APPT Manila Championship (165,000 PHP)

The action gets folded to the D where Malaysia's Victor Chong raises to 20,000. William Ysmael of the Philippines calls from the SB.

The flop is 6♣ J♠ 5♥ as Ysmael checks. Chong follows up by betting another 20,000. The Filipino makes the call. The turn is the 3♥ and this time they both decide to ski a street. The river is the 5♣ . Ysmael fires 32,000. Chong makes the call.

Ysmael is first to show as he tables 9♠ 7♠ for a missed gutshot on the turn. Chong shows A♣ 3♦ for bottom pair on the turn, enough to take down the pot.

With action folded to him in the D, Seo Moon Ho of Korea raises to 16,000 but Victor Chong of Malaysia re-raises it to 69,000. If that wasn't enough, William Ysmael of the Philippines 4-bets to 135,000.

Both Seo and Chong don't continue in the hand.

The action is getting more tense at the PokerStars poker room at Okada Manila with the action of Day 2 at the APPT Manila Championship about to reach the bubble. 16 one-hour levels have been played so far and 75 players of 416 entries are still competing for a chance to take a chunk from the PHP 59,922,720 (~US$ 1,027,000) prize pool. 63 players will be guaranteed a payout, and there is still a lot of poker to go.

Australian John Edward Perry currently stands out as the chip leader from the 75 players that remain with 963,000 chips. Korean Kim Kiyoung has been consistent and ranks second with 700,000. Irishman Patrick Clarke holds the third spot with 630,000 so far.

APPT Manila Championship (Day 2, October 25)

Date/s: October 23 to 27, 2024

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

Prize Pool: PHP 59,922,720 (~US$ 1,027,000)

Entries: 416

Starting Stack: 50,000

Average Stack: 277,300

Blinds: 2,000/5,000 Ante 5,000

Remaining players: 75

ITM: 63

American Brett Bader sees the action folded to him on the D and opts to raise for 11,000. Victor Chong of Malaysia decides to defend his BB.

The flop comes 5♥ 7♥ 7♣ as Chong checks. Bader CBets to 10,000 but the Malaysian check-raises to 35,000. Bader makes the call. The turn is the K♠ and Chong continues his aggression by betting 80,000. Bader chooses to no longer continue in the hand.

Victor Chong min-raised to 8,000 from UTG+1 and was called by cut-off Thomas Ward and big blind Brett Bader. The three players were opened a flop of 6♦ K♣ 8♥. Action was checked to Thomas Ward who fired out 11,000. Chong folded, but Bader stuck around to see a 2♠ turn. Bader led out with 33,000 and was called by Ward to proceed to the 5♣ river. Bader checked and folded, unable to commit to Ward's all-in shove for 82,000.

Two Day 1 flights including some last minute Day 2 registrants brought the final total entries to 416, each of whom coughed up the buy-in of PHP 165,000 (~US$ 2,850) to take part in APPT Manila Championship main event. The total entries built the prize pool to PHP 59,922,720 (~US$ 1,027,000), surpassing the PHP 55,000,000 guarantee. 102 players are still competing with 63 guaranteed a minimum payout of PHP250,000 (~US$ 4,285). Of course, all eyes are focused on the grand prize of PHP 11,610,000 (~US$ 200,000).

Of the 102 players remaining, Moses Saquing of the Philippines stands as the chip leader with 744,000 chips. Flight B chip leader Kim Kiyoung is staying on course with the second biggest stack with 711,000. Rounding up the top three is John Edward Perry with 538,000. 14 Levels have been played so far with 7 more to go before the survivors bag their chips for another leg on Day 3 tomorrow. There's still a lot more poker and anything can happen.

APPT Manila Championship (Day 2, October 25)

Date/s: October 23 to 27, 2024

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

Prize Pool: PHP 59,922,720 (~US$ 1,027,000)

Entries: 416

Starting Stack: 50,000

Average Stack: 203,900

Blinds: 1,500/3,000 Ante 3,000

Remaining players: 102

ITM: 63

Here are the present chip leader as registration is set to close after the current break.

APPT Championship Chip Leaders:

Li Xinjing of China starts the action with a raise from UTG for 5,000 and gets two callers in Japan's Hideyoshi Tanaka in the D and Malaysian veteran Victor Chong in the BB.

The flop is K♠ 7♠ 6♠ as Chong checks and Li CBets for another 5,000. Chong then check-raises to 22,000 and Li makes the call. The turn is the Q♦ as Chong unloads again for 57,500. Li still calls. The river is the 2♥ and this time Chong tanks before firing 96,000. It's now Li's turn to go into the tank and eventually the Chinese decides to make the call.

Chong flips over T♠ 4♠ for a flopped flush. LI mucks his hand but not before surrendering a majority of his stack to the Malaysian.

In a battle of the blinds, Julian Warhurst pumped the flop fee to 6,000 from the small blind. Victor Chong answered back by three-betting to 18,000. Warhurst fired back by shoving 46,000 to the middle. Victor Chong took a few moments to soak it in and then folded.

In the battle of the blinds, Julian Warhust just wanted to limp in from the small blind, but was raised to 4,000 by Victor Chong on the big blind. In response, Warhurst four-bet to 16,000 with Chong making the call to see a flop of T♦ 2♦ 2♣ . Warhurst bet out 11,000 and was raised by Chong to 27,000. Warhurst played with his chips a bit and then made the call to see an 8♣ on the turn. Warhurst checked, then called the 35,000 bet of Victor Chong to see a 9♣ on the river. Both players checked. Warhurst flipped over big slick A♥ K♦ while Chong showed A♠ T♣ with the ten hitting the flop for a pair to win the huge pot.