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 downward spiral of Korea’s Park Sangsub gains more momentum as he raises from UTG to 13,000 and gets re-raised all-in by Parikshit Jain of India in the +1 position for 89,000. Park calls.

Jain shows 7♠ 7♦ while the Korean tables Q♣ J♣ .

The flop gives Park the lead: 4♠ 9♠ Q♠ but the monochrome board also gives the Indian a multitude of additional outs. One of them comes on the turn as the 7♥ gives Jain an insurmountable edge with a set as the T♣ on the river makes the double up for Jain official.

Park is also officially a short stack.

Korea’s Park Sangsub limps in from the +1 position and right beside him in the +2 position, big stack Ryuki Shirase raises it to 20,000. It folds back to the Korean who makes the call.

The flop is 8♦ J♠ K♣ as both players opt to skip this betting street. The turn is the J♥ as this time, Park leads out for 5,000 and gets raised to 20,000 anew by his Japanese opponent. Park still calls. The river is the Q♥ as Park goes back to checking. Shirase goes all-in and Park can’t m ake the call.

The chip lead once again goes back to Shirase.

The Philippines’ Eugenio Bestil, Jr. opens from the +2 position for 11,000 and the blinds call.

The flop goes 5♠ 4♦ 6♣ as former chip leader Park Sangsub is in the SB and leads out for 7,000. Big stack Ryuki Shirase of Japam makes the call from the BB and Bestil also calls. The turn card is the T♥ as Park continues firing, this time for 18,000. Now, Shirase folds but the call is still made by the Filipino. It is Heads-Up to the river which shows the 5♣ . Park once again bets out for 12,000 and still gets the call from Bestil.

Park turns over K♠ T♠ for top pair on the turn. Bestil mucks and is back to five digits in chips.

Park Sangsub continues to bleed chips as this time it is Edliberto Gopez’s turn to raise from the CO to 7,000 and the Korean makes a BB defense.

The flop comes 7♥ 3♦ 8♣ as Park donks in for 17,500. Gopez’s response is to shobe his remaining stack of 58,000 into the pot. Park makes the call.

Gopez flips over Q♣ 8♠ for top pair on the flop while Park shows A♥ 7♠ for second pair on the flop.

The last two community cards are the K♣ and the 2♣ to give Gopez a double up and have Park slowly slip down from the big stack conversation.

The action is folded to the HJ where Park Sangsub of Korea opens for 6,000. When it gets to the D, Japan’s Daijiro Tomoto 3-bets it to 20,000 and when it gets back to Patk, he makes the call.

The flop is 6♦ K♥ 8♣ as Park checks. Tomoto fires 25,000 and gets no resistance from the former chip leader.

Sasaki Ho of Japan commits his remaining stack of 14,000 into the pot from the +1 position and gets two callers in Oleg Mordassov of Switzerland in the HJ and Korea’s Park Sangsub in the BB.

The flop comes K♠ 5♣ J♦ as Park checks. Mordassov bets 12,000 and gets called as the side pot builds. The turn card is the 5♥ and suddenly the Korean goes all-in. Mordassov makes the quick call for his last 82,000.

Ho shows A♥ 7♠ while the Swiss player turns over K♥ J♣ for top two pairs on the flop. Park flips over 5♦ 2♦ for trips on the turn and the lead. The river card is the 6♠ to send Ho and Mordassov to the sidelines for good in Day 1A.

With the win, Park is now the Day 1A chip leader.

In another hand in progress, the pot is already at 45,500 with a flop of K♠ J♣ J♠ Korea’s Park Sangsub checks from the HJ and in the CO goes all-in for his remaining stack of 29,800. Park makes the call.

Matsuzaka shows A♥ A♦ while Park is down to a gutshot holding A♠ T♥ .

The turn is the 9♥ but the river brings the Q♣ as Park sucks out on the Japanese player, booting him out in the process. Park now joins the century chip club.