Kick Off

Cutoff Jerson Quiras raises to 300,000, Ashley Patterson shoves from the button, Quiras folds.

From the button, Kiril Gelev three-bet all in and was called by initial raiser Jerson Quiras. Gelev opened A♠ T♣ , Quiras with J♠ J♦ , with the board running 4♣ 5♦ 4♥ 8♠ 3♦ , Gelev missed to fall in 8th place.

Yoshiki Miura raises to 100,000 and finds two callers to the flop 9♣ 9♥ Q♦ . Yoshiki c-bets 150,000, cutoff Kenzo Mendoza calls, big blind Jerson Quiras check-raises to 400,000, no takers.

Hijack Li Oleg raises to 100,000, button Jerson Quiras and big blind call. At the flop 2♣ Q♣ 5♠ , Li announces all in, Quiras joins in, and bb folds. Li has A♦ 3♦ , Quiras with K♠ Q♦ top pair. The turn J♣ and river 5h} keep Quiras ahead.

Li is down to <1 bb and shoves with K♣ 9♥ , Ashley Patterson denies him the double up with T♣ T♠ spiking the river for a victorious set on a board 7♥ K♣ K♦ A♦ T♥ .

The pot swelled to 360,000 with two players staring down a board 7♠ 2♥ 4♠ 5♣ K♦ . Big blind Jerson Quiras bets 100,000, Kenzo Mendoza raises to 250,000, Quiras calls then mucks to Mendoza’s K♠ J♣ top pair.

Cutoff Valeriy Pak raises to 37,000, Jerson Quiras defends the big blind, the flop comes {%s} A♠ 8♦ . Both players check, the turn is K♦ , Pak bets 35,000, Quiras check-calls. On the river K♥ , Pak bets 55,000, Quiras calls again then mucks to Pak’s A♣ Q♠ top pair.

Button player Jerson Quiras raises to 240,000, big blind Yoshiki Miura calls, the flop comes K♣ A♥ 7♠ . Quiras c-bets 300,000, Miura check-calls. On the turn 3♣ , Quiras bets 500,000, again Miura check-calls. On the river Q♣ , Quiras shoves, Miura folds.

APPT Manila Kick-Off ran for 8.5 hours at Okada Manila with 28 players out of 183 entries surviving Day 1A. Filipino James Moriles and Canada’s Kiril Alex Gelev bagged the largest stacks of 470,000 and 460,000 which were equivalent to over 90 bb each.

The APPT Manila Kick-Off event has always been a magnet for early birds, and this year’s edition proved no different. A♠ the cards were dealt and the chips flew, notable players graced the tables such as 2019 APPT Manila Main Event champion Florencio Campomanes, 2019 APPT Manila Kick-Off champion Jinlong Hu, WSOP bracelet winner Henrieto Acain, 2023 PSPC Main Event runner up Max Menzel, Henrik Tollefsen, Norbert Koh, John Tech, Mattias Schell, and Jenam Yu.

At the end of registration, 148 signed up with an added 35 re-entries for 183 entries in total. A further three hours later, the bubble burst with Xu Qiang outdrawing Albert Muir. 

Emerging as chip leader was Filipino James Moriles who charged up the ranks during the last two levels of play. Canada’s Kiril Alex Gelev was at his heels, just 2 bb behind. One of Gelev’s biggest pots was quads Fives just before the close of day.

From under the gun, Jerson Quiras raises to 1400, hijack Jong Sung Park three-bets to 4400, Quiras calls. At the flop 7♣ T♦ 2♦ , Quiras check-raises all in. Park calls with A♥ K♣ and is drawing against Quiras’ T♣ 8♣ top pair. The turn 4♣ and river 9♠ completes the board.

Three way all in preflop starts with hijack raising to 1000, button Jerson Quiras three-bets to 4500, big blind Jong Sung Park shoves with the largest stack, back to hijack and Quiras, both call.

Hijack T♣ T♠ Quiras 8♥ 8♣ Park K♠ 8♠

The board runs K♥ 7♠ Q♠ 5♣ 6♠ for a higher pair spiked by Park.