Daily Updates

The Kickoff PHP 3 Million Guaranteed concluded its last two flights today, and has now a complete roster for The Kickoff Day 2 Final, which will be played starting at noon tomorrow, September 21, 2024.

There were 168 total entries for flight Day 1B, but only the top 26 players from the flight advanced to the money round. Matsuda Michihiko had the largest chip stack among the Day 1B flight 26 players, bringing with him 609,000 into the next round. Alexis Lim had the second largest stack with 348,000 with Adones Carmona not far behind with 336,000.

Flight Day 1C had 85 players playing in a turbo format. The top13 players from the flight advanced to the Day 2 Final. Topping the flight was Michael Gabby Concepcion with a commanding stack of 708,000. The second largest chip stack belonged to Ashley Patterson with 286,000.

The 26 survivors of Day 1B will combine with the 13 from Day 1C and the 11 from Day 1A for one final tournament to play for the grand prize. The combined total of 50 players are already guaranteed a minimum payout for being part of the Day 2 Final. Of course, the deeper they get into Day 2, the better they payouts will be. Payouts and top prizes will be announced just before The Kickoff Day 2 Final begins tomorrow.

Date: September 19 to 21, 2024

Buy-in: Php 16,500 (~USD 295)

Guaranteed: PHP 3,000,000 (~USD 54,000)

Entries: 325

Prize Pool: PHP 4,577,430 (~USD 82,300)

ITM: 50

Day 1A: 72 entries / 11 advanced

Day 1B: 168 entries / 29 advanced

Day 1C: 85 entries / 13 advanced

Keep updated on all of the results:

Manila Megastack 19 – 2024 – Festival Results

PHP 10,000 Hyper Turbo

Cheng Yu Liao of Taiwan was the last one standing from a field of 51 entries after defeating Miyamoto Hideaki in a heads-up battle for the champion's cash prize of PHP 141,000 (~USD 2,500) and a PokerStars spade trophy.

Date: September 20, 2024

Buy-In: PHP 10,000 (~USD 180)

Entries: 51

Prize Pool: PHP 435,336 (~USD 7,820)

ITM: 7 places

In the winning hand, Cheng Yu Liao pushed all-in pre-flop and was immediately called by Miyamoto Hideaki.

Cheng Yu Liao: Q♣ 5♥

Miyamoto Hideaki: A♣ 9♥

Hideaki was ahead pre-flop, but the flop ran 5♦ 5♣ A♦ giving Liao a huge edge. The T♠ turn and 3♥ river didn't help Hideaki, and Cheng Yu Liao was crowned the winner. Hideaki earned PHP 93,500 (~USD 1,600) for his runner-up finish.

Last year, Cheng Yu Liao was also crowned champion at the PHP 12,000 Super Hyper Turbo event at the APPT Manila. This win marks Liao's 7th major career cash.

PHP 10,000 Hyper Turbo

Blinds 3,000/6,000 Ante 6,000

51 entries started with all hoping enter the magic circle of the top 7 who would make it into the payout. Of course, no one hopes to be the number 8 player who becomes the bubble. Unfortunately, it has to happen.

Bernard Chua called the pre-flop all-in raise by Miyamoto HIdeaki, and the showdown went:

Bernard Chua: 8♣ 8♠

Miyamoto Hideaki: T♦ T♣

Board: 6♦ 2♠ 3♣ 7♣ T♠

Bernard Chua is eliminated at the bubble while Miyamoto Hideaki grows his stack to 300,000.

Date: September 20, 2024

Buy-In: PHP 10,000 (~USD 180)

Entries: 51

Prize Pool: PHP 435,336 (~USD 7,820)

ITM: 7 places

Super Knockout PHP 10,000 Bounty

40 tough warriors went into a poker tournament and put a bounty on their head. It was a rough one with only 6 places for a payout. However, the beautiful thing about the bounty is that you can knock someone out and earn a bounty. In this case, a PHP 10,000 bounty which is the equivalent of half the buy-in. Knock out two players and you get your buy-in back. Knock out three and you're ITM.

American J Michael Shell outlasted all players and became the top bounty hunter in the end, earning for himself a coveted PokerStars spade trophy, a first place prize of PHP 96,000 (~USD 1,725) plus the bounties from those he knocked out, including his worthy heads-up sparring partner.

Shell went heads-up against Daniel Peffanelli - a true poker warrior. The heads-up battle was quite a long back-and-forth one. Shell had a chip advantage over Peffanelli, but they were tossing chips back and forth quite carefully. Eventually, despite all the trendy sophistication in folding, they settled it the old-fashioned way - with a pre-flop coin flip.

J Michael Shell: A♥ J♦

Daniel Peffanelli: K♠ J♠

Board: 3♣ 4♦ T♣ A♦ 4♣

Peffannelli earned PHP 66,500 (~USD 1,195) for his runner-up finish plus the collection from his bounties.

PHP 10,000 Hyper Turbo

Blinds 1,000/1,500 Ante 1,500 (Level 11)

21 players out of 51 official entries are still fighting to make a payout with a top 7 finish. Add to that a first place prize of PHP 141,000 (~USD 2,500) plus a PokerStars spade trophy for the crowned champion - that's not bad at all.

Date: September 20, 2024

Buy-In: PHP 10,000 (~USD 180)

Entries: 51

Prize Pool: PHP 435,336 (~USD 7,820)

ITM: 7 places

Payout Structure:

1st place: PHP 141,000 (~USD 2,500)

2nd place: PHP 93,500 (~USD 1,600)

3rd place: PHP 63,000 (~USD 1,100)

4th place: PHP 48,000 (~USD 860)

5th place: PHP 37,000 (~USD 660)

6th place: PHP 29,500 (~USD 530)

7th place: PHP 23,336 (~USD 410)

Starting Stack: 20,000

Chips in Play: 1,020,000

Average Stack: 48,500

Remaining Players: 21

The Kickoff PHP 3 Million Guaranteed Day 1B

It has to happen. The bubble bursting in a poker tournament is just a reality players have to accept. It's bittersweet when you've been playing well all day and then by some act of poker god, you have no choice but to crash into a tree. And that's how it went.

All-in pre-flop and confident, until...

Mirko Stojkov: K♦ K♥

Alexis Lim: A♥ A♠

Board Q♣ 8♠ 5♣ 2♠ 4♣

Mirko Stojkov is the bubble boy and Alexis Lim is the savior who brings all the 26 from flight Day 1B into the Day 2 Final.

Date: September 20, 2024

Buy-In: PHP 16,500 (~USD 295)

Prize Pool: PHP 3,464,762 (~USD 62,200)

Entries: 168

ITM / Day 2: 26 players

The Kickoff PHP 3 Million Guaranteed Day 1C (Turbo)

Blinds: 2,000/4,000 Ante 4,000 (Level 15)

21 players out of 85 registrants remain. The top 13 survivors will be joining the Day 1A top 11 and the Day 1B top 26. All in all, there will be 50 players coming back tomorrow for the Day 2 Final. But that's still tomorrow. There's still a lot of poker to play right now with the remaining competitors.

Meanwhile, player pictures!

The Kickoff PHP 3 Million Guaranteed Day 1B

Blinds: 5,000/10,000 Ante 10,000

Matsuda Michihiko is on a roll. He was able to build a stack from Hayashi Hiroki, who folded on the turn and gave up a sizable pot to bring MIchihiko's chips to 558,000

Afterwards, Michihiko hit a King-high flush to knock out Aquino Cruz, who bet all-in on the river with a pair of aces. Michihiko made the easy call and built his stack to 625,000.

Matsuda MIchihiko: K♠ 9♠

Aquino Cruz: A♠ T♦

Board 8♠ A♥ 3♣ Q♠ 4♠

On another hand, Michihiko re-raised enough preflop to put John Dela Cruz all-in for his chips. Dela Cruz flipped A♠ T♦ and Michihiko showed T♥ T♠. No help came for Dela Cruz and was sent to the rail. After such big action, it wouldn't be a surprise of Matsuda Michihko is the current chip leader with 690,000.

Super Knockout PHP 10,000 Bounty

Blinds: 2,000/4,000 Ante 4,000 (Level 15)

We're entering the final table.

Buy-In: PHP 20,000 (~USD 360)

Prize Pool: PHP 282,880 (~USD 5,000)

Entries: 40

ITM: 6

Payout Structure:

1st place: PHP 96,000

2nd place: PHP 66,500

3rd place: PHP 42,500

4th place: PHP 32,500

5th place: PHP 25,380

6th place: PHP 20,000

+ PHP 10,000 (~USD 180) for every player you knockout

Starting Stack: 30,000

Chips in Play: 1,200,000

Average Stack: 150,000

Remaining Players: 9

Final Table Chip Counts:

The Kickoff PHP 3 Million Guaranteed Day 1C (Turbo)

Blinds: 1,000/1,500 Ante 1,500 (Level 11)

Registration is closed for The Kickoff PHP 3 Million Guaranteed. The total prize pool after three Day 1 flights is officially at PHP 4,577,430 (~USD 82,300). 11 players from Day 1A and 26 players from Day 1B will be advancing to tomorrow's The Kickoff Day 2 Final. We excitedly await the announcement on how many players from Flight C will advance.

Date: September 20, 2024

Buy-In: PHP 16,500 (~USD 295)

Prize Pool: PHP 4,577,430 (~USD 82,400)

Entries: 85

ITM: 15% of Field Advance to Day 2 Final

Payout: TBD

Starting Stack: 30,000

Chips in Play: 2,550,000

Average Stack: 56,600

Remaining Players: 45

Meanwhile, the chip leaders so far after 10 levels are as follows:

The Kickoff PHP 3 Million Guaranteed Day 1B

Blinds: 2,000/5,000 Ante 5,000 (Level 16)

Hong Gyeomui sits at the top of the leaderboard after grabbing some big pots. The mood is a bit shaky now as the tournament nears the bubble. There has been a lot of chip movement as the field slowly thins.

Meanwhile, here are the top chip counts:

Super Knockout PHP 10,000 Bounty

Blinds: 1,000/2,000 Ante 2,000 (Level 12)

14 fighting players remain out of 40. They've knocked out some players to collect some bounties and they'll keep going until one is left standing. It's a royal rumble, especially when there's an instant payout when you get a bounty. J Michael Shell has the biggest chip stack so far, but there's still a lot of poker to play especially with bounties at stake.

Date: September 20, 2024

Buy-In: PHP 20,000 (~USD 360)

Prize Pool: PHP 282,880 (~USD 5,000)

Entries: 40

ITM: 6

Payout Structure:

1st place: PHP 96,000

2nd place: PHP 66,500

3rd place: PHP 42,500

4th place: PHP 32,500

5th place: PHP 25,380

6th place: PHP 20,000

+ PHP 10,000 (~USD 180) for every player you knockout

Starting Stack: 30,000

Chips in Play: 1,200,000

Average Stack: 85,000

Remaining Players: 14

The top 10 chip counts so far are as follows:

The Kickoff PHP 3M Guaranteed Day 1B

Blinds: 1,500/3000 Ante 3,000 (Level 14)

Marco Espela slow-played his flopped nut-straight and made the easy call at the turn when Antonio Abesamis pushed all-in with his top pair.

Marco Espela: J♥ T♣

Antonio Abesamis: A♠ K♦

Flop 9♠ K♠ Q♥

Turn 8♣

The river K♥ didn't help Abesamis, whose huge stack fell to 82,000. Espela's stack runs up to 177,000. It was inevitable. Abesamis would've pushed on the river with top set.

In other news, There was a lot of back and forth on a board of 9♦ 2♠ 4♠ J♣ . Hayashi Hiroki pushed 95,000 all-in on the turn to an 110,000 pot. Nakamura Kento went deep into the tank, and decided on a fold. Hayashi Hiroki builds his stack to a healthy 205,000 while Nakamura Kento can still recover with 160,000.

The Kickoff PHP 3 Million Guaranteed Day 1C (Turbo)

Blinds: 300/600 Ante 600

The field has grown as players are on the last chance, last flight to make it to tomorrow's Day 2 Final. The guaranteed PHP 3,000,000 will surely go beyond 4,000,000 with late registrants still to come.

Meanwhile, some of the notable players who have shown up for the last flight are Japanese poker pro John Matsuda who bagged a huge runner-up finish last month at the PHP 80,000 APPT Main Event to cash out over PHP 9,300,000 (~USD 160,000).

Filipino poker pro Lester Edoc is also on the felt. Edoc has amassed nearly USD 2,000,000 in total live earnings in a recorded career that spans close to two decades.

Meanwhile, the chip leaders so far after 5 levels are as follows:

Super Knockout PHP 10,000 Bounty

Blinds: 400/800 Ante 800 (Level 6)

After 5 levels, some of the players have already earned some cash by knocking out some players. So far, these are the conquered and their conquerors. Forgive us if it reads like a MMA result card.

Fujitani Takaaki KOs Ishihara Masanori

Iwao Taisaku KOs Nakayama Tomoya, Lee Sung Woo and Daniel Piffanelli

Aldous Formanes KOs Daijiro Tomoto

Lee Heewong KOs Miyamoto Hideaki

Shah Chirag KOs Lee Sung Woo

J Michael Shell KOs Jo Youngjin

Top Chipleaders so far are:

The Kickoff PHP 3 Million Guaranteed Day1C (Turbo)

Blinds 100/100 Ante 100 (Level 1)

Cards are in the air! This is the last flight for The Kickoff PHP 3 Million Guaranteed! One Final chance to make it in the money and get into the Day 2 Final tomorrow for bigger prizes. 12 players are registered so far with more expected before the close of registration.

Date: September 20, 2024

Buy-In: PHP 16,500 (~USD 295)

Guaranteed: PHP 3,000,000 (~USD 53,900)

Prize Pool: PHP 3,549,269 (~USD 64,000)

Entries: 12

ITM: 15% of Field Advance to Day 2 Final

Payout: TBD

Starting Stack: 30,000

Chips in Play: 360,000

Average Stack: 30,000

Remaining Players: 12

The Kickoff PHP 3 Million Guaranteed Day 1B

Blinds 1,000/1,500 Ante 1,500

Registration is now closed! The finally tally of entries is at 168 with 80 players still remaining. The event will now play down to the final 26, who will advance to the Day 2 Final tomorrow September 21 at 12:00 noon.

Date: September 20, 2024

Buy-In: PHP 16,500 (~USD 295)

Entries: 168

Prize Pool: PHP 3,464,762 (~USD 62,200)

ITM: 26

Payout: TBD

Starting Stack: 30,000

Chips in Play: 5,010,000

Average Stack: 63,420

Remaining Players: 81

The chip leaders so far after ten levels are as follows:

The Kickoff PHP 3 Million Guaranteed Day 1B

Blinds: 600/1,200 Ante 1,200 (Level 9)

Some crazy action at the tournament. A♠ in most cases in these stages, it takes a big hand to beat a big hand, and such moments can cause some big pots.

Just recently, Koseoglu Istemi doubled-up and totally crippled the stack of Veda Yusuke.

Four players went to see a flop of 2♦ 2♥ 8♦, three players hung on to the 2♠ turn. And two Istemi and Yusuke were the ones all-in before the river.

Koseoglu Istemi: T♣ T♠

Veda Yusuke: A♦ 8♥

The 4♦ river sealed the fate of Yusuke, who got left with just 1,700 chips while Istemi catapulted to 97,800.

In other action, Naito Hiroshi and Tony Khoang got into a bet, raise, re-raise, all-in, call action on a flop of J♦ K♣ T♦.

Naito Hiroshi: A♣ Q♦

Tony Khoang: 9♦ 8♦

Hiroshi flops a broadway straight, but the turn 5♦ gives Khoang a flush to overtake. Another diamond would've given Hiroshi the win, but a K♠ didn't help. Hiroshi busts out of the tournament and Tony Khoang builds his chips to 141,000.

Super Knockout PHP 10K Bounty

Blinds: 100/200 Ante 200 (Level 1)

The Super Knockout PHP 10,000 Bounty is under way with 12 players getting the ball rolling for some fierce competition. While most poker tournaments are concerned with survival, a bounty tournament is all about aggression. You don't have to go deep to make ITM, you just have to knock someone out and you can take their bounty. In this case, a PHP 10,000 bounty, which is already half the buy-in.

Lot of exciting action for this event is coming. Wait for it.

Date: September 20, 2024

Buy-In: PHP 20,000 (~USD 360)

Prize Pool: PHP 200,000 (~USD 4,000)

Entries: 12

ITM: TBD

Payout: TBD

+ PHP 10,000 (~USD 180) for every player you knockout

Starting Stack: 30,000

Chips in Play: 360,000

Average Stack: 30,000

Remaining Players: 12

The Kickoff PHP 3 Million Guaranteed Day 1B

Blinds: 500/1,000 Ante 1,000 (Level 7)

It's official! The 3 Million Guarantee has been breached. With a total of 212 entries from Day1A and Day1B so far, the prize pool has gone beyond three million. There's still time for late registrants in the Day 1B flight and there is still another Day1C (Turbo) to come later today. Certainly, the payouts will definitely increase! That's always good news for the players and tournament organizers.

Meanwhile, more poker player pictures...

The Kickoff PHP 3 Million Guaranteed Day 1B

Blinds: 400/800 Ante 800 (Level 6)

If poker was just a game of cards, it wouldn't be too fun. A huge part of it is the poker face. You definitely need one to make it in this game. Enjoy these poker faces of the players in flight Day 1B. Who knows? One of them could be THE champion.

The Kickoff PHP 3 Million Guaranteed Day 1B

Blinds: 300/600 Ante 600 (Level 5)

Players are on their first break after Level 5 and it seems that more entries will be pouring in before registration closes at the next break.

Date: September 20, 2024

Buy-In: PHP 16,500 (~USD 295)

Guaranteed: PHP 3,000,000 (~USD 54,000)

Entries: 114

ITM: 15% of field advance to Day 2 Final

Payout: TBD

Starting Stack: 30,000

Chips in Play: 3,420,000

Average Stack: 37,500

Remaining Players: 91

Meanwhile, here are some of the tournament's chip leaders so far.

The Kickoff PHP 3 Million Guaranteed Day 1B

Blinds: 200/500 Ante 500 (Level 4)

A significant amount of poker players have showed up to play in this event with still more expected before registration closes.

Some of the distinguished pros to look out for include Lenart Ecarma, who already bagged a win in this Manila Megstack 19 series after winning the first event yesterday. Ecarma won the SuperStack PHP 1M Guaranteed, and is back in the hunt for more gold. In the APPT Warm Up Manila series last July 2024, Ecarma made 6 cashes including a championship in the PHP 6,000 NLHE - Super Deep event.

Dutchman Tony Khoang is no stranger to the Asian scene, having had multiple cashes in Asian Poker Tour events in the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam. Surely, he knows how these things work.

Camilla Samsing of Norway has made the rounds in Asia with impressive results. Just last March 2024, she won a Limit Triple Stud event and a NLHE - Teams event in APT Taipei. She certainly has versatility and experience in her poker game.

Aussies Mirko Stojkov and Bailey Fusco have had significant wins in small buy-in tourneys of The Australian Poker League Poker Tour and The Australian Poker Tour. Now, they're looking for a win in foreign soil to improve their portfolio.

Buy-In: PHP 16,500 (~USD 295)

Guaranteed: PHP 3,000,000 (~USD 54,000)

Entries: 94

ITM: TBD After Registration Closes

Payout: 15% of field advance to Day 2 Final

Starting Stack: 30,000

Chips in Play: 2,820,000

Average Stack: 33,700

Remaining Players: 84

The Kickoff PHP 3 Million Guaranteed Day 1B

Blinds 100/200 200 (Level 1)

The weather is a bit cloudy, but it doesn't seem like it will be as stormy as it was yesterday. Hopefully, the same positivity can be shared by the players who are going to compete at The Kickoff PHP 3 Million Guaranteed Day 1B as they try to earn their way to the Day 2 Final and be officially in the money.

There are 20 players to start the tournament with more expected to sign up before registration closes after level 10. The top 15% of the total entries will join the 11 players from Day 1A who already booked their seats in the Day 2 Final.

Date: September 20, 2024

Buy-In: PHP 16,500 (~USD 295)

Guaranteed: PHP 3,000,000 (~USD 54,000)

Entries: 20

ITM: TBD After Registration Closes

Payout: 15% of field advance to Day 2 Final

Starting Stack: 30,000

Chips in Play: 600,000

Average Stack: 30,000