The WPT National Philippines was running full force with lots of players heating up the felt at day 1b of the Main Event. By the end of late registration, there were 176 entries in the books with many notable players from all over the Asian region seated at every table. Combined with day 1a's turnout of 92 entries, the Main Event drew in a total of 268 entries amassing a hefty prize pool of Php18,327,200. What this means is, the top five placers will be earning at least seven-digits with first place winning over Php4 million.
Chane Kampanatsaynakorn chip leader
Out of the 80 survivors of day 1b, Thailand's Chane Kampanatsaynakorn bagged the most number of chips, 178,400, to become the day's chip leader. Next in line was Filipino player Kent del Rosario, a rarity in these big international events within the past few years. Del Rosario ended the day with 170,000 chips. Running third was Malaysia's Sam Nee Aik Chun who was the chip leader for a majority of the day and maintained his high ranking status, ending with 156,700 chips.
In and out
Other notable pros who also survived the nine hours at the felt, and with very good stacks backing them up, were Terry Fan with 90,200 chips, Linh Tran with 83,000 chips, John Tech with 90,000 chips, Lester Edoc with 78,300 chips, Sparrow Cheung with 87,300 chips, and Sameer Rattonsey with 88,800 chips.
Sparrow Cheung made it to the day 2
Notable players such as Winfred Yu, Alex Lee, Kai Paulsen, Iori Yogo, Phong "Turbo" Nguyen, and Wally Sombero also joined the qualifiers list, however for pros Dominic Nitsche, Tommy Lee, Ian Brion, and Manuel Blaschke they were not so fortunate and joined the railbirds.
A promising Day 2
Day 2 will see a total of 114 players returning to the felt, 36 from day 1a and 78 from day 1b. Yesterday also saw WPT's National Korea Main Event champion, Cui Jia Bin earn the chip leader's status with 188,000 chips. He will be returning as the overall chip leader. The first-ever WPT National Philippines Main Event champion Tetsuya Tsuchikawa will also be returning however he has his work cut out for him with his short stack needing a big boost.
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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