Kick Off

Kenzo Mendoza raises to 255,000, Ashley Patterson defends the big blind, the flop runs 4♠ 2♥ 8♠ both players check. Both also check the turn T♥ . On the river 4♣ , Mendoza bets 300,000, Patterson check-calls and exposes Mendoza’s 6♣ 5♣ bluff. Patterson wins the pot with A♣ Q♠ ace-high.

Hijack Kenzo Mendoza raises to 250,000, Yoshiki Miura defends the big blind, the flop runs 7♥ A♥ 8♠ . Mendoza c-bets 200,000, Miura check-calls and does the same thing on the Q♣ turn with a 440,000 check-called. On the river A♦ , both players check. Miura shows J♣ T♠ miss, Mendoza wins the pot with K♦ 4♣ - king high.

Cutoff Kenzo Mendoza raises to 200,000, button Roh Hyunseb re-raises to 650,000, Mendoza folds.

Yoshiki Miura raises to 130,000 from hijack, small blind Kenzo Mendoza three-bet to 305,000, Miura four-bet to 800,000, enough to get Mendoza to fold.

From utg+1, Kiril Gelev raised to 125,000, button Kenzo Mendoza called, the flop ran Q♠ J♠ 4♥ . Gelev c-bet 235,000 and won it then and there.

Several hands later, Gelev was on the big blind and called small blind Ashley Patterson’s raise of 150,000 to see the flop Q♦ 3♣ 8♠ . Patterson checked, Gelev took a stab with a 150,000 bet and was called. Both players checked the turn Q♣ for a free river 4♦ . Gelev fired 375,000, Patterson check-raised a solid 1,000,000, Gelev called and mucked to Patterson’s K♠ Q♥ trips.

Under the gun Roh Hyunseb raises to 100,000, cutoff Yoshiki Miura calls, big blind Kenzo Mendoza three-bets to 315,000, Hyunseb and Yoshiki call. At the flop {3c][8c} 7♣ , Mendoza c-bets 400,000, Hyunseb calls, Yoshiki folds. On the river K♥ , Mendoza shoves, Hyunseb folds.

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.

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 Kenzo Mendoza raises to 90,000 then calls big blind Li Oleg’s three-bet shove. Mendoza has T♠ J♦ , Li with A♥ 7♠ . The board runs Q♠ 8♦ 5♦ Q♣ 5♣ for ace-high kicker to win.

Cutoff Xu Qiang moves all in with K♦ 9♥ , big blind Kenzo Mendoza calls with A♦ 3♠ . The board runs T♠ 4♣ 4♥ Q♥ 4♠ , ace-high holds to clean out Xu

From utg+1, Kenzo Mendoza raises to 55,000, button James Moriles calls. The board completes J♦ 9♥ 5♠ 9♣ 4♦ , Mendoza bets on every street 40,000, 105,000, and 225,000. Moriles folds on the river.

Another all in preflop with Kenzo Mendoza calling Ashley Patterson’s three-bet shove. Mendoza A♠ J♠ , Patterson A♦ 8♣ , an eight finds the flop and holds to the end 8♥ 6♣ K♥ K♣ 6♥ for a double up to Patterson.

All in preflop, Kenzo Mendoza with Q♠ Q♥ dominates William Jones J♦ J♣ . The board runs 9♥ A♠ Q♦ J♠ 7♥ , both improve to a set. Mendoza is higher to eliminated Jones.

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.

All in preflop, lojack with Q♠ Q♥ , small blind Kenzo Mendoza with A♠ K♠ . The board runs 7♣ A♣ T♣ 4♣ 3♠ .