Cards are currently in the air for the first-ever Red Dragon Manila at Okada Manila. The festival is scheduled to run from January 4 -11. The two first events are now in the books.
Lester Edoc takes down Super High Roller, Campomanes runner-up
Lester Edoc (Philippines) took down the opening PokerStars LIVE Red Dragon Manila ₱500,000 Super High Roller Event after defeating fellow Filipino tournament specialist and APPT Manila Main Event champion Florencio Campomanes for a massive ₱5,222,000 (~US$102,125) top prize score.
Talking with PokerStars blog, Lester Edoc expressed “This is one of the best final tables ever!” […} “I was short-stacked all the way, from nine players until we got to heads-up [chuckles] then became chip leader, then got down to eight big blinds, then came back to win…”
This year’s LIVE Red Dragon Manila ₱500,000 Super High Roller Event drew 30 total entries to build a prize pool of ₱14,113,500 (~US$276,020) in which only the top 5 finishers received a piece.
Final Day Action
It was Campones with 1,665,000 chips who lead the field of 11 players who returned for the second and final day of the tournament. Nang Quang Nguyen (Vietnam) came in second in chips with 940,000 in his stack while Edoc came in third with 888,000.
Other players who made it to Day 2 are Yufei Hu (China), Meng Li (China), Yake Wu (China), Lei Yu (China), Phachara Wongwichit (Thailand), Weihao Ma (China), Xiao Ling Li (China), and Yufei Hui (China).
The high-roller event shortly came to the final table as Hui and Li were sent to the rail within the first 18 minutes of play.
The top three players in chips who came into Day 2 mostly maintained domination throughout the tournament action and after three more eliminations, it was Wongwichit who would bubble the tournament when a painful runner-runner straight defeated his flopped set.
Edoc was able to snatch the chip lead from Campones after sending Nguyen to the rail in third. Heads up action started at blinds 25,000/50,000 and a 50,000 big blind ante with Edoc having 3.84-million and Campomanes having 3.66-million in chips. It took a hard-fought battle that lasted for two and a half hours for Edoc to claim victory. Campones bagged ₱3,599,000 for his second place finish.
Super High Roller – Results
1st: Lester Edoc (Philippines) ₱5,222,000 (~US$102,125)
2nd: Florencio Campomanes (Philippines) ₱3,599,000
3rd: Nang Quang Nguyen (Vietnam) ₱2,293,000
4th: Lei Yu (China) ₱1,658,000
5th: Yake Wu (China) ₱1,341,500
Sahil Agarwal takes down Kickoff for ₱1.57M
Sahil Agarwal (India) conquered a field of 394 entries to win the first silverware of the Red Dragon Series. He bagged his second largest career score of ₱1,575,000 (US$30,805) for his first place finish.
The tournament’s 394 entries built a massive ₱6,879,240 (~U$134,540) prize pool to which everyone who survived the two opening flights were guaranteed in-the-money spots.
48 players returned as Day 2 survivors, all of whom were already guaranteed at least ₱32,500.
Both Day 1a and Day 1b chip leaders came in short of making it to the final table. Day 1a chip leader, Huu Tuan Nguyen (Vietnam) finished 11th for ₱108,000 while Day 1b frontrunner Siyoung Lee (Korea) finished 15th for a ₱87,000 score.
Other notable players who weren’t able to make it to the final table were Hong Kong’s Wing Kei Chan (18th for ₱70,000), Norway’s Henrik Tollefsen (33rd for ₱36,000) and Japan’s Iori Yogo (34th for ₱36,000).
The final table started with blinds at 20,000/40,000 and a 40,000 big blind ante. Agarwal came into the final table with 1.435M, just 10,000 behind from chip leader Quang Minh Nguyen’s (Vietnam) 1.445M.
However, Nguyen wasn’t able to hold on to his advantage as he was sent to the rail in third by Agarwal.
On the other hand, Agarwal’s 2-to-1 chip advantage over Varleriy Pak (Uzbekistan) lead to his victory after he successfully maintains domination, eventually eliminating Pak in second place. Pak takes home ₱990,000 (US$19,366.16) for his second place finish.
Final tables payouts
1st: Sahil Agarwal (India) ₱1,575,000 (US$30,805)
2nd: Valeriy Pak (Uzbekistan) ₱990,000
3rd: Quang Minh Nguyen (Vietnam) ₱614,000
4th: Xiangzhi Chen (China) ₱483,000
5th: Yakai Li (China) ₱355,000
6th: Zuoxian Wang (China) ₱285,000
7th: Leonard Aban (Philippines) ₱223,000
8th: Yuwen Pan (China) ₱188,000
9th: Jinho Hong (South Korea) ₱157,000
Upcoming events
• Red Dragon Main Event (₱50 Million GTD) January 6 – 10, 2020
• Red Dragon Poker Challenge (₱10 Million GTD) January 9 – 10, 2020
• Red Dragon High Roller January 10 – 11, 2020
Stay tuned with somuchpoker for more updates on the festival
