APPT Championship (165,000 PHP)

Cooler at Table 16 with Martin Wong all in with K♣ K♦ only to be up against the bigger stacked Alex Puchalski with A♣ A♥ . The board ran jack-high to end Wong's run abruptyl and Puchalski to steal the top spot.

Big pot of 176,000 already in the middle by the time the river completed the board 3♠ 2♣ A♥ K♥ 9♠ . David Sommer checked to Cao Ngoc Anh who slid out 125,000. Sommer spent a time-bank before making the hero-call. Cao flipped A♦ Q♥ , earning a quick muck from the frustrated Sommer.

Action folded to the button Javier Bris who pushed his big stack with the blinds sitting with short stacks. This did not scare off small blind Hoa Thinh Nguyen who risked his last 258,000 while Miyoung Cho tanked with 250,000 behind. After burning a time-bank, Cho got out of the way.

Bris opened J♠ T♠ and told Nguyen "I never lose with this hand". Nguyen flipped over A♥ T♥ and dominated. With the board running 8♣ K♣ A♠ 9♠ K♦ , Bris failed to improve to have to pay up.

Catching the action only as the dealer was sending the chips to Eng Loong Choi, the board was T♥ J♥ 8♥ 9♥ K♦ with Choi showing Q♣ Q♠ straight over David Howard's 9♦ 8♦ .

Recalling how the bubble burst, it was nearly a repeat when Tomoya Kakihara four-bet all in with A♥ A♦ and got called by John Matsuda with 8♦ 8♥ . The flop ran a dramatic 9♣ 6♠ T♥ for a gutshot to Matsuda. No changed on the turn 4♥ and with the river Q♥ , it was a safe landing for a very relieved Kakihara.

David Sommer is back in the driver's seat after pulling in two big pots, starting with the elimination of Justin Ong. It was a straightforward all-in clash. Ong shoved with K♦ 9♦ and ran straight into Sommer’s A♣ A♠ . Ong called for diamonds, and two quickly arrived on the flop A♦ 4♦ 3♥ , giving him a flush draw and faint hope. But the turn and river didn't get the memo coming 6♥ and T♣ on the turn to seal end his run in 39th place.

Several hands after, Sommer was being awarded a very big pile and now sits with a commanding 1,900,000.

A flurry of preflop raises built a massive pot before the flop even hit the felt starting with Jayden Zalac opening from the cutoff, met by a three-bet to 85,000 from Cao Ngoc Anh on the big blind. Zalac countered with a four-bet to 160,000, and Cao decided to keep the pressure in check with a call.

With 28 big blinds already in the middle, Cao passed over the all-diamond flop 7♦ 5♦ 4♦ over to Zalac, who continued for 70,000. Cao fired back with a check-raise to 170,000 only to face an all-in from Zalac for another 260,000. After burning through a time bank, Cao opted to surrender his hand.

Aditya Agarwal took command of the hand from the start and got maximum value by the end. Holding A♠ K♦ in hijack, he opened preflop and found action from Lu Zhou and Lewis Cowell. When the flop came 6♠ 2♦ 4♥ , it checked around to Zhou on the button, who fired 50,000. Only Agarwal called, and both players checked the Q♣ turn.

The A♣ river was a dream card for both, prompting Agarwal to lead out for 130,000. Zhou went deep in the tank with around 190,000 left before eventually making the call only to see his A♦ 7♦ crushed by Agarwal’s superior kicker.

Short stacks continue to shove leading to numerous busts but not the case for Lloyd Locsin whose K♣ K♦ stood proud and strong against caller Craig Jones's A♥ 9♦ .

With the money intact, short stacks were unafraid to shove leading to fast busts.

Eduard Burd woke up with A♠ A♦ and when he got called by John Matsuda with 8♥ 8♣ , his chances of winning the hand was 80-20. But as every poker player knows, nothing is certain until the river. The flop came 3♣ K♥ K♣ , strengthening Burd’s lead, before the turn 2♣ suddenly opened the door with a flush draw for Matsuda. Then came the dagger - the river 8♠ , giving Matsuda a full house and delivering a brutal end to Burd’s championship run.

Joshua Figuerres was sweating it when big-stacked David Sommer called his shove, but relief came quickly once the cards were revealed as both held big slick suited. The board ran out uneventfully, and the pot was split down the middle.

Short stacked Battulga Ganbold watched his stack drain without a fight and finally had it all-in with A♥ Q♠ with two players looking to take him down. By the turn board 2♥ 3♠ 9♥ 4♦ , Justin Ong folded to Chris Song's bet and revealed 5♦ 4♦ pair. The river J♥ sealed the win for Song as Ganbold packed up.

57 players remaining... only two busts to ITM!

Another champion has missed the mark. The newly crowned PS Red Dragon champion Alex Chong was all in with A♦ K♥ but bricked to fall to Xiaohua Fu's Q♣ Q♠ .

With the bubble round approaching, Van Sang Nguyen and Cao Ngoc Anh have kicked up the pressure a couple of notches with raises and steals to surge into the seven-digit range.

Cezar Quiambao opened from the button only to be countered by small blind Chun Yuan Chen for 45,000. Quiambao answered back with a four-bet to 85,000 to which Chen punched back with a shove. The stunned Quiambao was well covered then eventually folded giving up a big chunk without a showdown.

Craig Jones made it 15,000 and only middle position Seiji Kikuoka gave him some action. An all heart board J♥ T♥ 7♥ froze both in their tracks then Jones resumed for 19,000 on the turn 9♦ . Kikuoka called and another heart came on the river 5♥ . Jones barreled again for 70,000 and had to wait to clam the pot with Kikuoka first using up two time-banks.

Pranav Bagai bagged up 120,000 at Flight B but had to fly out to miss out on today's race. He has been blinding out and still has 38,000. There are 62 players remaining. Money starts at 55th place. The question is, will he make the money?

The field is down to 64 players across 8 tables. Time-banks have now been introduced with each player receiving 6 which will be replenished once the final table is formed.

Jayden Zalac opens 12,000 and to his immediate left, Edward Pires counters for 33,000. Zalac tames the action and calls. They then see the flop land 8♠ Q♣ 7♦ . Pires continues to represent strength and bets 15,000 but then faces a counter from Zalac with a check-raise to 33,000. Pires calls.

On the 6♥ turn, Zalac wastes no time counting and bets the max, and ships it after Pires tank-folds.

Upon revealing, Sapra was ahead with two pair and had to dodge a club which he did with the river 8♠ to his favor.

Eduard Burd was dealt A♠ Q♠ under the gun and opened to 11,500. Two seats over, William Teoh woke up with A♦ K♥ and fired back a three-bet to 37,000. After some thought, Burd made the call and faced more heat on the flop 9♠ 7♦ Q♥ , where Teoh continued for 18,000. Burd tank-called once more.

The turn 9♥ was checked again by Burd and Teoh put the brakes on as well but when the K♣ completed the board, Burd jumped out for 30,000 only to see he was behind.

David Howard defended on the big blind then check-jammed on a flop 2♥ 2♣ 7♥ . Craig Jones snap-called and showed J♥ T♥ draw, Howard had J♦ 7♦ top pair. With the turn 2♦ and river A♣ , Howard replenished to over 20 bigs.

Catching the action on a board of 2♠ J♦ 8♦ 4♥ A♠ with around 115,000 already weighing down the middle, David Howard test-bets 34,000 "to see where he is" then folds to Adam Monaghan's shove.

Michael Uguccioni bumps it up to 10,000 and brings two players to see the flop K♠ 2♣ K♥ . His 16,000 continuation bet is enough to get Michihiko Matsuda to fold while big blind Eijiro Taguchi sticks around to defend. Both players tap on the turn 6♣ to see the board pair up again on the river 6♥ . Taguchi switches gears and leads out 30,000 only to snap-fold on Uguccioni's shove.

Buy-in: ₱165,000 (~$2,350)

Prize pool: ₱60,000,000 (~$1,080,000)

Entries: 384

ITM: 55 places

1st prize: ₱11,850,000 (~$202K)

Minimum payouts: ₱289,000 (~$4,900)

For the full breakdown click ---> PRIZES

Seunghyuk Jung and Joshua Figuerres tangle for a pot that grew to 54,000 preflop. Figuerres kept up the aggression for 18,000 on the flop of J♠ 9♠ 3♥ and Jung check-called. No bets followed on the turn 6♠ and 8♠ river. To Figuerres shock, Jung showed 9♥ 9♣ set.

The defending champion Trong Hieu Ngo has been eliminated. According to the dealer, Hieu Ngo was all in with Ace-Six and was outdrawn by David Sommer's King-Queen with two kings turning up on the board.

With one card to come, Kento Nasu had a 75% chance to win this hand with 4♠ 4♥ set on a board 3♦ 4♦ 6♥ 7♥ against David Wang's draw of 9♦ 7♦ . However, that higher percent failed to hold when the river came 8♦ .