APPT Open (60,000 PHP)

Flight B of the APPT Open drew the largest crowd with 208 signing up across ten levels. Well before the bubble round, Filipino player Maxwell Rosete was seen charging up the leaderboard then seized the lead after cracking Ellezer Castillo’s pocket kings. From then on, Rosete maintained full control, applying pressure through the bubble round to finish the heat with a commanding 560,000 (112 bb) — well ahead of the field.

Further down the rung was Australian player Leo Kamiya who won this exact event last July at APPT Manila. The defending champion bagged up a healthy 296,000 (59 bb).

A total of 31 players advanced to the ITM round and are all guaranteed a piece of the ₱20 Million prize pool. Scroll down to read up on some of the day's action. We will return tomorrow, Sunday October 19 for Day 2.

The bubble has burst and the unfortunate one was Zhun Wang who raised 12,000 leaving just 1000 behind. Lewis Cowell and Leo Kamiya called. At the flop Q♥ J♣ 2♦ , Wang tossed in his last 1000 and both players called then checked the turn 9♦ and river 3♠ .

Wang showed A♦ 3♦ and despite pairing up, it was still behind Cowell's J♥ 5♠ . That ends Flight B with 31 players remaining.

Arkadii Okulov looks down at A♦ A♠ and is all in for 39,000. He is called by Leo Lombardozzi with A♥ 9♦ . Lombardozzi doesn't improve on a board 6♦ 6♠ 6♣ Q♠ 8♦ for a happy Okulov as he avoids the rail.

The bubble round continues with Hao Lin on the ropes against the leader Maxwell Rosete. On a flop 5♣ 2♣ 4♥ with 52,000 in the pot, Lin fired 40,000 only to get pushed by Rosete. With only 77,000 behind, Lin tanked for some time then surrendered his hand.

John Niko Costiniano is one of the short stacks and is unafraid to get it all-in. He did so in two hands with the first one earning him Said Mekhmedov's 10,000 raise who folded after he shoved on the big blind 54,500.

Two hands later, Costiniano was all-in on the button and small blind Lewis Cowell called. He dominated with A♦ Q♣ against K♦ Q♦ . The board ran nine-high for a full double.

Yin Wah Peng is in no immediate danger from falling and neither does his opponent Neng Zhao with both sporting over 200K stacks. Both players battled for a pot that first grew to 37,500 before the flop ran Q♥ T♦ 7♦ . Zhao led for 9000 then called Peng's 19,000 raise. Action changed up on the turn 6♥ with Zhao unwilling to continue after Peng fired 28,000.

The first all in of the bubble round was between short stacked Kunal Jain and Mikhail Katkov. Jain needed some luck with A♣ Q♠ to survive Katkov's K♠ K♥ . No help came on the flop 8♦ 2♠ 7♠ until the turn A♠ and with the river A♦ , Jain celebrated his win.

William Ysmael opened 11,000 from cutoff and George Tomescu called. Next over, Yao Liu, he three-bet 35,000 and sent the action back around to Ysmael. After a minute, Ysmael four-bet to 88,000, Tomescu fast-folded and Liu followed right behind.

Just before the new level, Ellezer Castillo busted leaving 32 players which means it is now bubble time here at Flight B.

Ellezer Castillo raised 9,000 from under the gun, button Maxwell Rosete and the big blind called. Three-way to the flop with the board running T♦ 6♥ T♥ . Action was checked to Rosete, he bet 11,000, big blind folded while Castillo lunged out with a check-raise of 40,500. Rosete answered with a shove, and despite being well covered, Castillo snap-called and showed K♦ K♥ . To his shock, Rosete opened T♣ 4♣ trips.

Castillo still had a chance however the turn 3♥ and river A♦ were not the outs he needed to crash out just before ITM.

With the bubble round just one bust away, Said Mekhmedov has been raising and three-betting and getting no callers.

Andrey Cherkashin risked his remaining 14 bigs with Ace-King and Neng Zhao called with Ace-Queen. When a queen found the window, it was looking bleak for Cherkashin. The river dropped another queen to end his run on a badbeat.

From utg+1, table leader Maxwell Rosete boosts it 10,000 and finds two callers - button Wipat Udomkanjananan and big blind Jaemoon Seok. All three proceed to keep it friendly until the turn 5♦ 5♥ 6♠ 9♣ with Rosete c-betting a delayed 12,000. Only Wipat wants to go the distance and calls. The river then comes T♥ . No action follows. Rosete flips over A♦ 6♥ and it's good to win the pot.

With everyone folding to the small blind Andrey Cherkashin, he shoves on big blind Arkadii Okulov who only has 10 bb behind. The bubble is also nearing with 36 players remaining and 31 paid. Okulov tanks then finally decides to go for it and opens up K♥ J♦ . It's the right decision as he is ahead of Cherkashin's 3♥ 4♦ . The board ensures his victory running 4♠ 9♥ K♣ J♣ 2♣ .

Late position Cao Ngoc Anh and small blind Leo Lombardozzi stare down a flop 6♦ Q♣ 7♣ with 24,500 already brewed. Cao takes command with an 8000 bet and is check-called. Lombardozzi switches gears on the turn 6♥ with a lead out bet of 15,000 and this time it's Cao that makes the call. The river completes the board with 7♥ . Again Lombardozzi jumps out for 25,000 and this time, Cao shakes things up with a raise of 75,000 to which Lombardozzi snap-folds.

Cooler at table 20 between George Tomescu and John Matsuda with both players dealt premium. Hand opens with Tomescu raising 8000 from under the gun, called by one player before reaching the button Matsuda who three-bets 33,000. Tomescu answers with a four-bet of 71,000 which is enough to push out one player while Matsuda breaks the heat by calling.

With a massive pot in the middle, the flop comes 9♥ 3♠ T♦ , Tomescu continues for 37,000 and Matsuda calls again. On the turn 9♦ , Tomescu opts to check, Matsuda goes to the hilt and is snap-called by Tomescu.

Matsuda flips over Q♦ Q♣ then sees the bad news as Tomescu opens A♦ A♠ . The river comes 3♦ for a huge double up to Tomescu.

Three players in for the minimum beef up the pot to 21,000. Following two checks, Lin Remulla bets 8000 from utg position then finds himself out of the pot after small blind George Tomescu calls and big blind Slaven Popov check-raises to 35,000 leaving 5000 behind. Tomescu calls and the hand continues to the turn 9♥ .

Tomescu slides out enough to put Popov all-in and it's showtime as Popov calls with Q♦ 7♦ two pair. Tomescu has A♣ K♠ . The river 8♠ doesn't help Tomescu for a double to Popov.

Lu Zhou was all in for 41,000 with K♣ K♥ and Gary Guerrero gave him a sweat, calling with Q♥ J♠ . Zhou's 80% win rate dropped drastically to 30% when the flop ran a dramatic Q♥ J♥ 4♠ giving Guerrero the lead with two pair.The excitement continued on the turn when the K♠ sending Zhou back on top and back to 80% win rate. The river was another wild one as it flipped J♦ for a full house to both. Zhou had higher with kings full to ship a double.

Catching the action on a board of 2♦ 4♥ 4♠ J♠ J♣ with 67,500 already in the middle, Joris Michl checked over to Yordan Petrov who tossed out a small 7,000 bet. Michl tested back with a check-raise shove, prompting an instant fold from Petrov.

Three players check a flop Q♦ 6♣ 5♦ with 31,000 already in the pot. The dealer drops 9♦ on the turn and it's checked by Yao Liu and Gary Guerrero while John Matsuda test-bets for 19,000. No takers for easy money to Masuda.

With only folds before him, button player Yury Salikaev raises 7000 hoping to steal the blinds and ante right there. However, heavier action follows with small blind Edward Pires re-raising 27,000 then big blind Man Lok Chan going all-in for 33,000.

Action bounces back to Salikaev who freezes in his tracks until he makes the decision to fold. Pires tops up without thought and shows A♦ Q♠ . Chan is glad to see he is one point higher with A♥ K♠ . And with the board ensuring the win K♥ 2♠ 3♣ J♠ 7♥ , Chan banks a double and a bit more.

David Erquiaga opens then calls Jiaxian Ye's 10 bb shove. He is ahead with K♠ T♠ with Ye showing Q♥ 9♥ . The board ensures the win running T♣ 5♠ 2♥ 4♣ 6♠ .

Maxwell Rosete has A♣ T♣ in the hole and raises 5000 from utg+1 position. He finds one caller in Yao Liu while button Yongdae Kim three-bets 15,000 with K♠ K♦ . Rosete wants tho play and calls while Liu opts out.

Kim continues for 20,000 at the flop 9♠ 7♣ T♠ and Rosete isn't going anywhere having landed top pair. He calls and then checks the A♠ turn. Kim does the same to bring down about the river 5♥ . Rosete takes the reins and goes all in for 45,000, Kim quickly calls then sees the bad news.

Cash game regular Lu Zhou showed his hand before calling Sherwin Caguindagan’s all-in shove for 19,000. Caguindagan was flipping for his tournament life with 7♦ 7♠ against Zhou’s A♣ Q♥ . The board ran out a clean 8♦ 8♥ T♥ K♦ 3♦ , keeping Caguindagan safe. Despite the apology, Zhou still received a one-hand penalty for exposing his cards prematurely.

Leo Lombardozzi crossed into five digits after taking down back-to-back pots. The first one saw a full board already showing 2♠ Q♦ 5♣ 6♣ 9♠ with 61,500 weighing down the middle. Lombardozzi was all in for 32,500 and David Erquiaga was squirming in his seat. Erquiaga eventually let it go while showing Q♠ and told Lombardozzi not to show but he did anyway, just one, the Q♥ .

Following that hand Lombardozzi defended his big blind by calling a 5500 raise from middle position player Arkadii Okulov. Lombardozzi check-called 8500 on a flop 3♦ 8♦ 5♥ then checked the turn. Okulov opted to check back and the 3♠ appeared on the river.

No more checking for Lombardozzi as he dipped in then fired 25,000. Okulov gave it some thought then folded.

Facing a raise of 5,000 from Shigehiro Murakami that was called by button Mikhail Katkov, small blind Abhijeet Shetty moved all-in for his last 10 bb. This only boosted the pot with both players calling. Both players then proceeded to check it to the river 3♣ 8♣ K♦ 5♣ Q♦ . Murakami bet 40,000 for a side pot but Katkov let go of his hand.

Shetty turned over K♥ T♦ top pair but was still denied with Murakami out-kicking with A♦ K♣ .

Small blind Martin Astorga looked down at Q♦ J♥ and raised 4500. Big blind Hao Lin had better A♣ T♠ and three-bet 17,500. After a bit of tanking, Astorga shoved and Lin quickly called. Astorga was in danger of elimination until the flop improved him to a pair. And with the board running 9♣ Q♥ 8♠ 7♥ 5♠ , he was safe and doubled through.

Big stacks Yao Liu and Yongdae Kim go head-to-head starting with a raise from Liu, three-bet of 9000 by Kim, Liu answers with a four-bet of 29,000, Kim slows the action with a call. At the flop 6♣ 4♥ 6♦ , no slowing down for Liu who fires 20,000 and it's good to win the pot uncontested.

Cao Ngoc Anh is currently chip-leading after taking down fellow Vietnamese player / defending APPT Championship champion. Trong Hieu Ngo. The hand opened with a 4000 raise from Cao at under the gun. Hieu Ngo was the lone caller from the small blind.

After the dealer spread the flop A♠ 3♠ 4♥ , it was pound for pound with Cao c- betting 5500, Hieu Ngo check-raising 14,000, Cao making it 30,000, and tamed bu Hieu Ngo with a call. This brought about the turn 2♠ where Hieu Ngo led for 32,000. Cao called.

The board then completed T♣ on the river. Hieu Ngo announced all in and was snap-called. Hieu Ngo flipped over J♠ T♠ flush then stormed off when Cao revealed A♣ T♥ full house.

By the turn A♦ 7♠ 4♥ 8♥ , the pot had ballooned to 36,000 with only William Ysmael and Owen Ming looking to claim it. From the under the gun position, Ysmael bet 11,500, middle position Ming called, the board completed 6♣ on the river. Ysmael barreled once more for 28,000, this time Ming took pause to assess the board and his stack. He found reason to call then mucked to Ysmael's A♥ 3♥ top pair.

Down to just 11,000, Ming busted shortly after.

Every bad beat tells a story and this one certainly will be one for Xiaohua Fu to share after losing all of his chips to Choi Eng Loong. Starting with a series of raises, it ended with Loong calling Fu's shove and showed A♥ Q♥ . Fu had A♣ Q♣ . While usually a split pot, not in this case with the board running J♥ 4♠ 7♥ 8♥ 5♣ for a flush to Loong and a brutal defeat for Fu as he packed up.

Three-bet pot grew to 10,000 trimmed the action down to two just Seitaro Aso and Andrey Cherkashin. At the flop A♦ T♠ 3♦ , Seitaro check-called 5500 then both slowed down when seeing the turn A♥ . Betting resumed on the river 9♠ with Seitaro check-calling 32,000. Cherkahshin revealed a winning 9♣ 9♥ full house and Seitaro could not believe it saying frustratingly "argh, river!" Then showed his A♣ .

While Cherkashin was arranging his winnings, Seitaro asked if he would call a bet on the turn, Cherkashin said he would have folded. This frustrated Seitaro even more saying "argh, mistake, mistake."

At the close of registration, one late jumper was local hero Florencio Campomanes who actually bagged up at Flight A with 66,000. He is looking to bag up a better stack today. Campomanes is a decorated APPT Red Dragon Main Event champion which he won back in 2020. He is also an APPT Open champion, hoisting his first shard in 2024.

Flight B registration has closed! Just confirmed, a total of 208 entered with only 31 guaranteed a spot at Day 2's ITM round. Cards are back in the air. 80 players remaining.

For those that missed out, Flight C is up and running with registration open until 11:30pm, closing at the start of Level 11. Currently 24 players in the field.

Quang Minh Bach picked up a couple of pots that included a bust. The first on saw a pot grow to 17,600 before the flop 2♦ 8♠ 2♣ . Maintaining the aggression, Quang bet 15,000 and Martin Astorga stayed in to see the turn. Quang liked the Q♥ on fourth street announcing all-in. Astorga folded.

Two hands later, Andy Graf was all in with K♦ 8♠ on a flop J♥ Q♣ T♣ , Quang had J♣ 9♣ . No change for Graf on the turn 3♦ and with the river Q♥ , he was ousted as Quang climbed to 90,000.

Sriharsha Doddapaneni opened then risked his last 18,300 when dealt A♣ Q♣ after bigger stacked Graham Cowan pushed with a strong K♠ K♦ . It looked bleak for Doddapaneni on a board running 7♠ 4♣ 6♥ 5♠ until the river A♥ appeared to save him from re-entering.

Level 10 is underway. This is the last chance to enter Flight B of the APPT Open, closing at the start of Level 11.

Big pot in the middle by the turn 6♥ 9♠ J♥ A♠ with Benhur Ybarsabal all-in and two players continuing for a possible side pot. Andrey Katalnikov takes a chance for 6000 but when met with a raise of 35,000 from Slaven Popov, he quickly folds. Heads-up, Ybarsabal flips open Q♣ J♣ and is drawing dead to Popov's 6♠ 6♣ set.

Saquing was hopeful with his made hand and with the fact that both players had the same hand. The board ensured him the win as it felted 6♣ 3♦ 7♠ T♥ 7♥ . After the count, Ambata was shortest to get the boot while Jung had to pay up.

Ellezer Castillo was just moved to table 12 and it didn't take long for him to initiate some action. Sitting at ug+1, he three-bet 6200 on top of utg David Erquiaga's 2500 raise. While everyone tossed their hands in the muck, Erquiaga defended to take the fight to the flop 6♥ A♣ K♥ .

Both took pause for a free turn card 6♣ . It was checked again by Erquiaga which was then met with a bet of 4000 by Castillo. Erquiaga tanked then slid out a small-raise of 8500. To Erquiaga's surprise, Castillo quickly let go.

Action packed from the get-go with Akihiro Kawaguchi bumping it up to 2500 from under the gun. Next to act is re-entry player Trong Hieu Ngo who makes it 6000. A few spots over, Xiaohua Fu attempts to steal control with a four-bet of 15,000 which is enough to induce a fold from Kawaguchi however the reverse from Hieu Ngo who shoves his 28,500 stack. Fu doesn't bat an eyelash with a fast call.

Upon revealing, Hieu Ngo has J♦ J♠ and is flipping against Fu's A♣ K♦ . The board runs 2♠ T♣ 7♠ 6♣ Q♣ saving Hieu Ngo from firing another bullet.

Ellezer Castillo limped in from under the gun and faced a raise of 6,000 from Cezar Quiambao on his immediate left. Everyone else cleared out, leaving Castillo who made the call.

On the flop A♠ K♠ 3♣ , Quiambao kept the pressure on with a 5,500 c-bet which Castillo check-called. Things erupted on the 3♠ turn with Quiambao firing 12,500, Castillo check-raised all-in for 9000 more to Quiambao. The call was quick as Quiambao revealed J♠ 8♠ for a flush.

Castillo had him way beat, turning over A♦ A♣ for a full house, leaving Quiambao stone dead and in disbelief. The J♣ river was just formality as Castillo raked in a well-deserved double.

All in preflop with Akihiro Kawaguchi showing cowboys K♠ K♦ while Rayhaan Adam needs to connect with a drawing A♦ K♥ . No such luck for Adam as the board runs 4♣ J♣ 2♥ J♠ 7♠ . Kawaguchi ships the pot and Adam quickly re-enters for a fresh 30,000 starting stack.

Facing a min-raise from John Tech at +1, George Tomescu three-bets 6400 from cutoff. Tech wants to play the flop and calls the six bigs as the cards land 8♣ 8♦ Q♥ . Tomescu continues the aggression with a 3500 bet, Tech check-calls then checks the turn 4♦ . Tomescu decides to check back for a free river J♠ . Once more, Tech passes the betting to Tomescu who resumes for all of his chips totaling 66,200. Tech seems puzzled at the shove then gives up his stake in the pot.

With Seok far ahead, the at-risk players awaited the river which came 5♥ to end their run as Seok swept the pot.

From under the gun, Cezar Quiambao looked down at A♦ A♠ and opened for 1600. Several spots down the orbit, cutoff Marc Rivera had K♣ K♠ and repopped to 5000. Quiambao took his time then four-bet 9500. Rivera tamed the action with a call.

At the flop J♦ T♥ 7♦ , both players checked to see the board pair on the turn with 7♠ arriving. No more checking for Quiambao who slid out 8500, Rivera called. Same action on the river 4♥ with Quiambao betting 30,000 onto a 38K pot. Rivera tanked but could not let go, making the call only to see the bad news.

Three-way raised pot brought a flop 8♣ 5♥ J♦ that saw Yao Liu bet, Thi Hue Dang raise, and Alex Chong go all-in for less. On the turn T♦ , Hue Dang continued the aggression but this time Liu wasn't biting for her to win a small side pot of 4600.

Hue Dang flipped over A♦ J♣ top pair, Chong needed some help with 9♠ 6♠ . Help arrived on the river Q♦ for a straight to Chong to triple up.

With action folding around to the small blind San Kang, he limped in with J♥ 8♠ . Big blind Hogyun Kang had A♣ 3♣ and gave it a bump to 1800, San wanted to see the flop and made the call.

When the dealer felted 8♦ 6♥ 6♣ , more chips were dumped in the pot starting with a bet of 10,000 from Hogyun which San check-raised to 32,000. Hogyun called to take the bout to the turn 4♣ . Leading, San slid out a light 5500 bet, Hogyun responded with a shove for 22,000, after some deliberating, San called.

Upon showing, Hogyun needed an ace to survive however, it was his lower card that paired up on the river 3♠ to get bounced out.

Mikhail Katkov and Lloyd Locsin were the only two left vying for a pot that grew to 14,900 by the turn 2♠ Q♣ 8♥ A♣ . Katkov bet half pot of 7500, and after a bit of thinking, Locsin check-called, then both checked the T♥ river. Locsin claimed the pot with A♦ 5♠ .

Jiaxian Ye delivered a bad beat with J♦ J♣ finding the river on a board 8♠ 5♠ 2♣ A♣ J♥ to burn a player's Q♦ Q♣ .

Big stacked Gregory Israel made it 1200 from middle position and found button Mark Marriott to tango. However, when action moved to the small blind Wipat Udomkanjananan, he spoiled the party with a three-bet of 4500. Israel answered with a four-bet of 18,400, Marriott exited while Wipat went deep in the tank for nearly three minutes. He frustratingly folded. Israel showed K♠ .

The Vietnamese have arrived and are making their presence felt at the APPT Open. At the first break of the day, Thi Hue Dang was chip-leading. We will track their progress throughout the day.

The Okada Kick Off has reached the final table!

Seat 1: Christopher Mateo - 520,000 (10 bb)

Seat 2: Kieran Harding - 2,115,000 (42 bb)

Seat 3: Mc Yeldarb Mantos - 755,000 (15 bb)

Seat 4: Vincent Chauve - 1,365,000 (27 bb)

Seat 5: Hanchul Choi - 685,000 (14 bb)

Seat 6: Edgar Asehan - 2,550,000 (51 bb)

Seat 7: Marco Espela - 1,855,000 (37 bb)

Seat 8: Christian Lortie-Cloutier - 4,740,000 (95 bb)

Seat 9: Michael Gabby Concepcion - 1,170,000 (23 bb)

Final 9 Payouts

1st ₱1,650,000

2nd ₱1,020,000

3rd ₱720,000

4th ₱570,000

5th ₱440,000

6th ₱335,000

7th ₱260,000

8th ₱200,000

9th ₱153,800

Heavy preflop action sees Marc Rivera three-bet 3500 and Jayvon Carreon four-betting all-in but still can't push out the pro. Carreon is at risk with 7♣ 7♥ and nearly gets a double against Rivera's A♠ Q♣ however the river crushes his hopes on a board of T♠ J♣ 3♥ 4♠ A♥ .

Benhur Ybarsabal open-jams his last 8 bb and finds two customers, Hao Lin and Jiaxian Ye. Both players check it to the turn T♠ Q♠ 3♥ K♥ . Lin bets 4500 for a side pot but Ye isn't interested.

Lin flips over A♦ J♦ straight, Ybarsabal is drawing dead with T♦ 9♦ . The river 8♦ is of no consequence.

Pablo Battista three-bets the max of 7300 after Cao Ngoc Anh's 1000 raise. After a couple of folds, big blind Emmanuel Segismundo flats to send the decision back to Cao who opts out.

Battista opens A♠ K♦ and is flipping against Segismundo's 9♠ 9♦ . The board quickly grants him the higher pair then better as the runout produces A♦ 4♥ 8♥ A♥ Q♥ .

Players are now on a 15-minute break. For all the railbirds, registration is open for the next six levels . Plenty of time to join the action.

A♠ soon as the flop drops K♣ 8♦ 3♠ , Hue Dang fist pumps her cowboy catch and further improves on the turn A♦ . Only a ten for Niu to stay alive however the river comes 8♣ for a double KO as Hue Dang ships. She is now the leader with 120,000 in chips.

Egidijus Stasiulaitis looked down at K♥ K♠ and raised from under the gun. This scared off everyone at the table except the big blind Yusuke Hidaka who three-bet. Stasiulaitis answered with a four-bet shove and Hidaka called to put Stasiulaitis at risk. Hidaka had A♣ K♦ .

With the board running 4♣ 2♣ 7♣ , Hidaka's outs increased for the flush. The turn 5♠ and river Q♥ were not the suits he needed to pay the double up.

Glancing over at Slaven Popov's table, he has all of his chips out front amounting to 18,300 and Wipat Udomkanjananan is seen paying up with Qx Tx straight far behind Popov's 7♦ 5♦ flush on a board 9♦ J♥ 2♦ 8♦ K♥ .

Three players in a raised pot pre go hunting at the flop 3♠ J♦ J♥ . Under the gun Thi Hue Dang continues for 1500, to her left +1 Jeonguk Lee calls, then big blind Jaemoon Seok opts out. Command switches on the turn K♥ with Hue Dang slowing down to a check while Lee fires 4000. Hue Dang calls to see the final card land 4♣ on the river. Again it is checked to Lee who makes it 8000 to see his hand but Hue Dang folds instead.

Trong Hieu Ngo - APPT Championship reigning champion is in the house! Catching him in a big hand, it was three-way action preflop that beefed up the pot to 2800, initiated by the champ with a min-raise. At the flop 9♣ K♥ 5♥ , small blind Arkadii Okulov led near pot worth 2700, big blind Leo Kamiya called, then Hieu Ngo jammed his last 7100.

This sent Okulov deep in the tank then called while Kamiya stayed in. When the turn came K♠ , Okulov bet 6800 for a side pot, Kamiya called, and with the river A♥ both checked.

Okulov showed K♦ J♦ , Kamiya K♣ J♠ to win the side pot, Hieu Ngo completed his flush with 8♥ 6♥ on hand for a triple up.

Justin Ong is now down two bullets having lost his chips again. From under the gun, Ong opened, Alexandru Tudor three-bet 2500, big blind Jean Testa called, then Ong shoved his last 14,900. Tudor folded after tanking while Testa quickly called and showed J♦ J♥ . Ong had 8♦ 6♦ . The board ran 9♠ 6♠ 9♥ K♠ 5♥ .

Johnson Tan just stunned the table after catching one of his five remaining outs to burn Mikael Blomvall's rockets. But first, the hand opened with Tan raising 700 from cutoff then big blind Blomvall three-bet 3000. Tan called and they saw T♠ 4♣ 6♦ come on the flop.

Blomvall checked, Tan took the chance for 4500, this time Blomvall flatted and the turn was 7♣ . Wasting no time, Blomvall moved all in, Tan snap-called.

Blomvall showed A♦ A♠ and was 88% favorite to win the hand over Tan's J♣ T♦ 12% win rate. That small percentage was enough as the river dropped as shocker T♥ to send Blomvall out in brutal fashion.

With everyone folding before him, button player Lito Quijano makes it 600 to go, that is until Leo Kamiya repops to 2400. Quijano tops up to play the flop 2♦ 7♦ K♠ . Kamiya continues for 1800 and Quijano calls again. However on the turn 5♣ , Kamiya's 4500 barrel is good enough as Quijano tosses his hand in the muck.

On a board 8♠ 6♣ 9♥ 5♠ with 10,000 already in the pot, David Erquiaga bets near half worth 4700 only to be check-raised all-in by Yury Salikaev. Erquiaga is covered and tanks while asking "flush draw?" But unable to get a tell, he opts to preserve his remaining chips for a better spot as Salikaev quietly drags in his winnings.

Flight B has already surpassed the opening flight turnout (79 entries) with 85 on the screens and rising. Below are some of the new entrants. 2025 APPT Manila - APPT Open champion - Leo Kamiya is among them, having returned from missing the mark yesterday.

Joseph Magnotti has jumped in the APPT Open after losing a majority of his chips on a sick runout at the Okada Kick Off where he finished in 41st place. The hand that sent him plunging was A♦ A♥ against Kevin O'Malley's 7♥ 7♦ with the board running A♠ 7♣ 7♠ quads on the flop with blanks following on the turn and river. At the time of writing, O'Malley was still in.

The Okada Kick Off is down to 23 players.

First casualty of the day, Jihun Choi, is back in and wastes no time igniting the action at his table. Catching him in a hand that built a pot of 3600 preflop, the cards ran 5♠ 8♠ Q♥ . Quang Minh Bach tested with a light 600 bet, Choi answered with a huge shove for 12,700, Bach tanked for a minute or so then folded to the aggressor.