Kickoff (16,500 PHP)

Topping yesterday's Flight A by almost 50% with a total of 132 entries and 20 more names added to the line up for the Day 2 Final tomorrow at 1pm we just breached the PHP 3,000,000 prize pool by the end of late registration that now sits at PHP 4,633,768 with Flight C still underway.

Lemmor Patulot ran away from the field in the closing stages finishing the day with a whopping 549,000, Ryan Tan came in 2nd with 364,000 and Kim Byungsung a close 3rd, having 356,000 to his name.

Live Updates will continue at the Flight C page shortly.

Digging for a ten or a king to stay alive, Jun is elated when the turn T♠ hits the felt and the river 9♠ keeps him in front for a nice double up while a knockout on the other table gets us to the bubble.

Picking up the action on the three way turn 3♦ T♥ Q♠ 3♣ with 104,000 up for grabs we see all three players check and the board completes 5♥ . Small blind Okumura Kenki goes all-in for 45,000, big blind Alvir Inocentes calls and Joseph Magnotti in +1 gets out of the way before Okumura flips over a boat 3♠ 5♠ against Inocentes' 9♦ T♦ .

None of Shirase's 15 outs show up on the river 2♥ , making Patulot the current chip leader.

Under the gun Kim Byungsung raises to 17,000 and takes cutoff Okumura Kenki to the flop A♣ K♥ 4♦ where Kim starts a triple barrel salvo for 15,000, 35,000 and 93,000 all-in getting called all the way by Okumura with the board completing T♠ and 3♠ where Kim shows the winner A♦ Q♥ against Okumura's A♠ 7♠ .

Former chip leader Shirase Ryuki opens 12,00 from the button and big blind Tim Gerwig defends to see the flop T♦ 9♦ J♦ . Shirase's 12,000 c-bet gets check-raised to 36,000 and a call treats us with the turn 8♦ where Gerwig leads 37,000 with a straight flush Q♦ 2♦ and snaps his remaining 130,000 when Shirase puts him all-in with J♠ T♣ . The 4♥ is a formality and Tim Gerwig banks the biggest pot of the night so far.

Under the gun Milbert Bautista starts us off with a raise to 13,000 and takes button Quijano Anacleto, who banked his biggest live win to date here in Okada in October with a 5th place finish in the Manila Megastack 20 Kickoff, to the flop 8♠ 2♠ 5♦ . Bautista's 8,000 c-bet gets called for the turn J♦ to hit the felt, Anacleto bets 19,000, but legts it go when Bautista check-jams his remaining stack.

Manuel Geronimo opens 12,000 from +1 and button Edwin Dela Cruz sticks around for the flop J♠ T♣ 7♦ where he donks for 13,000, gets called and the turn 2♥ hits the felt. Another 27,000 from Dela Cruz gets the job done.

Under the gun kicks of the action with a raise to 12,000 and takes two players to the flop J♦ 4♦ T♥ where small blind Kim Byungsung donk-bets 24,000. The initial raiser folds and Lee Joon Han calls from the cutoff. The turn 3♣ has Kim jam 92,000 and Lee goes in the tank before surrendering the pot.

Under the gun Alvir Inocentes raises to 10,000 and Okumura Kenki defends his big blind. The flop 6♣ 4♣ 7♣ gets checked around to the turn 3♠ where Kenki leads 8,000, Alvir calls and the board completes 6♠ . The chip leader tries to steal again with Q♥ J♥ , making it 20,000, but Alvir's A♥ 6♦ trips are too strong to fold.

After busting Yu Hyeongmin, Okumura Kenki is the new chip leader with some heavy hitters on his table.

A very friendly pot starts with under the gun limping, taking three players to the flop K♦ 4♠ 5♠ that gets checked to Felix Von Rahden in the hijack, testing the waters with a 10,000 bet, the small blind folds Ryan Tan raises to 29,000 in the big blind, utg folds and Von Rahden fills up. The turn 6♣ has Tan lead for 38,000, Von Rahden tanks but lets it go.

Kim Byungsung is digging for a chop, but cant find it on the river 5♣ , letting Ecarma scoop a hefty pot.

Cutoff Michael Calunsod opens 6,000 and big blind John Niko Costiniano defends to see the flop 2♥ 9♦ 5♣ where Calunsod continues for 4,500, Costiniano raises to 13,000, but quickly folds when Calunsod jams.

Fu Zhenbo Alang kicks off the action with a raise to 5,500 from +1, Manuel Geronimo calls from the cutoff and button Michael Bueza squeezes to 15,000. Both opponents call to see the flop K♦ 7♦ Q♠ where Bueza's 30,000 c-bet gets the job done, putting the 3rd place finisher in Thursday's Warm Up Event in a good position to run deep again.

Fresh from his win of the APT Manila Classic Double Stack for over PHP 1M exactly one month ago, Aj Cris Acdal opens 5,000 from the cutoff, button Fu Zhenbo Alang three-bets to 12,000 and Acdal fills up to see the flop 7♥ T♥ J♥ . Zhenbo continues for 6,000, Acdal calls and the turn is the 2♣ where Zhenbo forks out another 16,000. Acdal calls after spending some time in the tank, the board completes 9♦ and Acdal switches to an 8,000 lead, making it look like a weak blocker bet, Zhenbo falls for it and puts Acdal all-in who snaps his last 44,000 with A♥ 3♥ flush, scooping the pot against Zhenbo's 8♦ 8♥ straight.

Under the gun Shirase Ryuki gets us going with a raise to 4,500 and takes both blinds to the flop 9♦ 4♦ J♣ that gets rejected and the turn 4♣ hits the felt. David Rene Mar leads 8,000 from the small blind, the big blind folds and Shirase pays up to see the river T♣ . Mar tries to bluff with his missed flush draw 6♦ 8♦ , making it 26,000, but Shirase calls with A♥ 9♣ and increases his gap to the rest of the field even more.

Jason Kyle Magbanua opens 4,000 from +1 and takes small blind Dennis Gamboa to the flop 2♠ K♠ 8♣ that gets checked to the turn T♣ where Gamboa leads 6,000. Magbuana's call reveals the river 9♦ where he calls another lead of 12,000 from Gamboa, but throws it in the muck when Gamboa flips over K♥ Q♦ top pair.

After doubling up against Roxanne Victorino - who is now out of the tournament - Jason Kyle Magbanua is chip leader at his table.

Under the gun Wakatake Masahiro opens 4,000, hijack Alvir Inocentes pumps it to 8,000 and Wakatake calls to see the flop 2♠ 4♦ 3♥ where Inocentes' 8,000 c-bet gets called to reveal the turn 8♠ . Both players check for the board to complete J♥ , Wakatake bets 10,000 with 8♦ 9♦ and Inocentes calls and mucks.

Having breached the PHP 3,000,000 guaranteed prize pool already and one more Flight getting ready to start right now, the remaining 70 players are all gunning to get one of today's 20 qualification spots to come back tomorrow at 1pm for Day 2 fighting for the crown.

Under the gun +1 Yu Hyeongmin opens 2,500, hijack Lemmor Patulot wants 8,100 and Yu pays up to see he flop 9♣ 5♠ 4♥ . Patulot's 6,600 c-bet gets called, the turn A♠ is checked around to the river 5♣ where Patulot bets another 7,000 with Q♦ Q♣ , but has to watch Yu scoop the pot after he calls with A♥ 8♥ .

With 12,800 in the pot on the turn J♦ 8♠ 8♣ 5♦ , big blind Shirase Ryuki leads 8,500, Roxanne Victorino calls from the hijack ant the board completes 7♦ where Shirase's 40,000 bet sends Victorino in the tank before she lets it go.

Another board already showing Q♠ 9♠ 6♣ K♥ and 19,300 in the middle sees Christopher Pasion bet 5,000, but he lets go Q♥ J♥ when Okumura Kenki check-raises to 12,000.

Picking up the action on the three way turn A♥ A♦ 4♦ 3♥ with 34,800 up for grabs Ilia Timofeev bets 10,000 from +1, Shirase Ryuki raises to 20,000, big blind Roxanne Victorino calls and Ilia puts in his last 10,000. The river Q♠ gets checked with Roxanne coming out on top holding K♥ K♣ against Ilia's K♦ Q♦ and Ryuki's 3♦ 7♦ missed flush draws.

With a 2,400 open in front from hijack Christian Lortie, button Brian Nielsen ups it to 5,600 and Lortie fills up to see the flop 3♦ 6♦ 3♣ . Nielsen c-bets 7,500, but surrenders when Lortie check-jams his massive stack.

Under the gun Kim Enriquez raises to 2,400, cutoff Christian Lortie wants 6,500 and Enriquez obliges to see the flop T♥ 6♥ 3♦ . Lortie's 4,000 c-bet gets called, the turn comes T♠ and Lortie bets another 24,000 with K♦ K♣ . Enriquez is all-in for 21,300 with 6♣ 7♣ and can't improve when the dealer flips over J♠ .

With the board complete 9♠ 9♥ 4♥ 5♦ 7♣ and 27,000 in the middle button Jang Youngwook bets 15,000, and quickly calls when Alvir Inocentes slides his remaining 21,500 over the line. Inocentes' 9♣ 4♦ is good against Jang's 6♥ 6♦ and the 4th place finisher from the Manila Megastack 20 Main Event last December now has a decent stack to work with.

Cutoff Christopher Pasion opens 2,000, small blind George Salud pumps it to 8,000 and Pasion fills up to see the flop 9♥ 8♣ 8♥ where Salud forks out a 10,000 c-bet and Pasion peels to the turn A♥ . Salud check-calls his remaining 29,800 with A♦ J♣ after Pasion put him all-in with 5♦ 8♦ . The river J♥ is not enough for Salud and Pasion breaks the 6-digit mark.

Picking up the action on the turn 6♦ J♦ 5♠ 8♥ and 27,500 up for grabs, button Lenart Ecarma bets 11,000, but lets it go after Ludovic Lehaut check-jams for 41,400.

Sergei Korzhenko kicks off the action with a raise to 2,000 from the cutoff and big blind Woody Jeremias defends to see the flop 7♥ K♥ A♣ where a 1,500 c-bet gets called for the turn 9♥ to be revealed. Korzhenko's 5,500 second barrel gets called again, the board completes 5♣ and two checks has Jeremias table the winner A♥ 2♣ .

The hijack raises to 2,000 and takes two players to the flop 8♣ 7♣ Q♥ that gets checked around to the turn Q♠ where big blind Ilia Timofeev leads 5,500 and finds a single customer in Roxanne Victorino. The board completes J♣ and another 4,500 from Timofeev is enough to scoop the pot.

Kanta Masashi opens 2,000 from the cutoff, small blind David Rene Mar increases to 6,500 and Kanta fills up to see the flop 2♣ 7♣ A♥ where a 6,000 c-bet from Mar gets the job done.

With 14,500 in the middle and the board showing A♦ 3♥ T♦ Richard Marquez leads 3,000, but makes a disciplined lay down with K♣ K♥ when Lance De Vera check raises to 7,500, who shows T♠ T♣ set before scooping the pot.

Over the past couple of months, Russian online player Sergei Korzhenko has been frequenting the Philippine tournament circuit, winning multiple events since the start of the year. SMP caught up with him to get a bit of insight on why he’s chosen Manila as his latest poker battleground.

“In the last two months of 2024, I played in Vietnam but I decided to come to the Philippines and see what it was like here. I started in January, it was my first time, and I already liked the poker here and the atmosphere. That’s why I stayed and played more tournaments here.”

How do you feel about the competition in Manila?

“It is very good, and there are so many good players here. I like it a lot. My biggest win came here in Manila at APL Manila Kickoff, and I’m really happy about that.”

While his recent live results have been impressive, Korzhenko has a strong background in online poker. He’s been grinding the virtual felt for over 10 years, playing on some of the biggest platforms in the world.

“I play online, and I play on most of the platforms, especially GG Poker and PokerStars. I started playing online 10 years ago.”