Main Event (45,000 PHP)

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 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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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