Warm-up (12,500 PHP)

After a swingy heads up, Canadian player Christian Lortie defeated Filipino player Jiego Erquiaga to lock up the Manila Super Series Kick Off title and a cash prize of ₱560,000. In addition, Lortie received a seat worth ₱80,000 to APPT Manila. In a post-win interview with the champ, he shared,

"It feels good to win! I almost messed up the heads up. I made a pretty big mistake one time. It cost me alot of chips but I managed to climb back and win in the end. I'm the luckiest player at the table."

Lortie entered the final day as chip leader and proceeded to dominate, eliminating a long list of opponents. The only time he was in danger was during the intense heads up match against Erquiaga, where he momentarily lost the lead.

"Jiego was my toughest opponent. He plays very well and he's very aggressive. He had me made in alot of situations. In the end, I won a flip for 90 percent of the chips with Jack-Eight versus Nine-Ten, if I lost that one, I'm out.

Summarizing the hand, Lortie raised preflop with J♥ 8♣ then landed top pair with an open-ended draw on the board J♦ 9♦ T♣ . A betting war followed leading to Lortie's four-bet all in. Erquiaga called and was ahead with T♠ 9♠ . The turn 8♦ gave Lortie the higher two pair that held on the river 6♠ .

"I have top pair and open ended straight, because he didn't re-raise on the pre flop I know that he doesn't have King-Queen and he most likely doesn't have a good Jack or Queen-Jack, so anything that he could have I'm at least 50% equity unless he has the bottom straight. But even in the worst case scenario if he has bottom straight I still have the open ended straight so I could get lucky."

After winnng the hand, Lortie eliminated Erquiaga shortly after with A♣ Q♥ dominating Q♣ T♦ . Congratulations to the champ!

That concludes the opening event of the Manila Super Series 21 taking place at the PokerStars LIVE hub in Okada Manila, Philippines. The Kick Off Event drew 283 entries for a prize pool of ₱3,019,610. A total of 43 players got paid with Christian Lortie awarded the largest cut.

Action continues with the series running from February 1 to 9, 2025. The Main Event ₱10M guarantee takes the spotlight on February 6 and will run until the end of the festival. Buy in is ₱18,500 (~$315) with four entry flights scheduled.

Looking like the end for Lortie, he spikes a higher two pair on the turn 8♦ and with the river 6♠ , it's the biggest pot yet of heads up.

It's anyone's game as shown by the flipping of the chip lead. Jiego Erquiaga is now back on top after three-betting all in that wasn't called. Then back to back on a limped pot with the board running 9♣ 8♥ 2♣ A♠ . Erquiaga bet 300,000 and easily claimed the pot.

From the button, Christian Lortie raised 200,000 and Jiego Erquiaga called. With the board running 7♦ A♣ 9♣ 3♥ , Erquiaga took charge with bets of 150,000 and 400,000. Lortie raised all in on the turn which was enough to induce a fold.

Jiego Erquiaga called Christian Lortie's 160,000 preflop raise then put the pressure on the flop 7♥ 7♦ 2♦ . After Lortie c-bet 85,000, Erquiaga check-raise 325,000 to push Lortie out of the pot.

Christian Lortie put stop to the charging Jiego Erquiaga. Raising 160,000 preflop, they head to the flop K♦ 9♦ 5♦ . Erquiaga bets 150,000, Lortie makes it 400,000, Erquiaga calls and the river is felted 7♦ . Lortie bets 500,000, Erquiaga goes deep in the tank using up two time banks then folds.

Jiego Erquiaga continues to challenge the leader Christian Lortie and getting the better result. On a board 8♠ 3♦ K♦ 6♦ 8♥ , Erquiaga bet 200,000 on the river, Lortie called then mucked upon seeing 6♥ 3♥ . Erquiaga reaches 2M.

Immediately after his double up, Jiego Erquiaga picked up another pot by check-raising all in on a flop A♦ 2♦ 3♥ that induced a fold from Christian Lortie.

Jiego Erquiaga limped and Christian Lortie checked it to bring the action to the flop 3♦ 4♣ 3♥ . Lortie led 100,000 and Erquiaga called. Lortie doubled it up on the turn K♦ for 200,000, Erquiaga called again. On the river 5♣ , Lortie shoved and won the pot.

After 72 hands played at the final table, it is now heads up between Christian Lortie and Jiego Erquiaga. The battle for the title, the ₱560,000 ($9,585) cash prize, and seat worth ₱80,000 to APPT Manila has arrived. For the runner up, a worthy payout as well of ₱390,000 ($6,675).

Peter Chung is also in trouble with only 5 bb behind. He risks it all with 4♣ 4♥ on hand and goes head to head against the chip leader Christian Lortie who has A♦ K♠. With the board running 3♠ 3♦ 5♦ J♠ T♣ , Chung's small pair survives to keep him in contention.

Christian Lortie picked up multiple pots with uncalled raises and three-bets. He has now crossed into 4M and is sitting on half of the chips in play.

Despite a double up in an earlier hand, Renniel Galvez was still in the danger zone. Looking down at Q♥ J♠ from cutoff, he moved all in and got called by big blind Christian Lortie with K♦ J♣ . When the board ran out 4♣ 9♠ 2♥ 3♦ J♥ , Lortie's kicker played to send Galvez out in 7th place.

Christian Lortie continues to pull away from the rest. In back to back hands, he wins the blinds and ante to rise past 3M.

Christian Lortie defended his blind then checked the flop Q♦ 3♠ 8♠ with Jiego Erquiaga. On the turn A♠ , Erquiaga tossed in 80,000 that was called. With the river 3♦ , it was back to checking. Lortie showed A♣ J♠ and Erquiage mucked.

Christian Lortie opens and Marc Gagne defends his big blind. They opt to check it to the turn 3♠ 7♠ A♠ 9♦ . Lortie sweetens the pot for 65,000 and Gagne calls to head to the river 5♦ . Lortie fires a larger 225,000 bet that induces a fold.

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.

Big stacks go head to head with Christian Lortie laying out a min-raise from the button. Small blind Renniel Galvez three-bets 290,000, Lortie responds with four-bet shove that pushes out Galvez.

Lortie has now entered the 2 Million marker.

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.

Christian Lortie's number of kills continues with Jonald Garcia as his next victim. Garcia went all in for his last 7 bb and dominated with A♣ T♦ over Lortie's A♥ 5♠ . However with the board running 6♥ 9♥ Q♠ J♥ 7♥ , Lortie improved to a flush.

Christian Lortie claimed another stack, this time finishing off June Nuestro. With 100,000 in the pot and a board showing 2♦ Q♠ 8♠ 2♥ 5♦ . Nuestro goes all in for 110,000, sending Lortie deep in the tank. After getting called, Nuestro shows T♦ 7♦ bluff, Lortie ships it with A♦ J♣ ace-high.

Christian Lortie is far ahead of the pack with over a million in chips. His latest win was against Martin Gonzales. Both players built a pot of 100,000 preflop then fueled in more on the flop 3♥ 5♣ Q♥ with Lortie's 25,000 bet called. They opted to pass on the turn 7♦ and river 3♦ . Lortie's 4♦ 4♠ with Gonzales missing with Ace-Jack.

Christian Lortie raised then called Ryan Tan's shove of 132,000. Tan had A♥ 3♦ , Lortie with 8♦ 9♣ . The board favored Lortie as it ran T♦ 6♥ 7♦ 4♥ 6♣ to send Tan to the exit.

On a board showing 9♦ J♠ T♠ J♥ 3♥ and amountain of chips amounting to 81,000 in the middle, Christian Lorti bets 35,000, James Moriles calls while Po Xiang folds. Lortie turns over K♥ T♣ which is good for the takedown.

Three players brewed up a pot of 72,000 then headed to the flop A♦ A♣ T♦ . Jiego Erquiaga bet a small 12,000, and found one caller in Christian Lortie. Same action on the turn 2♦ with Lortie check-calling 75,000. On the river 4♦ Erquiaga held back and showed 7♦ 9♦ air. Lortie earned the pot with K♦ 8♠ king high.

With no hits on the board for either player, Bogdan ships a double up.

Chip leader update: Christian Lortie catapulted to the top of the leaderboard after railing Dmitrii Belikov.

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.