APPT Open (60,000 PHP)

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.

Artem Utevskii got the hand going with a 600 raise and found four players to amass a big pot of small chips. When the flop ran A♣ A♦ 9♦ , this slowed down everyone to a check until the turn 9♠ where cutoff Jayson Myles gave it a go for 500. No takers on his small bet to scoop up the pot.

Catching the action on the turn J♦ 3♥ J♥ A♦ with three players in the hand and 6600 in the pot. Everyone checked for the board to complete 8♥ river. Zhou bet 5000, only Edilberto Gopez paid up then mucked to Zhou's 3♠ 3♦ full house.

The dealer was heard saying "player out" as Jihun Choi was walking away. Though we missed the hand, it happened in two deals. He first lost a two-thirds to Keisuke Katsuya then the rest to Mikhail Katkov.

Justin Ong was seen shoving several times, even showing pocket Kings at one point. However, with no callers, he raked in small blinds and antes.

High Roller Warm Up winner Fendy Kosasih kicked off the hand with a min-raise. Down the orbit on the small blind, Yusuke Hidaka three-bet 600, big blind Evgenii Kan defended, and it was a three-way to the flop with Kosasih topping up.

On a board 8♠ 8♣ T♥ , Hidaka continued to represent a strong hand with a bet of 1000, only Kan called, however on the turn T♣ , Hidaka backed down and checked. This prompted a 2600 bet from Kan which Hidaka called. When the river felted 9♣ , Hidaka checked once more, Kan dipped in again and fired an overbet of 12,000. Hidaka tanked then surrendered his hand.

Kaoru Kishimoto picked up a healthy boost with the help of A♦ A♥ in the hole. Three-betting from the small blind, he c-bet 2000 on the flop 2♣ 9♦ 5♣ , losing Ronald Lane while Bryan Niu paid to go to fourth street. Both checked the 5♦ and the river tabled 7♦ . No more freebies with Kishimoto firing 6300. The bet barely hit the felt when Niu snap-called then quickly mucked.

Running alongside Flight B of the APPT Open is Day 2 of the Okada Kick Off, with 48 players remaining from the 76 that returned. The event drew a total of 525 entries across three flights, surpassing its guarantee to build a ₱8,962,500 prize pool. All returning players are guaranteed a payout with the champion set to claim ₱1,650,000, while the runner-up earns ₱1,000,000.

Cards are now in the air at Flight B of the APPT Open which features a ₱20M guarantee and the first shard trophy. Latecomers have plenty of time to join in with registration open until the start of Level 11, around 7:10pm this evening. This is the second to the last flight. Interested players will need to pony up ₱60,000 to enter which buys you a starting stack of 30,000. Blinds increase every 40 minutes.

If you miss that window, the final flight begins at 7pm with registration closing at 11:40pm. Blinds increase faster, every 25 minutes.

Good luck to all!

The first shard event of the 2025 APPT Manila Championship resumes with the final two flights of the APPT Open ₱20M guaranteed running today, October 18 at 12PM and 7PM. First on the plate is Flight B with blinds increasing every 40 minutes followed by Flight C in the evening with blinds at a slightly faster 25 minute pace. Buy-in is ₱60,000 (~US$ 1,030). Registration closes at the start of Level 11 for both flights. Starting stack is 30,000.

At yesterday's opening flight, 79 signed up with 11 advancing to the ITM round. The player to measure up to is chip leader Anton Iakimenko with a stack of 339,000.

To follow the action, Somuchpoker is onsite to bring you fresh updates from start to finish.