Warm-up (12,500 PHP)

Anthony Castro continues to climb, picking up a pot against Jiego Erquiaga. Hand opens with a 125,000 raise from Castro that's met with a three-bet of 270,000 from Jiego Erquiaga. Both take it easy on the flop 4♦ Q♦ 5♦ then Castro bets 300,000 on the turn 3♣ . Erquiaga tanks for a time bank then gives up his hand.

Anthony Castro seems to be the most active player at the final table as he enters another showdown. Short stacked Marc Gagne turns over A♠ 8♣ , Castro with J♣ T♠ , the board spreads 8♥ A♦ 6♠ A♣ 9♣ to ensure the double up for Gagne.

From just 7 bb, Anthony Castro has chipped up to nearly 30 bb. His latest win saw him call James Morile's raise preflop then took command on the flop Q♦ 2♣ T♣ and turn 7♠ with bets of 125,000 ad 250,000. Moriles folded to the turn bet.

James Moriles min-raises from utg then calls lojack Anthon Castro's 180,000 re-raise. On the flop 7♦ 8♠ 8♦ Castro bets 110,000, Moriles answers with a check-raise fo 250,000. Castro surrenders his hand.

Anthony Castro enters a raised pot that leads to a flop K♦ 6♥ K♠ . Following two checks, Castro bets 100,000, and is check-called by Peter Chung. They proceed to check the turn 7♦ then Chung leads out 275,000 on the river T♣ .Castro just flats and shows K♥ Q♠ trips, Chung has better 7♣ 7♠ full house and drags in the pot.

After five hours of play, the final table was reached. They are all guaranteed a minimum ₱62,610 with the champion pocketing ten times that amount, a total of ₱560,000 plus a seat worth ₱80,0000 to APPT Manila.

After losing a shove, Anthony Castro defends his big blind then shoves on the flop 7♣ 7♠ 8♠ . Christian Lortie calls and has K♥ Q♣ ahead of Castro's J♠ 9♥ . The turn A♦ changes nothing until the river J♥ for a pair to save Castro.

Anthony Castro defend his big blind and sees a flop K♠ 3♠ 8♦ . Aggressor Christian Lortie c-bets 45,000 and Castro flats. After they check the turn 7♥ , Castro switches up and leads out 120,000 on the river J♦ . Lortie calls then mucks to the J♥ 3♣ two pair.

The turn 4♦ and river 9♠ were no help to Sia to finish in 15th place.

Immediately following the hand, Sia went all in with K♦ 9♣ then doubled up through Anthony Castro on a board T♣ 9♠ 4♥ 5♠ 6♦ . Castro had A♠ 2♦ .

Richard Marquez raises 40,000 from hijack and the blinds call. They all check the flop 8♣ T♥ 6♦ . Small blind Anthony Castro leads out 25,000 on the turn 7♠ , big blind Joseph Sia and Marquez call and head to the river 9♦ . Castro opts to check, Sia slides out a tower of 100,000, only Marquez makes the call. Sia shows Q♣ 2♣ bluff , Marquez rakes it in with J♦ 5♥ straight. Though Castro folded, he also showed his hand 7♦ 8♦ .

Anthony Castro is dealt A♦ K♦ and raises it up to 35,000. Big blind Peter Chung has A♣ 4♥ and defends. When the board runs Q♥ A J♦ 6♠ , Castro fires 25,000 and 55,000, Chung check-calls then both check the river 9♣ . Castro's kicker plays to rake in the pot.

Aslan Vainio is on the rise with multiple pots going his way. He claimed a pot of around 300,000 in a hand against Anthony Castro then another pot against Richard Marquez of around 233,000.

Against Marquez, Vainio opened 25,000, got called by two players then they checke to the turn 6♥ K♣ J♦ 7♥ . Vainio's 40,000 bet lost one player while Marquez check-called. On the river 5♠ , Marquez took a stab for 30,000, Vainio called, Marquez had ace high A♣ T♦ . Vainio shipped with K♠ 9♠ .

The lone past champion David Erquiaga has fallen by the wayside with all of his chips awarded to Anthony Castro. Castro enters the upper tier in the leaderboard.

Peter Chung has taken over the chip lead after shipping a massive pot against Anthony Castro.

The PokerStars LIVE Manila Super Series 21 low-stakes festival is off to a booming start at Okada Manila, Philippines. For the second consecutive edition, the Kick Off event guaranteed ₱2M, and like previous, it was crushed. Yesterday’s opening day fielded a combined 283 entries across two flights, and with buy-in at an affordable ₱12,500 (~$215), the prize pool ballooned to ₱3,019,610 (~$51,690).

Entering today’s final stage are 43 flight survivors that have already locked in a piece of the pot but the real battle lies ahead with the spadie and ₱560,000 (~$9,570) in cold hard cash up for grabs. The champion also receives an APPT Manila Main Event seat worth ₱80,000.

At the helm is PokerStars regular, Christian Lortie-Cloutier who brings in a towering 540,000 (90 bb) stack. The Canadian pro is well-positioned for a deep run but will face some stiff competition with fearless players such as Dmitrii Belikov and Joseph Talamayan at the table.

Former Warm-Up champion David Erquiaga will also be one to watch as he shakes up the felt with a formidable 456,000 (76 bb). While he has position over the other big stacks at his table, Royly Oracion (401,000) and Richard Marquez (316,000), locking horns is a high possibility.

Cards start flying at 12pm local time. Players will have some room to gauge the competition with blinds increasing at a slower 30 min pace. Blinds kick off at Level 17: 3000-6000 ante 6000.

For all the action, stay tuned to Somuchpoker as we bring you fresh updates as it unfolds.