The Ace Poker League festivities currently running at 2Ace Poker Manila, Philippines is stirring some buzz with its PHP 20,000,000 (~USD 361,280) guaranteed Main Event finally underway. The first of four flights on schedule played through yesterday and managed to collect a total of 57 entries where only nine qualifiers advanced to Day 2. Action concluded after fifteen levels of play, with South Korea’s Jeong Seong Hun topping the list to cap the day.
Set to kick off at noon, the festival’s Main Event Day 1B flight is first on the list this Thursday, followed by Event #7: Bounty Turbo at 2:00 p.m. and Event #8: Deepstack Hyper Turbo at 7:00 p.m. Today’s qualifier charges a buy-in of PHP 60,000 (~USD 1,080) and will operate the same structure as Day 1A with 30 minute blind levels and a starting stack of 30,000.
Main Event Day 1A Recap
Main Event Day 1A was off to a slow start with only two tables running by Level 4. Early on the field were quick risers Dang Hung Duong, Yoon Jiwon, and Jung Heesun, all of which managed to build stacks by midday. However by the time registration closed, a new batch of players had taken over the top chip counts with South Korea’s Jeong Seong Hun in the forefront.
Jeong appeared to have been piling pot after pot including two timely eliminations by the last hour of the day. Bubble runner Eman Segismundo was one of the two after his 
was no good against Jeong’s 
on 
. The day wrapped up with Jeong shooting even further up the ranks following Segismundo’s bust.
Stacking closely in second is fellow South Korean runner Seol Seong Hoon with 345,000. Seol soared to the top after crippling local pro Christopher Mateo in a battle for a 121 big blind pot late in the game.
Also completing the list are notable pros, WSOP bracelet winner Mike Takayama and APPT Main Event champion Henrik Tollefsen, both of who joins the nine-player pack so far into Day 2.
Chip Counts
| Player | Flag | Chip Count |
| Jeong Seong Hun | South Korea | 450,000 |
| Seol Seong Hoon | South Korea | 345,000 |
| Liao Po Hsun | Taiwan | 278,000 |
| Marciel Cerbito | Philippines | 135,000 |
| Seong Hun Park | South Korea | 124,000 |
| Tor Anton Welo | Norway | 101,000 |
| John Carlo Sayo | Philippines | 96,000 |
| Mike Takayama | Philippines | 82,000 |
| Henrik Tollefsen | Norway | 72,000 |
APL Main Event Review
Date/s: November 29 – December 3, 2023
Buy-in: PHP 30,000 (~USD 540)/
PHP 60,000 (~USD 1,080)/
PHP 100,000 (~USD 1,800)
Guarantee: PHP 20,000,000 (~USD 361,280)
Pre-Event 1 (Play down to 7.5%) – 21 entries, 2 qualified
Pre-Event 2 (Play down to 7.5%) – 13 entries, 1 qualified
Day 1A – 57 entries, 9 qualified
Day 1B (Play down to 15%) – Thursday, November 30, 2023
Day 1C (Play down to 25%) – Friday, December 1, 2023
Day 1D Turbo (Play down to 15%) – Friday, December 1, 2023
Day 2 – Saturday, December 2, 2023
Final Day – Sunday, December 3, 2023
Festival Articles
APL Manila Main Event Live Updates
APL Manila: PHP 20,000,000 (~USD 361,280) guaranteed Main Event kicks off first of four flights today
APL Manila: South Korea’s Kang Myeonghwa leads APL Tip Off survivors into Final Day; Kwon Taekwon and Terry Gonzaga claim first two trophies
APL Manila: 23 qualifiers move on to PHP 2M (~USD 36K) GTD Tip Off Final Day; One more flight to go
APL returns to the Philippines! ₱25 Million in guarantees from November 27 to December 3
APL returns to international stage starting with Manila, Philippines in one week
