Main Event

Bong Tan 158k Kalyan Chakravarthy 145k Abhinav Iyer 140k

One of the chip leaders, Mark Pagsuyuin, raised to 2200 and sb player Randy Yap called. At the flop 2♦ J♦ J♥ and 6♠ turn, both checked. The river 9♥ saw Yap bet 3k and Pagsuyuin called. Yap showed 6♣ 6♦ set and Pagsuyuin mucked.

Thomas Lee and David Erquiaga have met in several hands with one of them ending up on a split pot. This one however was clearly for Lee. Action began with Erquiaga raising to 2500, Lee called from the small blind. At the flop K♥ 5♥ 7♠ , both checked. On the 8♦ turn, Lee bet 5k, Erquiaga called. On the river 3♠ Lee laid out 17k, and after deliberating, Erquiaga called. Lee opened K♦ 7♦ two pair and won the pot with Erquiaga mucking.

Alex Lee didn’t last long at the Main Event, he just fell to Abhinav Iyer. The hand kicked off with Liubov Orlova limping in, Lee did the same on the small blind, and Iyer checked on the bb. At the flop A♦ K♣ 9♠ , blinds checked to Orlova, she bet 1k. Both Lee and Iyer called. On the turn 5♦ , Lee checked, Iyer fired 3k, Orlova folded, and Lee called. On the river T♥ , Lee checked again, Iyer bet 7k, Lee went all in, and a quick call from Iyer. Lee held A♣ T♣ two pair but it was still behind Iyer’s 5♣ 5♠ set.

Catching the action on a full board K♦ Q♦ 9♣ 4♠ 7♠ and pot of around 48k already brewed, Kalyan Chakravarthy had a 27k bet laid out and was called. He showed A♣ K♠ for top pair. He won the pot as his opponent mucked.

Hajime Nakagawa is backed by the largest stack at his table. He’s actually been one of the biggest stacks for sometime all day. To his joy seeing A♣ A♦ with two short stacks all in before him. He wasted no time calling. One player had A♠ Q♣ and shortest stacked Mark Larson with J♦ J♣ . Instead of sending out two players, the board was very generous to Larson as it ran J♥ 4♥ 3♣ 8♠ J♠ for quads. Larson tripled up while the other player busted awarding Nakagawa the side pot.

Alex Lee was one of the last players to jump into the main before the close of registration. We caught him losing a pot to Lim Yohwan aka Boxer. Boxer raised to 1800, from the small blind Lee three-bet to 6k, back to Boxer who jammed, and Lee folded.

The Main Event is headed for a one hour dinner break. Registration remains open until the start of the next level.

So far we have 64 players registered. Leading in chips is Bong Tan with over 120k. Mark Pagsuyuin and Kalyan Chakravarthy trail close behind with around 105k. Though we haven’t caught a hand on Pagsuyuin, he did rail Marcuss Liow early on with A-J losing to K-K. Pagsuyuin has been poised up top since Level 3.

Immediately after losing nearly his entire stack on the previous hand, Don Carmona went all in with A♦ T♣ only to run into Jasven Saigal’s K♥ K♠ . The board ran low to send Carmona out and Saigal shipped the pot.

Don Carmona had K♠ K♣ and faced off against Himanshu Laul with Q♣ Q♦ and slightly less chips. The board was kind to Laul as it ran 2♦ A♣ Q♠ 7♠ 4♥ . Laul avoided the rail and doubled up while Carmona plummeted to just 2550.

Levele 6: Blinds 300-600 ante 75

Catching the action on a turn board 8♠ T♥ K♠ T♠ , Rishab Jain jammed and Lion Lee made the call. Jain had A♥ T♣ trips over Lee’s 9♣ 9♦ . The river K♣ improved Jain to a full house to ensure the double up.

A pot of around 10k was already brewed in the middle with two players staring down a flop 2♠ 5♥ K♦ . Sb player Rehg Delos Reyes banged out half pot of 5500 only to face an all in by Thijs Hilberts who had her well covered. This sent Reyes to the tank for a very long time until the clock was finally called. She couldn’t pull the trigger to send the pot to Hilberts.

On a raised pot preflop, the board fell 2♦ 3♦ A♠ . Kalyan Chakravarthy bet 1200, Inaki Santos raised to 4500, button player Ben Zenos Fernandez re-raised to 9700. No callers. Fernandez shipped the pot.

Cutoff player raised to 1k, called by both blinds, sb Lim Yohwan and bb Rishab Jain. At the flop 9♠ J♠ K♦ , they all checked. On the K♠ turn, Yohwan led for 1500 and claimed it with no callers.

On a three-way raised pot preflop to bring the pot up to 5k, the flop landed 6♦ 8♠ 7♦ , it was checked by all. The 2♦ turn was checked again. Then the J♣ river saw a 1500 bet laid out, called by Randy Yap. He won it with 8♦ 8♣ set.

Kenneth Buck doubled up with K♥ } K♣ over a player’s A♠ K♠ on a board 7♦ 3♠ 2♠ 4♥ 4♣ .

Marco Alvarez is one of a big contingent of Filipino players from Davao that have made the trip to Manila. Alvarez raised to 800k and was called by the big blind. At the flop 5♠ 6♥ J♠ , bb bet 1k and Alvarez with the quick-call. On the 7♣ turn, another 2400 fired by the bb and Alvarez with the quick call. On the 3♣ river, bb slowed down and checked while Alvarez laid out a big bet of 7200. Bb thought about it but opted to fold.

Following an 800 raise, button player Linh Tran called and big blind Abhinav Iyer joined in. At the flop 7♥ 9♣ 4♥ , Iyer checked, initial raiser c-bet 1500, Tran folded, and back to Iyer who called. On the 8♥ turn, both players checked. On the river T♠ , Iyer slid out 5600 and with that he won the pot.

Japanese player Hajime Nakagawa is sitting with around 95k, sharing the chip lead with Mark Pagsuyuin at a separate table. While we haven’t been able to get a hand on Pagsuyuin just yet, we caught one from Nakagawa. Nakagawa limped in, a fellow Japanese player raised to a massive 3300, back to Nakagawa who re-raised to 16.1k, sending his opponent tanking. Nakagawa warned his opponent not to call. The player eventually folded and Nakagawa showed his A♥ A♠ .

Jimmie Javier raised to 600, button player Kalyan Chakravarathy three-bet to 1600, big blind Aditya Sushant four-bet to 5500, Javier folded, and Chakravarathy called. At the flop 7♠ 3♣ 6♥ , Sushant c-bet 3600 and won the pot with Chakravarthy folding up.

There are 50 players remaining out of the 54 registrants. Registration is still open until the start of Level 7 so plenty of time for more to jump in. At this time, Kalyan Chakravarathy and Mark Pagsuyuin are leading with roughly around 70k.

Not much action out there however Marvin Rettenmaier has been railed. Unfortunately we missed it. No re-entries allowed on the same day so Rettenmaier will have to try again tomorrow if he wants in on this massive guarantee.

After several raises and re-raises, the pot grew to 8k with three players in. The flop landed 6♦ 9♠ T♠ , Lim Yohwan checked, next player checked, Ruben Clamares bet 3200. He found no callers and won the pot.

Utg+1 player raised to 525, two seats over Aditya Sushant called, button player three-bet to 1875, blinds folded then back to utg+1 who called, Sushant four-bet to 6500, button folded, and after deliberating, utg+1 folded. Pot goes to Sushant.

On a raised pot preflop, the board fell 7♥ 9♦ 7♣ . Utg player checked, Jiyoung Kim fired 1100, Rehg Delos Reyes called, and back to utg who called. On the K♦ turn, utg checked again, Kim sent out 2500, Reyes folded, and back to utg with a fold to award Kim the pot.

Immediately after the hand below, same challenger below limped in, Abhinav Iyer limped from the small blind, and big blind Shyh Chyn Lim checked. At the flop 5♥ 4♥ T♣ , blinds checked then faced a 700 bet. Both called. On the turn 2♣ , Iyer checked, Lim jumped out with a 2k bet, both opponents called. On the river A♠ , it was checked by all and Lim took it with A♣ 7♣ .

APT Vietnam champion Abhinav Iyer is in the house and has already been involved in several splashy pots. After winning one of them, he proceeded to claim another against the same player. Action kicked off with a 700 raise by his opponent, Iyer defended on the big blind. At the flop Q♦ 2♣ J♥ , Iyer check-called a 1200 bet. On the 8♥ turn, Iyer checked, a 2250 bet arrived, Iyer raised to 6875, and with that, he won it.

More players have arrived, we are now at 5 tables. Among them are notables Lim Yohwan aka Boxer, WSOP champion Aditya Sushant, and Vietnamese pro Linh Tran.

There are only two women in the field so far, one of them is Liubov Orlova who took her seat at the starting buzzer. We caught her claim a pot that saw a raise preflop. The board ran 2♣ 9♥ 5♦ , action was checked to her, she bet 1k. Check-called by her challenger. On the turn 3♠ no bets arrived. Then on the 2♦ river, her challenger bet 1100, Orlova raised to 5k, and won the pot with no call.

Not long after Marvin Rettenmaier took his seat, he already claimed a pot. On a raised pot preflop to 500 by a mid-position player, one player called followed by Rettenmaier defending his big blind. At the flop, K♠ A♦ 6♦ , Rettenmaier checked, initial raiser c-bet 600, called by a player, back to Rettenmaier who raised to 2,125. No callers and Rettenmaier claimed the pot.

There are currently four tables running with 30 players getting in some early action. Among the seated are highly decorated German pro Marvin Rettenmaier, Inaki Santos, Nicandro Filart, Marcuss Liow, Mark Pagsuyuin, and Shyh Chyn Lim.

After a grueling 10 hours of play, Day 1A is a wrap! While we await the official results, it looks like Abhinav Iyer bagged the chip lead. Kalyan Chakravarathy and Mark Amparo also sealed the next two spots in the chip rung. Congratulations to all the survivors! Recap coming shortly.

There was a discrepancy on the ruling. Before the last hand, a short stacked player asked one of the floor staff if he could re-enter even if he had chips left. The floor staff said “yes”. A♠ he was bagging his stack, the ruling was then verified and apparently there is “no best stack forward” allowed. A player is only allowed to re-enter if he/she has no chips left. The player argued he was told differently however a rule is a rule despite the error in information. So for everyone out there, NO BEST STACK FORWARD. If you have chips at the end of a starting day, that’s what you will enter the next stage with.

Button player / big stacked Kalyan Chakravarathy raised to 4k, small blind Mark Larson three-bet to 11.8k, Chakravarathy called. The flop ran K♠ 4♦ Q♥ , Larson c-bet 10k and was called. On the A♠ turn, both checked it and the river 3♦ was felted. No bets again, Larson showed K♥ T♥ and won the pot as Chakravarathy mucked.

Aditya Sushant raised to 5k, Jimmie Javier three-bet to 11k, Sushant called. At the flop Q♦ J♥ 8♠ , both checked. On the 9♦ turn, Sushant led for 8500, Javier called. On the river Q♣ , Sushant announced all in sending Javier tanking. Sushant claimed the pot with Javier opting to fold.

On a raised pot preflop, Mark Amparo and David Erquiaga stared down a flop 7♣ 8♣ 2♠ . Erquiaga fired 25k only to be pushed all in by Amparo. Erquiaga tanked then eventually folded. Amparo up to 200k.

Mark Pagsuyuin held on to a big stack for a majority of the day but when the tables collapsed down to three and he was moved, he had a rough ride at the new table. His stack continued to drop until he met his end at the hands of Mark Amparo.

It happened in two hands with the ultimate seeing Amparo raise from utg to 4500. Button Pagsuyuin called. At the flop K♦ T♠ 5♦ , Amparo led out 11k, Pagsuyuin called. On the 3♠ turn, Amparo jammed around 66k, Pagsuyuin had around 54k. Pagsuyuin tanked for a few minutes and eventually called for his tournament life. Amparo showed Q♦ T♦ mid pair flush draw, Pagsuyuin was ahead with top pair flush draw. The river 2♦ granted Amparo his draw and Pagsuyuin was eliminated.

We have entered the last level of the day. 26 players remaining. Mark Larson is one of them. He picked up a couple of pots preflop. The first one he raised to 3500, Aditya Sushant three-bet to 10k, Larson jammed, and Sushant with the quick fold.

A few hands after, Jimmie Javier raised to 3500, sb Kalyan Chakravarthy called, bb Larson three-bet to 16.6k, and won the pot with no callers.

Big stacked Abhinav Iyer gained more chips to distance himself further from the players at his table. Ken Foo initiated the action wit ha 2700 raise, hijack called, then cutoff Iyer three-bet to 8200. He was called by both players and the flop ran Q♠ 4♦ 7♥ . Action was checked to Iyer who sent out 10.6k, Foo folded while hijack called. On the K♥ turn, Iyer sent out 26.6k, and this time, he claimed the pot with no challenge.

Back-to-back pots for the WSOP champion Aditya Sushant. The first pot saw him raise to 3k from the button, small blind Bong Tan three-bet to 10.6k, Sushant shoved his 42.9k stack, and Tan folded.

The next hand was simiar. Marco Alvarez raised to 3k from hijack, Sushant on cutoff three-bet to 9k, Alvarez folded.

Utg Abhinav Iyer has the kingly stack at his table. He raised to 2500 and found two callers in button player Ken Foo, and the big blind player. At the flop J♥ 5♥ 2♥ , bb checked, Iyer checked, Foo bet 3k. Bb folded, Iyer called. On the 9♣ turn, Iyer checked again, Foo bet 7500, and was called. The river A♣ had both check. Iyer showed 8♣ 8♦ pocket pair but Foo had better Q♦ J♣ .

Mark Amparo raised to 3k, cutoff Thomas Lee called, small blind Randy Yap shoved, Amparo thought about it then shoved as well, this pushed Lee out. Yap Q♠ J♠ , Amparao A♠ 7♠ , the board ran 5♦ 2♣ 7♣ 4♣ 4♠ . Amparo shipped it while Yap busted.

Big stacked Bong Tan was moved to Kalyan Chakravarathy’s table, another big stack. They eventually met. Tan raised to 2200, Chakravarathy three-bet to 5200, back to Tan who four-bet to 22.2k, and with that he won the pot. Chakravarathy opted to fold while showing A-Q.

Jimmie Javier sent one of the players from India out of the running. His J♣ J♦ dominated A♦ J♥ . When the flop ran A♥ 7♠ 4♣ , Javier was overtaken. With the turn T♦ , he was still behind. However, the river slapped down a one-outer J♠ to give him a set to win it.