APPT Main Event (80,000 PHP)

From the moment Day 1B kicked off, it was clear the turnout would top the opening flight. By the close of registration, 320 players had coughed up the ₱80,000 buy in. Once again, Korea and the Philippines brought the largest contingents, and this time joined by a fresh wave of Vietnamese players who had landed just the night before. By the end of the 15 levels of regulation play, only 51 survived led by local pro John Niko Costiniano with a stack of 500,000 (125 bb).

"I had a big spot with kings and my opponent had top pair flush draw going to the river and the hand just played itself and made me 500k in chips."

Also making the cut in this heat was the newly crowned Justin Ong, champion of the Pokerstars Red Dragon event. Ong's hot run continued, knocking out players to become one of the leaders well before registration closed. He ended the day with 301,000 (75 bb).

Among the many notables in the field were three APPT Main Event champions namely Xiong Cheng (2024 APPT Manila Main Event), Hai Ha Tran (2025 APPT Cambodia Main Event) and Yuanning Wu (2023 APPT Manila Main Event). By bagging time, only Wu was still in contention with 156,000 (39 bb) bagged.

For those that missed the mark or have yet to make their appearance, the 2025 APPT Manila Main Event will resume on Saturday, August 2 with the last two flights on deck at Cove Manila inside the world class Okada Manila. Day 1C starts at 12pm followed by Day 1D (Turbo) at 7pm.

So far, a total of 91 players have advanced to Day 2. For Costiniano, he looks forward to that moment,

"My plan for Day 2 is to be totally dynamic on my play style. I do not plan to force anything my way because see a lot of really good players in this field and I am just excited to play some great poker!"

On the last hand of the day, Vamerdino Magsakay and Ilsung Kwon built a pot of 61,000 by the turn K♦ 8♦ 7♣ 9♠ . Kwon bet 42,000, Magsakay tanked then shoved. This sent Kwon tanking until he opted to fold, giving Magsakay the pot without a river.

William Teoh with K♥ J♣ celebrated prematurely when a jack came down on the flop Q♠ 5♥ J♥ then realized at-risk player Sukwang Ko was ahead with K♦ Q♥ top pair. Then turn J♠ landed and Teoh erupted as he tripped up and with the river A♠ , he was all smiles as Ko packed up to go.

John Niko Costiniano makes it 8000 and finds one customer in Yonghyun Lee. At the flop Q♠ J♥ 5♠ , Costiniano checks it then calls Lee's 11,000 bet. Another round of betting follows on the turn 5♥ with Lee barreling 20,000 only to be challenged with a near pot bet of 60,000. Lee calls and they head to the river 8♣ where Costiniano bets 125,000, Lee snap-calls and shows A♥ Q♥ . Costiniano has K♠ K♣ .

Pete Chen is all in for 51,000 with 3♦ 3♥ and is up against big stacked Yonghyun Lee with A♣ Q♣ . When the board runs J♣ 9♣ J♠ K♦ 4♣ , Chen thinks he has won it and Lee shrugs thinking he lost, but upon reviewing again, Lee rivered a flush.

Dillion Chua looked down and saw K♠ K♥ and raised to 8500. Several spots down the round, Chun Jun Beom jammed with J♠ J♣ and no brainer for Chua who snap-called.

No drama on the board 6♠ 3♥ T♥ 4♠ until the river J♦ for a set to Chun to crush Chua's kings.

Yohei Katsuragawa will have to re-enter at the next flight with all of his chips taken by Ilsung Kwon. During the hand, Kwon three-bet 16,000 and Katsuragawa with K♦ K♠ flatted. At the flop Q♠ 8♦ A♦ , Kwon continued for 5000 and another 8000 on the turn 5♥ . Katsuraga check-called the flop bet then check-raised all in on the turn.

Kwon snap-called and showed 8♣ 8♥ set. The river Q♣ was the end for Katsuragawa. Several hands after, Kwon eliminated Finn Penderak for another 130,000 takedown.

Catching the action on a board 4♦ 2♦ 5♣ 8♦ with 30,500 swimming in the middle, Kunlong Yu bet 25,000 and Mizue Tokuhashi called. When a 3♦ found the river, both players checked. Yu had 6♣ 7♠ straight, Tokuhashi took it down with the K♦ J♦ flush.

Big blind Jihun Choi defended with 6♠ 8♥ and landed the nuts on the flop 5♥ 7♠ 9♠ . Checking to the aggressor, Junseok Oh, it was checked back. Action got busy on the turn J♠ with Choi checking again, Oh bet 13,000, Choi jammed for 64,000. Oh called and showed Q♥ J♣ top pair and was drawing dead giving Oh the double up.

Sukwang Ko is back up after dipping below 100,000 last level. During one of his successful grinds, he eliminated Motokatsu Uhara with A♥ 2♣ over A♣ 4♣ on a board 6♠ Q♥ 3♣ 2♥ 3♥ .

Ilseok Park kicked off the hand with a raise of 6000, big blind Kunlong Yu defended. At the flop A♥ 6♠ 5♠ , Yu continued to defend check-calling 6500. Then on the turn T♠ , following another bet from Park of 15,500, Yu check-raised 40,500. This froze Park in his tracks and folded.

Ryan Tan's 5000 open was met with a reraise from Shuichi Akiba of 13,500. Tan pounded back with 42,000 four-bet and it still wasn't enough to scoop with Akiba pushing 100,000. Tan tanked then let go of his hand.

Unfortunately we missed the hand but William Teoh was seen celebrating as Marvin Cerbito and Francisco Sanchez were seen packing up.

Justin Ong is back up again having eliminated William Ysmael. A♠ retold by Ong.... on a board 9-K-3-7-Q with Ong raising pre with pocket Sevens in the hole, Ysmael defended on the big blind. At the flop, Ysmael landed top pair and check-raised Ong's 4000 c-bet to make it 15,000. Ong called to buy the turn 7 and it was the money card two-outer.

Ysmael led out 25,000, Ong jammed, Ysmael called for everything behind only to see he was drawing dead.

Shinya Yoshimoto and Jaejoong Kim built a pot of 49,000 by the turn T♠ 4♦ Q♥ 4♣ . Kim check-called 6500 and check-called again on the river 9♣ for 23,000. Yoshimoto was bluffing with A♥ 5♥ , Kim took it down with J♣ J♦ .

Mizue Tokuhashi sees an ace in the hole and min-raises from hijack. Small blind Kunlong Yu and big blind Man Lok Chan give him action until the flop K♥ J♥ K♠ where Chan opts to fold to the 7000 c-bet. Yu and Tokuhashi are friendly on the turn Q♦ then Yu breaks code with 10,000 lead out bet on the river Q♣ .

Tokuhashi assesses the board then drops the one-chip call. Yu plays the board with J♦ 8♠ , Tokuhashi wins it with A♥ 2♠ .

Glancing over at Justin Ong's stack, it is much less than at the start of the previous level however still big in comparison to the blinds. Now with a bigger stack is Raymond

Enriquez who may have doubled up off the fiery champ.

Three players called Francisco Mir Sanchez's min-raise then the big blind Apoorva Goel pushed all in for 22,500. After Sanchez folded, Moses Saquing shoved and isolated.

Saquing turned over 6♦ 6♥ and was far behind Goel's Q♣ Q♦ . With the board throwing blanks 4♠ 2♥ K♠ 3♦ 2♠ , Goel doubled up.

Somashekhar Sanampuri drove the action to rake in sizable back to back pots. The first hand had him three-bet preflop from cutoff and Sukwang Ko called from under the gun. Sanampuri barreled the flop 6♣ Q♥ K♠ and the turn 6♥ 5000 and 10,000, both called by Ko who tried to steal on the river A♣ with a lead out bet of 40,000. Sanampuri called and Ko quickly mucked.

Sanampuri hadn't finished fixing his chips yet when he tossed in a raise that was called by button Akihiko Nishimura and big blind Ko. Sanampuri continued at the flop 5♦ Q♦ K♣ for 8000 and only Ko stuck around to see the turn 7♠ . Ko checked again, Sanampuri jammed with a stack more than double of Ko's who opted to fold.

Dinh Duc Linh was dealt 9♦ 9♥ and gave it a raise of 3000, down the orbit on the small blind, Lloyd Locsin had A♣ Q♠ and repopped to 8500. Back to Dinh, he called to take the action to the flop. With it running A♦ 9♠ 3♥ , Dinh landed his two outer set and called Locsin's 6000 c-bet but on the turn 6♦ , he changed up.

Following Locsin's 14,000 bet, Dinh raised to 30,000, Locsin called it and the 7♣ arrived on the river. Dinh went all in for 47,000, Locsin tanked and finally found reason to call. Dinh flipped over the set and soared as Locsin dropped significantly.

It's official, 320 entries for Day 1B. Currently in the lead is Kunlong Yu with over 400,000 in chips.

Registration is now closed for Day 1B. The screens have it at 316 entries. Play resumes until the end of Level 15.

Last hand before the break, Kunlong Yu and Quoc Dinh Danggo go head to head. Yu initiates for 2500, Quoc three-bets 7500, Yu four-bets 19,000, Quoc ends the betting battle by calling.

Yu continues at the flop 7♥ 5♣ 3♣ for 15,000, Quoc flats again. The turn K♣ , Yu decides to back down while Quoc switched gears and bet 20,000. Yu called and the last card felted T♠ . Again Yu passed over control to Quoc who laid out 38,000. Yu answered with a shove, sending Quoc deep in the tank.

Quoc eventually called and showed A♣ K♣ top pair. Yu had him beat with A♦ A♥ .

With a raise that's called before him, big blind Ryan Tan has 7♦ 8♣ and makes the call. When the flop lands Q♦ 5♦ 6♠ , Tan checks his open-ended and the others check as well for a free look at the turn 9♣ . Tan landed his straight and bet out 4000. Dmitrii Belikov folded while Mizue Tokuhashi gave Tan some action.

The river then came 2♠ . Tan fired 17,000 and again got the call. Tan showed the straight and was well ahead of Tokuhashi's Q♣ 8♥ top pair to collect the pot.

Catching the action with 51,800 in the middle and two players looking at a board J♠ J♣ 9♠ 7♣ . Ilsung Kwon led out 12,000 and Raymond Enriquez matched it to complete the board 2♠ . Kwon didn't let up and fired 42,500. Instead of calling, Enriquez tanked then surrendered his hand.

Three players called Sota Kurihara's preflop raise of 2500 then played friendly at the flop 5♣ 9♦ J♠ . On the turn 2♣ , no more checking for Ryan Hong with a bet of 6500, Kurihara jumped out for 17,000 and it was good to claim the pot uncontested.

Day 1B has now entered Level 10 which is the last chance for players to join this flight. Registration closes at the start of Level 11. For those that get in on the last second, that's still 20 big blinds to work with.

PokerStars Red Dragon champion, Justin Ong, carried his winning momentum to the Main Event and is currently one of the leaders. We caught him pick up a good pot against Felix Von Rahden who defended on the big blind. Both players checked to the turn 8♦ 2♦ 4♠ 9♣ where Ong tested the waters for 3000. Rahden called again.

The river 9♣ brought a larger 11,000 bet from Ong, Rahden couldn't resist paying to see. Ong flipped over a winning Q♦ 7♦ flush.

From the big blind, Robert Schwartz defended his big blind and went hunting on the flop. With the dealer spreading T♠ 3♦ 9♦ , Schwartz liked the board and check-raised all in for 16,200. Early aggressor Katsutoshi Watanabe called and had top pair with K♥ T♥. Watanabe had Q♦ 4♦ . The diamond immediately came on the turn 7♦ to grant Schwartz the double up.

Five players in preflop for 2200 each head to a flop 5♣ J♥ 7♠ . Following three checks, Lloyd Locsin takes a stab for 4100 and trims the action down to three players. On the turn 3♠ , Locsin bets 11,500, and only Ju Won Chung wants to take it to the river 8♦ where both players check it down.

Chung is first to show K♣ J♣ top pair, Locsin has the better kicker A♠ J♠ to rake in a sizable pot.

Catching the action on a board Q♦ T♥ 2♣ J♠ with 22,100 in the pot, Quoc Dinh Dang bets 10,000 and Alex Tiew check-calls from the big blind position. The river 5♣ sees the pot balloon further with Tiew now taking the reins for 5000, raised by Quoc to 15,000. Tiew calls for his tournament life.

Tiew opens Q♠ 4♠ top pair, Quoc has him out-kicked A♥ Q♥ to ship it all.

With the board running 8♣ 3♠ Q♠ J♠ Q♦ , Choi survived to scoop up a double and more as Schwartz plunged to 5 bb.