Kick-off (16,500 PHP)

A jam by the leader with A♣ K♥ and a call from Nichols Manalo holding J♣ 6♣ , the dealer can go home after hitting the felt for a final time Q♦ 5♠ 4♦ 2♠ 4♥ , making Keijiro Shimojo champion of the Manila Megastack 20 Kick-off.

Limping with Q♦ T♦ from the small blind, Chris Pasion is facing an all-in from the chip leader in the BB. After some consideration he calls with his remaining 1,700,000 chips and watches Keijiro Shimojo turn over 6♦ 2♦ . Wanting to go home, the dealer tables 7♣ 9♦ 8♦ T♣ A♥ , giving the leader a straight and entering us into a very lopsided heads-up.

Over the next few hands Keijiro Shimojo continues to take down pots to increase his lead with the current stack sizes being :

Nichols Manalo tries to take a stand with 200,000 from the BU and takes the blinds to the flop K♠ 5♦ 5♥ . Checked to him, he continues for 300,000 and is left with the chip leader on the turn Q♠ . Both players check to the river 7♣ , Keijiro Shimojo forks out 500,000 and picks up another significant pot.

With almost all his chips in the middle by being BB, Christopher Mateo puts in the remaining 275,000 with Q♦ 3♠ and SB Limper Keijiro Shimojo calls with A♠ A♣ . Mateo improves on 2♠ T♣ 2♥ T♦ Q♣ , but still falls short to his opponent's rockets.

With Christopher Mateo opening 200,000 from UTG and BB Keijiro Shimojo pumping it up to 500,000, the dealer tables 5♠ 7♦ J♠ and Keijiro Shimojo lays out a 600,000 c-bet that puts Christopher Mateo deep in the tank. He lets it go after consuming three time banks, adding to the leaders gap on the field.

With a limped pot between SB Keijiro Shimojo and BB Quijano Anacleto the dealer hits the felt 2♣ 2♦ 6♣ , followed by a 125,000 lead from Quijano Anacleto that gets called to reveal the A♦ . With 6♥ 4♠ in his hand, the last 225,000 go in for Quijano Anacleto, a quick call from Keijiro Shimojo with trips 8♦ 2♥ the river T♥ hits the board and we are down to the last four.

Folded to him, SB Johnson Tan puts his remaining 230,000 in the middle and the chip leader calls.

Another standard open of 105,000 from Keijiro Shimojo in the HJ finds to callers from CO and SB for a flop 3♠ 7♠ 5♣ . A 200,000 c-bet see everyone stick around to see the turn Q♥ and another 500,000 from Keijiro Shimojo. With ICM in mind, CO Quijano Anacleto and SB Nichols Manalo decide to let it go.

Keijiro Shimojo continues to bully with a button open to 105,000 and both blinds defending to give us the flop 5♣ 3♠ 3♥ . Checked to the turn 8♠ , BB Christopher Mateo puts in a winning bet of 100,000 to move up the leader board.

Leader Keijiro Shimojo opens 80,000 from HJ, called by the CO and Eric Ceret announces all-in for 225,000 to take us to the flop 9♣ 6♣ A♥ three-way. Checked to the turn 4♣ , Keijiro Shimojo leads 125,000 with A♣ Q♣ to take us heads up with Eric Ceret showing Q♠ Q♦ and no hope for improvement.

After a 90,000 raise and a 260,000 jam from Gun Jegal in front, Keijiro Shimojo successfully isolates to show J♥ J♣ against Gun Jegal's K♥ K♦ . The dealer sends the favorite home by delivering a massive beat with 2♣ 2♦ 5♦ J♦ 3♣ and we are down to 7 players.

With a raise to 85,000 from +2 Christopher Mateo and BB Keijiro Shimojo pumping it up to 250,000 we go to the flop 7♥ 2♦ 8♣ . One 150,000 c-bet and a call take us to the river Q♥ J♠ , with Keijiro Shimojo tabling T♦ T♥ to scoop the pot.

Starting with a limp from Johnson Tan in +2, CO, SB and BB come along for the ride to the flop 9♦ A♠ 6♣ and four additional checks to the turn 5♦ . SB Christopher Mateo takes the reins with a lead of 75,000, called by CO Keijiro Shimojo and BB Nichols Manalo to the river A♦ . Betting 250,000, Nichols Manalo scares the other players away to bank and decent pot.

Button Keijiro Shimojo opens 75,000 and takes both blinds with him to the flop J♣ J♠ A♣ and everbody checks to the river 9♥ . BB Eric Ceret takes over with a lead of 80,000 and watches Quijano Anacleto put 350,000 in the middle. Not feeling great about it, Eric Ceret folds and hands the pot to the new chip leader.

Jongho Lee Opens 60,000 from UTG and finds three takers in +2, HJ and BB to see the flop 3♠ A♣ Q♠ . His 85,000 c-bet gets countered by a 250,000 raise from HJ Keijiro Shimojo to send the action back to Jongho Lee who goes deep in the tank. After the aid of two time banks he says all-in for 650,000, holding A♠ J♠ and gets snapped by Keijiro Shimojo showing 3♥ 3♣ , putting Jongho Lee at risk. The dealer delivers two blanks in the form of 9♣ 8♠ to eliminate the underdog.

A UTG jam from Keijiro Shimojo for 585,000 with A♠ 7♠ and a snap from BB Jonald Garcia with K♠ K♥ put the dealer in the spotlight, revealing A♦ A♣ Q♠ Q♣ 3♠ and handing over the pot to Keijiro Shimojo.

UTG Keijiro Shimojo starts us off with a raise to 65,000, followed by a 275,000 jam from Winifred Obedoza in HJ and an over shove for 525,000 from BB Quijano Anacleto. Keijiro Shimojo calls, putting two players at risk.

The action starts with Keijiro Shimojo opening for 65,000 from the button and Chris Pasion to his left pumps it up to 135,000 for a flop Q♥ 3♠ J♦ . Two c-bets for 80,000 and 200,000 are called to see the river 7♦ K♣ which sees Chris Pasion slow down for a check and Keijiro Shimojo jams for 275,000. Preserving his chips with a fold, Chris Pasion moves down the ladder.

A 65,000 open from Keijiro Shimojo in CO and Quijano Anacleto defending in BB we see the flop K♥ A♦ T♦ . C-bet 30,000 and a call bring us to the turn J♥ that gets checked to the river 7♥ for Quijano Anacleto to switch it up with a lead of 100,000 that sends Keijiro Shimojo in the tank. Deciding to fold the former chip leader surrenders a time bank as well.

Keijiro Shimojo opens 21,000 from +1 and BB Marciel Cerbito defends to see the flop 9♦ T♠ 5♦ . A 15k c-bet and a call is followed by the 2♥ that gets checked to the river 4♦ and Marciel Cerbito takes the lead by sliding out 51,000. Keijiro Shimojo folds his hand, but retains the overall chip lead.

With 173 entries today we doubled yesterdays field of 86 and the same can be said for the action. A lot of players have more than one bullet to their name and the final chip counts reveal Shimojo Keijiro being the only one topping half a million largely due to him eliminating Christian Lortie on the bubble, adding a hefty 166,000 last minute.

Roxanne Victorino - one of the multi bullet contenders - bagged the 2nd highest stack with 440,000 after a roller coaster ride early in the game. Closely followed by Hyunbae Lim with 439,000 and both players topping yesterdays chip leader Jess Dalipe who will start Day 2 with 379,000.

The full chip counts are as follows :

Not knowing it yet, Christian Lortie initiates the last hand of the day with a 146,000 jam from HJ with A♠ 6♣ and gets called by big stack Shimojo Keijiro from the button, holding A♣ J♣ to dominate. More eyes than usual follow the hands of the dealer flip over K♣ 7♠ 4♠ 8♥ T♦ to end Flight B, sending Christian Lortie to the rail.

First to act Shimojo Keijiro opens for 9,000, +1 calls and HJ Marcos Ian Czar announces all-in for 37,000. SB Sakui Sho flings 23,000 in the middle for an all-in call that is called by Shimojo Keijiro with +1 getting out of the way. Three way showdown with two players at risk!