Warm-up (12,500 PHP)

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.

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.

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.

Renniel Galvez won a pot of over 500,000 against Royly Oracion to bring his stack just 2 bb away from the million marker.

Hand opens with a min-raise from hijack Renniel Galvez that's called by Seonghun Jeong on the button. They check it to the turn 4♦ 9♠ 2♥ K♦ . Jeong bets 30,000 and Galvez check-calls. The river 9♣ is doom for Jeong who slides out 50,000 then calls Galvez's check-shove. Jeong shows K♥ Q♥ top pair, Galvez has A♣ 9♦ trips.

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.