APT Main Event (85,000 PHP)

80 players still have their seats and are assured at least PHP 222,000 ($3,775) for getting it this far.

Some of the recent eliminations were:

Alexander Keating opened to 10,000 and was quickly met with a re-raise to 24,000 from Lou Marcial on the button. Rishi Mehra, patiently waiting in the small blind, called, while Ilia Dropbin on big blind and Keating folded, leaving Marcial and Mehra in a heads-up showdown.

The flop revealed T♣ Q♦ 8♥, and Mehra checked. Without hesitation, Marcial shoved all-in for his tournament life. Mehra took a moment, weighed his options, and made the call.

Lou Marcial: J♠ 9♠

Rishi Mehra: K♦ J♦

Marcial had flopped a straight, while Mehra needed a nine to complete a higher straight and turn the tables. However, the turn K♥ and river 6♣ brought no help for Mehra, who had to part with a significant chunk of his stack as Marcial celebrated his crucial double-up.

A total of 249 entries showed up for Flight A of the APT Main for a chance to win their share from the guaranteed PHP100,000,000 prize pool. After ten 60-minute levels of poker action, only 82 players were able to bag up their chips and take them to Day 2 on November 3, 2024.

The Philippines' very own Edilberto Gopez Jr. was the one with the top chip count at the end of the day with a total of 338,900. Gopez Jr. just booked a runner-up cash in The Mystery Bounty Hunter -Sponsored by Natural 8 yesterday, and is in great position to earn another big cash.

South Africa's Edgar Antezana has the second largest stack with 309,700 while South Korea's Jaejoong Kim rounds up the top three with 308,300.

Some of the notable players who also bagged their chips at the end of Flight A included recent APT Manila Single Day High Roller -Freezout champion Nang Quang Nguyen (189,100) and the highly-decorated Mike Takayama (161,000).

Some of the big names that missed the cut included APT Manila Single Day High Roller-Mystery Bounty champion John Matsuda, 2018 WSOP Europe Main Event champ Jack Sinclair and Philippines All-Time Money List Number One Marc Rivera and Number three Lester Edoc.

These players may still be back with three more Day 1 flights to come. Flight B opens tomorrow on 11:00AM, November 2, 2024. On November 3, Flight C kicks off at 11:00AM with the final Flight D dealing at 6:00PM later in the day.

Meanwhile, here are the top ten chip counts of Flight A.

With around 45,000 in the pot on a board of J♥ 4♥ 6♣ A♠ 5♠ Both Ilia Drobin on the button and Ramos Soriano checked the river for a showdown. Both showed a lot of hearts with Drobin's A♥ 7♥ catching the top pair against the K♥ 9♥ of Soriano who missed the flush.

"Good thing I didn't flush," Soriano quipped.

On the following hand, the pot reached around 25,000 on a board of Q♠ T♠ 5♣ 9♦ 6♠ Both checked the river with Drobin flipping over a K♠ 8♠ , hoping to draw a bet from Gerardo Lubas, who sniffed something fishy and checked his 9♣ 9♥ .

Lubas beamed, "I had a feeling you were on a flush."

It was a brief tournament life for Ilia Drobin. Having just sat down with his fresh 40,000 stack, Drobin immediately went all-in when the action reached him. Kinam Kim quickly called, revealing pocket aces to Drobin’s pocket kings. The board didn’t offer any help, and Drobin’s tournament run came to an abrupt end almost as soon as it began.