APPT Manila Championship (165,000 PHP)

The action is folded to the CO where Martin Gonzales of the Philippines has K♣ J♠ and decides to open shove for 680,000. Waiting on the D is Korea's Beum Chun Jun who makes the call with A♥ J♣.

While both did hit the Jack on the flop, nothing else came out that could have helped the Filipino.

The action is now paused for tomorrow (Sunday, October 27) for the official Final Table with six players remaining.

Hand #52: In what is perhaps the most pivotal hand in the Final 9, it starts with a raise from the +3 position from Li Xinjing of China to 100,000. Suddenly on the D, Australia's John Edward Perry 3-bets to 150,000, Martin Gonzales of the Philippines 4-bets to 450,000 and Taiwan's Justin Chu making a 5-bet all-in to 945,000.

Li folds but Perry calls all-in for his remaining 180,000. Gonzales covers everyone.

Perry managed to flop a gutshot and Gonzales got top pair, but no one improved on the last two community cards Chu scoops the pot and sends the competition into 8-handed play where everyone is now guaranteed PhP1,480,000 (~US$25,360).

With still nine players remaining, here is where everyone stands at as the blinds go up:

Everyone is still guaranteed PhP1,237,720 (US$21,205).

Hand #32: After Filipino pro Martin Gonzales raised from UTG with 7♥ 7♣ , he dragged in two callers in Justin Chu of Taiwan with A♠ 2♠ on the +2 position and fellow Filipino Lester Edoc with 5♥ 5♦ in the HJ.

Gonzales immediately saw good news as the flop came 4♦ 7♦ J♠ , flopping middle set. Gonzales checked and Chu tried to make a play at it with a bet of 120,000 which was initially called by Edoc. But then Gonzales came over the top and raised to 275,000 and both opponents fold.

Hand #12: The raise from Filipino pro Martin Gonzales from the +2 position is greeted with a call by chip leader Thomas Ward from the BB.

The flop is 7♦ 6♦ T♦ and Gonzales hit top pair while Ward has a queen high straight draw. It is check-call for the New Zealander and the turn gave the 3♦ , the fourth diamond on the board. Ward--now with a flush--opts to check-call again. The river is the T♣ which now gives Gonzales trips. However, both do have showdown value and opt to check down.

Here are the last nine players who are now all guaranteed PhP1,237,720 (~US$21,205). They will play down to the last six for the official final table that will commence tomorrow (Sunday, October 27).

With 16 players reaming, here's where they stand:

The action is folded to Bae Wonchul of Korea in the CO and he declares he is all-in and gets a call all-in from Filipino pro Martin Gonzales for his remaining 510,000.

Bae fails to hit any of his over card and is down to less than 100,000 in chips.

Vietnam's Hieu Ngo opens from UTG for 50,000 and the action gets folded to the D of Filipino pro Martin Gonzales who 3-bets it to 140,000. Hieu makes the call.

The flop is Q♦ 7♦ 8♥ as both players check. The turn is the 6♥ as Hieu leads out for 130,000. Gonzales calls. The river is the 3♠ . Hieu checks and Gonzales bets 250,000. The Vietnamese player then goes into the tank and burns one Time Bank card before making the call.

Gonzales turns over Q♥ J♠ for top pair on the flop as Hieu mucks.

Former overall chip leader John Edward Perry of Australia has dropped all the way to eighth place in the first leaderboard update of the day. Fellow Australian Thomas Ward now occupies the top spot as he and Filipino pro Lester Edoc are the only ones breaching the two million chip mark at the moment.

Chip counts at end of Level 22:

Chip leader John Edward Perry has the action folded to him on the D and raises to 40,000. it is folded to the BB of Filipino pro Martin Gonzales who 3-bets all-in, chucking in his remaining stack of 380,000. Perry makes the call.

The loss on the river now brings Perry closer to his pursuers.

The 28 players remaining will reconvene on Saturday (October 26) at 12NN (UCT+8) and will play down to the Final 6 players.

Check out the Livestream that begins at 4:00PM.

APPT Manila Championship remaining players:

Event #31 APPT Manila Championship

Date/s: October 23 to 27, 2024

Venue: Okada Manila, Parañaque City, Philippines

Buy in: PHP 165,000 (~US$ 2,850)

Guarantee: PHP 55,000,000 (~US$ 960,850)

Prize Pool: PHP 59,922,720 (~US$1,028,270)

Entries: 416

Players ITM: 63

Total Chips in Play: 20,800,000

Average Stack: 742,857

Blinds: 8,000/16,000 (16,000)

Remaining players: 28

After a series of preflop raises, the pot between Joris Michl of The Netherlands and local hopeful Martin Gonzales comes down to a virtual coinflip.

Gonzales' boat keeps him afloat as Michl takes a moderate hit.

APPT Open champion Matthew Wakeman opens the action from UTG for 4,000 and gets called in the +1 position by Hideyoshi Tanaka of Japan. When the action gets to Filipino pro Martin Gonzales in the HJ, he 3-bets all-in for his remaining 31,500. Wakeman opts to fold while Tanaka makes the call.

Gonzales flips over A♣ K♠ while Tanaka is dominated, holding A♠ T♦ .

The ensuing runout goes: 2♣ 7♥ 2♥ 4♠ K♦ to give the pot and the much needed double up to the Filipino.

5 levels have been played with a total of 114 entries making the PHP 165,000 (~US$ 2,850) buy-in for a crack at winning a share of the PHP 55,000,000 (~US$ 960,850) guaranteed prize pool. Rishi Mehra maintains the chip lead over the 83 hopefuls still remaining in Flight A with 235,000 chips, and is the only one who has made it over the 200K mark. Georgios Skarparis is at arm's length with 193,100. Completing the top three is Nang Quang Nguyen with 166,000.

Date/s: October 23 to 27, 2024

Buy in: PHP 165,000 (~US$ 2,850)

Guarantee: PHP 55,000,000 (~US$ 960,850)

Entries: 83/114

Starting Stack: 50,000

Huu Dung Nguyen raised it to 1,200 from the hi-jack and Martin Rundulf Gonzales defended at the big blind for both players to enter a flop of T♠ A♥ 9♦. Gonzales check-calls the 1,000 bet of Nguyen to see a 2♣ turn. Gonzales again check-calls 2,500 to see an 8♣ on the river. Both players check. Gonzales flashes A♠ T♥ for top two pair while Nguyen mucks his hand.