Warm-up (12,500 PHP)

Christian Lortie opened on the cutoff and called a 45,000 three bet from Mike Takayama on the big blind. On board A♣ 2♠ 8♠ 3♠ , Takayama check called both streets - 52,000 and a final all-in for his last 79,000, with J♠ J♣ . Lortie however, smashed the board with two pair A♦ 8♦ , and eliminated Takayama just as river Q♥ hit the table.

With 29 players left holding onto their seats, that means only five more eliminations are due before the day wraps up, with 24 survivors advancing onto Day 2. A total of 43 players are geared to cut a share of the PHP 3,019,610 (~USD 51,690) prize pool, 19 already qualified from today's initial flight.

Chip Counts

Facing an open and a button three bet from Janno Alvarez, Mike Takayama bumped it up further to 65,000 on the small blind, and called off for his remaining 23,000 after Alvarez raised all-in.

A crucial flip, Takayama quickly landed the advantage on board J♥ J♦ A♠ A♦ 4♦ , sending Alvarez' pocket pair flying towards the muck.

Mike Takayama opened 6,500 utg+1 and was joined by player on the cutoff along with Peter Chung on the big blind. All three checked flop 8♠ 3♥ K♠ through to turn 5♥ , where Takayama bet 11,000. Chung check raised for 20,000 more, and barreled a final 70,000 on river 3♠ . Takayama paid the price, only to muck as Chung revealed a flush 4♠ 2♠ .

With a pot of 128,000 situated around board Q♦ 3♦ 8♠ T♣ 5♥ , action was caught on Mike Takayama with a final all-in on the river. Eunji Chu on the big blind, check folded, giving up the pot to his opponent.

Christian Lortie opened 6,000 utg+1, called by Mike Takayama on the button along with both players on the blinds. On flop A♦ 6♣ 6♥ , Lortie continued for 7,000, and picked up the pot straight away.