In most cases, the last flight of any Main Event usually draws in more players than its previous qualifying days. At the ongoing APPT 10 Manila festival that certainly held true with a total of 349 entries for Day 1b of the Main Event as compared to Day 1a’s 228 entries. With no other events scheduled to run until the evening, the Main Event was rockin’ the PokerStars Live Manila hub all afternoon with lots of action in every direction. In addition, there were some interesting developments apart from the day’s highlight.
Main Event numbers, prize pool, and payout structure
To start with, the total number of combined entries for the Main Event was a massive 577 entries. The prize pool amounted to PhP25,186,050 (US$536,039) with first place guaranteed a whopping PhP6,135,000 (US$130,547). With 62 players surviving Day 1a and 106 at Day 1b, there will be a total of 168 players returning to the felt for Day 2 on Saturday, August 6, 2016. Out of that number, only 54 fortunate players will be seeing a profit.
Prize Payouts (Top 10)
| Place | Prize |
| 1 | ₱6,135,000 |
| 2 | ₱3,466,000 |
| 3 | ₱2,139,000 |
| 4 | ₱1,622,000 |
| 5 | ₱1,180,000 |
| 6 | ₱934,000 |
| 7 | ₱738,000 |
| 8 | ₱614,000 |
| 9 | ₱492,450 |
| 10 | ₱430,400 |
Day 1b chip leaders
Day 1b ended with many players crossing the six digit chip range. Although none of them reached the heights of the Day 1a leader, the top three players today still bagged up some hefty stacks. Indonesia’s Charles Lesmana led with 169,800 chips followed closely by Japan’s Azusa Maeda with 165,700 chips, and Korea’s Gab Yong Kim with 164,100 chips. While these players accumulated their big stacks after the freeezout stage, one player who also deserves some mentioning is Malaysia’s Marcuss Liow. Liow was the massive chip leader upon entering the freezeout stage. He had 120k, which was equivalent to four times the average stack. He held on to that lead up until the last two levels of play. Liow bagged up 120,600 chips tonight which put him in a healthy ninth position at the end of Day 1b.
More: Day 2 Draw and chip counts
Just not Celina Lin’s day
There were many notables in attendance today, one of them was Team PokerStars Pro China’s Celina Lin. Lin seemed to be in crisis mode for a majority of the time, playing conservatively, waiting for spots. After continuously being grinded down, Lin eventually found herself in a three-way all in situation with her pocket tens up against another pocket tens and ace-king. When a king graced the board, she was crippled down even more and not long after, she was eliminated.
Ying Lin Chua with a sweet bluff
No matter what anyone says, every poker player bluffs or at least semi-bluffs. We were lucky enough to catch one of those moments by last year’s Main Event final tableist, Malaysia’s Ying Lin Chua. Chua didn’t have much success at yesterday’s flight, busting out early, but he returned today ready to give some players a hard time. Taking a glance at his table, we saw a turn board of Ac-2c-10c-Qd and a hefty pot in the middle. Chua check-raised his opponent from 6k to 13k and was called. On the river of 9c, that’s now four clubs on the board, Chua went out firing 21k which was half of his opponent’s stack. This was enough to win the pot with his opponent folding. Chua revealed his six-five hearts bluff which immediately drew in some “oohs” at the table.
Korea’s Taehyung Kim happy to eliminate China’s Li Yan
Midway through the Main Event, Korea’s Taehyung Kim was moved to a table of champions with High Roller winner China’s Li Yan, Vietnam’s Thanh Ha Duong (APPT 8 Manila Main Event champion), and Korea’s Jae Wook Shin (Event 6: NLH Freezeout winner) seated all around him. It was inevitable that Kim would run into one of them and when he did, it happened to be against Yan for all her chips. On a nine-high board and a nice splash of chips already brewing in the middle, Yan three-bet snap all-in against Kim and like her, he quickly acted and called. Yan had ace-king and Kim had ace-nine for top pair. Yan failed to improve on the turn and river, and just like that, she was eliminated. A very happy Kim celebrated exclaiming, “I beat the champion!”
Elliott and Lam rise from near extinction
Australia’s Paul Elliott and Singapore’s Aaron Lam were a couple of players who averted elimination going from below 5k in chips at the freezeout stage to well over average stack at bagging. For Elliott, there was a lot of luck involved. His first lucky break happened when his nine-four all-in with mid pair on the flop improved to a runner-runner full house against a player’s flush draw that turned up on fourth street. With over 10k in chips to back him up he doubled up again in another lucky hand with king-rag landing a king on the board for top pair surviving against ace-queen. The clincher though was when he was all in with pocket kings and faced pocket aces. Elliott avoided elimination when the two remaining kings showed up on the board, giving him a dominating hand of quads. Elliott picked up another big pot before the end of the day to bag up 91,500 chips.
As for Lam, it wasn’t so much as luck. He was down to 4400, then doubled up with a nut flush against Korea’s Soo Jo Kim holding ace-six diamonds against Kim’s pocket fives. His next double up was even bigger with his pocket kings ahead of pocket jacks the whole way. Lam bagged up 80,800 chips.
Asia Player of the Year 2016 Update
Coming into the APPT 10 Manila, Chinese Taipei’s Jack En Ching Wu was running second in the APOY 2016 leader board. After cashing in three times, Wu has now overtaken China’s Wayne Wei Zhang to slide into the top spot. Wu has a good chance of distancing himself even further by going deep in the Main Event. Wu qualified into Day 2. Also moving up ladder in the rankings is China’s Li Yan who now sits at 19th place in the standings after winning the High Roller event.
*More on the Main Event for you tomorrow with Day 2 starting at 2pm on Saturday, August 6, 2016.
More: Full Coverage
More: Day 2 Draw and chip counts
Louis Hartwell
Graduated in Media Communication at the University of Lausanne, Louis Hartman is a co-founder of somuchpoker.com. He began his career in Cambodia as freelance journalist. In same time he was making his living by playing poker every night at that time. Intense learner, he read dozens of poker strategy books to improve his skills during many years. With a strong interest about poker "behind the scene" in Asia and his communication skills, Louis launched Somuchpoker in 2014.
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