Main Event (18,500 PHP)

The smoke is barely clearing from the battles on the felt for Main Event Day 1A in the Manila Super Series 22 at Pokerstars Live here in Okada Manila but in the end, 34 players from 224 total entries move on to Day 2 with the chip lead changing favors multiple times before the money bubble was eventually burst.

It looked to be a cruise for the Netherland’s Germ de Haas as he was the first to breach the 200,000 chip mark in the early levels but it slowly became apparent that Park Sangsub was out to control the proceedings as he gained the chip lead in the midway mark. Then came Ryuki Shirase of Japan following the outmuscling he did of China’s Li Zhouji. Edgar Asehan of the Philippines also momentarily sat atop the leaderboard but then de Haas began regaining traction and officially stamped his name on the chip leader position after busting Japan’s Takahashi Miyamoto with quads.

But the tournament was still waiting for the money bubble to be burst and Filipino Buds Ampatuan did just that when he flopped a set against Motoya Sato of Japan and it ensured that the 34 left would all be ITM.

De Haas amassed 715,000 in chips and is followed distantly by Shirase with 589,000. Third place is shared by Taiwan’s Yang Chih Chun and Edliberto Gopez of the Philippines with identical stacks of 369,000.

Day 1B commences tomorrow (June 13) still at 12:00NN (UCT+8).

The +2 position opens for 10,000 and I called by Russia’s Nikolai Babushkin in the HJ. On the D, Lukasz Jankowski of Poland 3-bets it to 35,000. The original raiser folds but Babushkin calls.

The flop is 8♥ 3♣ 3♠ as Babushkin checks and Jankowski continues for 24,000. The Russian doesn’t make the call and the pot goes to the Polish player.

The action gets folded to the CO where Kim Kunwoo of Korea raises to 2,500. Nikolai Babushkin of Russia makes the call from the D. In the BB, Thomas Van Nedervelde of England 3-bets it to 8,500 as both Kim and Babushkin call.

The flop comes T♦ 3♦ 2♣ as Van Nedervelde continues for 7,000. Kim then shoves his last 15100 as Babushkin steps aside. Van Nedervelde makes the snap call.

Kim unveils Q♣ T♥ while Van Nedervelde shows A♠ A♣ .

The last two community cards are the 7♥ and the A♥ as Van Nedervelde’s set rails the Korean.

It’s them again as the hand in progress sees a pot of 16,600 on a flop of A♥ K♣ 2♠ as Russia’s Nikolai Babushkin checks from the CO. Germ de Haas of the Netherlands bets 6,000 and gets check-raised to 13,500. De Haas elects to make the call.

The turn is the 6♥ as Babushkin takes the betting lead for 17,100. The Dutchman opts to fold.

Babushkin eclipses his opponent’s stack with the win.

In an ongoing hand that already has 23,400 in the middle and a flop of 8♠ A♥ 2♣ , the action is on Russia’s Nikolai Babushkin in the BB who bets 5,800. He gets called by chip leader Germ de Haas from UTG and Mark Vergara of the Philippines in the CO.

The turn is the T♠ and Babushkin continues firing, this time for 13,500 to which de Haas quickly calls. Vergara steps aside. The river is the 3♠ as Babushkin unloads 22,700 and again is greeted by a snap call from his Dutch opponent.

Babushkin shows A♣ K♥ while a disgruntled de Haas flips over A♠ Q♥ as the Russian’s kicker plays and brings de Haas’ stack back to manageable levels.

Nikolai Babushkin of Russia opens from the +1 position for 1,200 and gets a call from the player in the +2 and the HJ. In the CO, Korea’s Patk Jinkyu 3-bets it to 5,000. It folds back to Babushkin who 4-bets it to 10,700.

Everyone folds, including Park.

Russa’s Nikolai Babushkin opens from the +2 position for 800 and gets called by Germ de Haas of the Netherlands in the LJ. In the HJ, Ireland’s Patrick Noonan 3-bets to 2,800 and gets a call from American Stephen Rosenthal and the earlier participants.

The flop is 5♣ 7♥ 4♣ as it gets checked to Noonan who continues for 5,500. Rosenthal and Babushkin fold but de Haas check-raises it to 50,000 to which the Irishman shoves his remaining stack of 27,100.

De Haas unfurls 4♦ 4♥ for bottom set on the flop while Noonan tables K♠ K♥ .

The last two community cards are the 2♦ and the J♥ as Noonan busts and de Haas’ stack has reached monster proportions as it nears the double century mark.

Among those who are already in action in Level 1 are Russia's Nikolai Babushkin, 2-time winner here William Rogers of England, and American international campaigner James Bonnano