APPT Manila Championship (165,000 PHP)

Hand #55: Having just 3 BBs left in her stack and facing the prospect of posting the BB and the ante soon, China's Li Xinjing went all-in from the +1 position for remaining 160,000 with Q♠ J♠ . He gets calls from William Ysmael in the CO with 7♣ 7♠ , Lester Edoc in the SB with Q♥ 9♣ and on the BB of Hieu Ngo with A♣ 9♠ .

The flop comes 5♣ 6♦ A♥ as Edoc checks his miss and Hieu bets 200,000. That's enough to make the rest fold and have it out with the Chinese player. The turn is the J♦ which suddenly gives Li some hope, but the river is the 6♣ , vanquishing Li and sending the competition to seven-handed play.

Everyone is assured PhP1,810,000 (~US$31,010).

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 #7: William Ysmael of the Philippines gets A♥ Q♦ UTG and raises to 80,000 and gets three callers.

The flop is T♥ 9♣ 8♦ representing some form of straight draw for all of Ysmael's opponents in the hand. All check. The turn is the 9♦ and when it's checked b ack Ysmael, he bets 320,000. It's enough to get everyone chasing their draw to fold.

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:

Li Xinjing of China opens the action from UTG with a raise to 45,000 and it gets folded all the way around to the SB of Korea's Lee Sunghak who makes the call.

The flop comes A♠ 6♠ J♥ as Lee checks. Li continues betting for 45,000 anew and gets called. The turn is the 2♦ and this, but players check. The river is the 4♣ as this time Lee leads out for 120,000. Li goes into the tank and is forced to use one Time Bank card before deciding to make the call.

The Korean tables K♥ T♥ for a missed gutshot while Li shows A♥ 8♥ for top pair on the flop. The botched steal attempt on the river now reduces Lee's stack to less than six BBs.

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

China's Li Xinjing raises from the D to 35,000 and gets a customer in American Joey Weissman.

The flop brings T♣ 8♦ 5♠ as Weissman checks. Li CBets to 75,000 and gets called. The turn is the 7♦ and this time, both players opt to check. The river is the 5♦ . Weissman fires 60,000 but gets raised to 135,000 by his Chinese opponent. The American ponders his decision and ends up consuming one Time Bank card before deiding to make the call.

Li flips ober 5♣ 9♣ for trips on the river as Weissman mucks his hand.

Lee doubles up off of Li, who will be more alert about the action on the table.

Here are the top ten stacks presently:

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.

Flight A of the APPT Manila Championship wrapped up after 11 levels and nearly 12 hours of tournament poker. 59 hopefuls out of 165 total entries will be moving on to Day 2, inching their way closer to a payout from the guaranteed prize pool of PHP 55,000,000 (~US$ 960,850). Flight B will play tomorrow with the survivors of those joining the "Flight A Fifty-Nine" for Day 2.

Date/s: October 23 to 27, 2024

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

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

Entries: 165

Starting Stack: 50,000

Average Stack: 139,831

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

Remaining players: 59

Here's a look at the Flight A chip counts:

Jeremy Jehanne raised to 3,500 from the button then called the 13,500 re-raise of Xinjing Li from the small blind to open a flop of K♠ 9♠ 3♣ . Li bet out 8,000 and Jehanne moved all-in for 55,000, forcing Li to rethink his hand before folding.

Flight A of the APPT Manila Championshi still has 79 players standing out of 158 total entries who paid the PHP 165,000 (~US$ 2,850) buy-in to compete for a share of the PHP 55,000,000 (~US$ 960,850) guaranteed prize pool.

After 9 levels, John Edward Perry sits on the chip leader throne with a commanding stack of 330,000 chips. Not far behind is Akinobu Maeda with 270,000 while Charles Ed Pansoy is ranked 3rd with 221,000.

Date/s: October 23 to 27, 2024

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

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

Entries: 79/158

Starting Stack: 50,000

Flight A of the APPT Manila Championship has played through 7 levels. 83 players still remain out of 133 total entries, who paid the PHP 165,000 (~US$ 2,850) buy-in for a chance to win a share from the PHP 55,000,000 (~US$ 960,850) guaranteed prize pool.

Georgis Skarparis is the current chip leader with 186,000. Former chip leader Rishi Mehra dropped to second in chips with a healthy stack of 164,400. Edilberto Gopez rounds up the top three with 152,200.

Date/s: October 23 to 27, 2024

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

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

Entries: 83/133

Starting Stack: 50,000

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

Xinjing Li raised to 700 from the hi-jack and drew three callers to enter a flop of 7♠ Q♣ Q♠ . Action was checked to the raiser and Li obliged with a bet of 1,500, leaving only Hyungjung Kim to call at the button. Both players enter to see a 9♣ turn. Kim check-calls the 2,500 from Li to see the J♦ on the river. Kim check-calls again for 11,000. Xinjing Li turns over Q♥ J♠ to show a handsome full house while Kim throws his cards to the muck.