae Yoo at heads up.

Many in the Asian circuit may not know Clinkscales but by simply looking him up, they’ll see his long list of achievements jump out. He has won numerous tournaments throughout his career that include these majors: WPT Circuit Main Event title, WPT Main Event title, WPTDeepStacks Main Event title, and DeepStacks Poker Tour Main Event title. Although his recent win at the Megastack was not the big one, it was his first one on Asian soil.

Final table payouts
Prize pool: PHP 4,056,307- Buyin: PHP12K – Entries: 396 – ITM: 49 places

1st Rex Clinkscales – PHP 651,309 (deal made)
2nd Gyeong Tae Yoo – PHP 541,501 (deal made)
3rd Dongkyoon Seo – PHP 488,142 (deal made)
4th Ireneo Javalera – PHP 479,048 (deal made)
5th Katsuhiro Mori – PHP 210,000
6th Ankit Kumar Jajodia – PHP 170,000
7th Mark Larson – PHP 130,500
8th Rogelio Pacheco – PHP 111,000
9th Jayce Tobias Lazo – PHP 92,307

Fu Bang Huang wins the Saturday Superstack

The Saturday Superstack event turned up 77 runners to break the P1M guarantee for a fatter pot of PHP 1,344,420. Taiwan’s Fu Bang Huang came out on top; he claimed the PHP 363,000 first prize. Huang has been busy at the felt all year, cashing 26 times prior to this series. His recent win was the first for 2018.

Mike Takayama and Lester Edoc run well

Mike Takayama continued to display why he is the 2018 PokerStars Asia Player of the Year champion. The Filipino pro captured two events for a combined total of PHP842,000 (~US$15,800) in winnings. Takayama topped the 59-field of the P15K NLH Freezeout for PHP 255,000 and the 16 players of the P100K Single Day High Roller (Shot clock) for PHP 587,000. On his second win, he defeated fellow pro Lester Edoc at heads up. Takayama also earned another PHP 30K+ for two other small cashes.

As for Edoc, he also did very well at the series. He earned PHP 390,808 for his runner-up finish to Takayama and won the P55K Super Deep (Shot Clock) event besting 22 runners for a score of PHP 454,200. In addition to those two winnings, he placed 3rd at the P20K PLO event to earn him another PHP 122,220. This brought his overall winnings to PHP 967,228 (~US$18,200).

Article by Tricia David