Main Event (45,000 PHP)

Australia's Graham Cowan crushed the final table of the Manila Megastack 21 Main Event to clinch his first ever PokerStars LIVE title and an ICM deal payout of PHP 3,200,000 (~$54,680). Cowan is no stranger to live tournaments in Manila however this was his first victory on Asian soil. In a post-win interview, Cowan was ecstatic,

"I wanted to make my first tournament of the year here before I start traveling again. It's awesome to win, a great way to start the year."

Entering the final table, Cowan was third in chips and was never in danger of elimination. His rise began when he sent Ju Won Chung packing in 5th place with Q♠ Q♥ flush burning 7♦ 7♣ set on a board J♠ T♠ 7♠ 9♥ A♠ .

From then on, Cowan was unstoppable, test-betting aggressive players into folding. Despite getting the better of runner-up Kim Enriquez, Cowan shared,

"All the players at the final table were really good. Kim was excellent. He just knew how to read me and he just didn't give up."

Riding the high of his big win and with more cash in his pocket, Cowan plans to return next week for the Manila Super Series.

That wraps up the Manila Megastack 21 Main Event! The event ran from January 23-27, drawing 467 across four entry flights for a prize pool of PHP 20,000,000. Read up on the live updates for all the action.

Hard hunting for the title, Kim Enriquez picks up the first heads up hand. He limps in and Graham Cowan checks. The flop T♦ 9♣ T♣ opens with a bet from Cowan of 120,000, Enriquez calls. Cowan continues for another 250,000 on the turn 2♦ , and this time Enriquez raises 800,000, Cowan folds.

Blinds are up once again. The final 3 players will see blinds increase ever 30 minutes from here onwards.

With the board running T♥ 6♠ 4♥ 2♣ A♣ , Enriquez survives to continue his bid for the title.

With the deal in place, it's back to action. Small blind Graham Cowan raises 250,000, big blind Kim Enriquez won't let his blinds be stolen and calls. At the flop 5♥ J♦ 3♣ , Cowan c-bets 200,000 and continues on with Enriquez calling. The turn 8♦ sees a change with Enriquez taking control with a 500,000 bet. Cowan calls and the board completes 7♥ . Again Enriquez attacks with a 1,100,000 bet. Cowan check-raises all in, Enriquez is stopped in his tracks.

The final three players have reached an ICM deal. Play will continue for the PokerStars spadie and PHP 150,000.

Guaranteed Payouts

Graham Cowan - PHP 3,050,000

Alexis Lim - PHP 2,502,000

Kim Enriquez - PHP 2,373,000

With the turn A♥ and river Q♦ , Enriquez's top pair earned him a full boost while Kyte plunged to 7.5 bb.

Looking down at A♥ 6♥ , button player Alexis Lim raises 230,000 and big blind Graham Cowan calls wih K♥ 4♥ . Both pass on the flop 9♦ 9♥ 8♣ . On the turn 6♦ , Cowan checks again, Lim slides out 125,000, Cowan makes the call. With the river 8♥ , the board shows two pair. Cowan checks, Lim bets 200,000, Cowan wants to see Lim's hand and calls then quickly mucks.

Jon Kyte chipped up a bit with two small pots going his way. The first one saw him limp from the button, Graham Cowan checked, and the flop ran Q♥ K♣ K♥ . Kyte jumped out with bet of 100,000 and won the pot.

Next hand, utg Alexis Lim raised 210,000, button Kyte re-raised 1,500,000, Lim tossed his hand in the muck.

Graham Cowan is dusting the competition and has now risen to 9.4M after taking down a few pots with uncalled raises.

Graham Cowan continues to dominate the action picking up another pot. This was a big one against Kim Enriquez who barreled down the streets and losing well over half of his stack.

Hand opened with utg Alexis Lim raising 210,000, small blind Cowan called, big blind Enriquez three-bet 760,000, Lim begged off while Cowan flat. On the flop and turn 4♦ K♣ 6♥ K♠ , Enriquez bets 350,000 and 500,000, Cowan check-called then they both checked the river 8♦ . Cowan flipped over 7♦ 7♥ , Enriquez mucked.

On the next hand, Cowan opened 350,000, big blind Lim called, then both checked to the river K♦ 4♠ 9♣ 2♦ Q♦ . Following Lim's check, Cowan bet 600,000 and won the pot unchallenged. He showed J♦ T♥ .

Graham Cowan is on a hot streak winning another two hands to rise to 6.4M. The first was with an uncalled raise to collect the blinds and ante. On the next, he earned 5 bb in a pot against Alexis Lim.

From the button, Cowan raised 170,000 and Lim defended on the big blind. Both checked to the turn 9♥ 2♦ J♥ J♣ . Lim led out 225,000 and Cowan called. It was back to checking on the river Q♦ . Cowan's A♦ T♣ ace-high was good with Lim mucking.

From utg, Graham Cowan limps in, button Kim Enriquez raises it up to 160,000. Before action proceeds, the players discover that the dealer button was in the wrong position, making Alexis Lim and Jon Kyte the blinds again. With action already in play, the game had to continue. Cowan called.

At the flop 9♦ K♠ J♠ , Enriquez fired 180,000, Cowan check-raised 550,000, Enriquez backed off.

From the small blind, chip leader Alexis Lim raised 225,000, big blind Jon Kyte answered with a shove of 2,000,000, Lim tanked for well over a minute then folded.

Far behind, Chung landed a set on the flop J♠ T♠ 7♠ however was not out of the woods with two cards to come. The turn 9♥ gave Cowan more outs, and it landed on the river A♠ for the flush to crush Chung's set.

Ju Won Chung may have been denied on a split but still chipped up by picking up a couple of pots shortly after. The first hand, Chung shoved and won the blinds and ante. The next, he faced a raise of 160,000 from Jon Kyte that was called by Graham Cowan. Chung three-bet 450,000 and shipped the pot with no callers.

Ju Won Chung pushed all in with A♦ K♠ and had the better hand against caller Graham Cowan's A♥ 8♠ . Chung further improved on the board T♥ J♣ 4♣ K♥ , however, with the river Q♥ , both had the straight to split the pot.

Florencio Campomanes kicked off the hand with 1,075,000 and has brought it up to 1,435,000 with multiple uncalled shoves. The first two shoves he won the blinds and antes. On the third, while sitting on the small blind, Campomanes repopped button Kyte's 160,000 raise. Kyte folded.

First hand of the new level and Ju Won Chung shows muscle. Defending his big blind against cutoff raiser Jon Kyte, Chung check-raises the flop 5♠ A♥ 6♠ from 150,000 to make it 350,000 to see the turn. Kyte doesn't take the offer.

Graham Cowan lost a series of pots to send his stack 2.36M. He recovered some of the lost chips against Ju Won Chung. During the hand, Cowan opened from the button for 125,000 and small blind Chung called. Action was the same at the flop and turn T♠ K♠ 8♠ A♦ with Chung check-calling Cowan's 155,000 and 255,000 bets. On the river 8♣ , both checked. Cowan's A♥ Q♠ prevailed.

The next hand, Chung denied Cowan who raised 160,000, Chung shoved and claimed the pot uncontested.

Three hands later, Campomanes picks up another pot against Cowan with 5♦ 5♠ besting 3♠ 3♥ adding 300,000 (5 bb) to his stack.

At Hand #75, Graham Cowan picked up a sizable pot against Jon Kyte. Cowan kicked off the hand with a min-raise from hijack and big blind Kyte defended. When the cards ran 5♦ A♥ J♥ , Cowan pumped the pot another 135,000 and Kyte did the same with a check-call. On the turn J♣ , Kyte attempted to take control with a 280,000 lead out bet however, Cowan answered with a shove that pushed Kyte out of the pot.

Chip leader Kim Enriquez has become the first to reach 4M in chips. Sending him there was a hand against Jon Kyte who raised 120,000 from hijack. Enriquez defended his big blind to see a flop K♠ K♦ 9♥ . Kyte continued for 60,000, Enriquez check-called, then both checked the turn 8♣ and river 7♦ . Enriquez claimed the pot with 6♣ 9♣ two pair.

Enriquez also won the next hand with an uncalled raise from the small blind position.

The first ten hands kicked off with Florencio Campomanes shoving and finding no callers. No significant action followed. One of the bigger pots was Kim Enriquez raising 125,000 from cutoff, Alexis Lim three-betting 325,000 from the button, Enriquez folded. Lim showed K♣ K♠ .

After two levels, the field was trimmed to 6 players. Entering the new level with Kim Enriquez in the lead.

After numerous small pots moved around the felt, Florencio Campomanes announced all in for his last 8 bb and was called by Jo Kyte. Campomanes needed plenty of help with K♠ 4♠ dominated by Kyte's A♥ A♠ . That help came on the river when the board ran 3♠ 6♣ 2♦ K♥ K♣ simultaneously giving everyone a shock.

Graham Cowan continues to exert his presence with another pile of chips added to his stack. From utg, he opened 105,000 and was called by the blinds Jon Kyte and Florencio Campomanes. All three checked to the turn 9♣ Q♣ 2♠ 4♥ . Campomanes took a stab for 150,000 and only Cowan gave action to head to the river A♣ . This slowed Campomanes to a check, Cowan banged out 315,000, Campomanes tossed his hand in the muck.

Two hands after sending John Carlo Sayo to the rail, hijack Jon Kyte opened 100,000 only to be challenged with a three-bet of 300,000 by button Graham Cowan. Kyte made the call and the flop was dealt 9♠ 6♣ 2♥ . Cowan continued for 250,000 and won the pot uncontested.

Folded around to the button Graham Cowan who looks down at T♦ 7♦ and raises 105,000. Two spots over, Cowan is denied the steal by big blind Kim Enriquez who wans to play with his Q♣ 7♣. At the flop 4♣ 7♠ J♣ , Cowan pairs up and bets 85,000, Enriquez with the flush draw sticks with him. On the turn 5♣ , Enriquez lands it and checks, Cowan checks back for a free river 4♥ . No more checking, Enriquez slides out 200,000, Cowan calls then immediately mucks.

Since his fiery start, Jon Kyte has been on a downswing to drop to nearly half of his opening stack. His latest loss was against Alexis Lim who defended from the big blind with A♠ 5♥ . When the board completed Q♦ K♠ 5♠ J♠ 8♣ , Lim check-called 150,000 and 250,000 for his bottom pair nut draw, then both checked the river. Bottom pair was good enough.

Sitting on utg+1, Graham Cowan was dealt K♣ T♠ and raised it to 85,000. Next to act Ju Won Chung looked down at A♦ Q♣ and three-bet o 180,000. Cowan took on the challenge and the flop ran 4♦ 2♣ K♦ . Chung continued for 110,000 and Cowan check-called his top pair. Both checked the turn 3♠ to lead to the river 5♣ . Cowan took the reins a 200,000 bet, Chung snap-called then mucked as Cowan revealed his hand.

On Hand #25 and #26, Florencio Campomanes picked up back to back pots, both of them against Jon Kyte. First hand, utg Kyte raised 85,000, utg+1 Campomanes' re-raised 300,000, everyone folded including Kyte.

Next hand, utg Campomanes opened 80,000 and Kyte defended his big blind. Campomanes continued the aggression on the flop A♦ 6♠ 2♥ with a 105,000 bet, Kyte check-called. On the turn 3♦ , Campomanes barreled a larger 325,000, and after a minute, he won the pot with Kyte folding.

After losing a showdown, Jon Kyte loses a little more against Graham Cowan. From the big blind, Cowan called Kyte's 85,000 raise then check-called another 75,000 on the flop 6♠ 9♠ 3♠ . By the turn K♠ and river 5♠ , Cowan took control with bets of 75,000 and 175,000, Kyte folded on the river.

Entering the final table as the top dogs, Jon Kyte and Kim Enriquez face-off. From mid position, Kyte opens his usual 85,000, Enriquez defends his big blind. Same action on the flop 6♥ J♦ 7♣ with Kyte initiating with a 125,000 bet and Enriquez defending. Both check the turn 4♥ . On the river 6♠ , Enriquez leads out 250,000 to send Kyte tanking for one time bank. Kyte gives it up.

From utg+1, Alexis Lim opens 80,000 and big blind Ju Won Chung wants to play. Flop comes 5♥ A♦ K♠ , Lim fuels in another 40,000 and Chung matches it. Both players tighten up on the turn K♥ with no bets but on the river 5♣ it's back to action. Chung opens 70,000, Lim raises 195,000, Chung folds.

Small pot for Jon Kyte on Hand #8 who gets the first walk of the day then a much larger pot for the leader on Hand #9.

From hijack, Kim Enriquez opens 80,000 and is called by the blinds Kyte and Florencio Campomanes. All three check the flop T♦ 8♥ 5♦ and head to the turn K♣ . No more checking as Kyte leads out 180,000. He finds no callers to win the pot easy.

On Hand #10, Kyte bumps it up to 80,000 from the button and big blind Graham Cowan defends but not before tanking for two time banks. At the flop 7♥ 9♦ 2♠ , Kyte continues for 175,000, Cowan gives up his hand.

Chip leader Jon Kyte initiated the action on the next three hands. On Hand #5 he opened 85,000 and for the second time, he claimed the blinds and antes.

Immediately after, he opened 85,000 again on Hand #6, Florencio Campomanes shoved 515,000, Kyte folded.

Continuing to pressure the competition, on Hand #7, Kyte opened 85,000 for the third time, cutoff Ju Won Chong answered with a 200,000 re-raise, Kyte called, and the flop came T♥ Q♠ A♠ . Kyte checks, Chung shoved, Kyte surrendered his hand.

Hand #2: Alvir Inocentes limps in from the small blind and gets to see the flop cheap with big blind Graham Cowan checking. The dealer fans 2♣ 5♦ K♦ , Inocentes checks, Cowan test bets 40,000, and wins it uncontested.

Hand #3: Still fresh from winning, from the small blind, Cowan raises 95,000 and claims another pot with Mark Almusajin folding.

Hand #4: The rush continues for Cowan who three-bets all in from the button pushing out initial raiser Florencio Campomanes.

First hand of the day sees action fold to the button and chip leader Jon Kyte. He shoves and successfully steals the blinds and antes.

After a brief introduction of the finalists, it's shuffle up and deal!

The 2025 PokerStars LIVE season opener Manila Megastack 21 is on its final day at world-class Okada Manila in the Philippines. Excitement is at its peak with the newest Main Event champion set to be crowned today. Only 9 players remain out of the 467 entries.

Leading the charge is Norwegian pro Jon Kyte with a stack of 80 bb. Kyte boasts a resume filled with titles and cashes all over Europe including final table finishes at numerous EPT Main Events. He also has two WSOP Circuit rings and just missed a bracelet last year. Kyte is already guaranteed his first cash on Asian soil, and if he takes it to the limit, he will become the second Manila Megastack Norwegian champion following MM 18 winner Henrik Tollefsen.

On the local side, six Filipinos dominate the lineup, thus assuring a crowd of spectators cheering on their favorites. At the top of that list is Kim Enriquez with a stack of 75 bb. Wedged in the lower end is the highly decorated Florencio Campomanes with 15 bb.

The finalists are secured a payout of PHP 365,000 (~$6,280). The biggest slice of PHP 3,900,000 (~$67,090) is up for grabs. Cards start at 1pm. Blinds begin at 20,000-40,000 ante 40,000 with increases every 60 minutes.

Somuchpoker is onsite to bring you all the action.