Warm-up (5,000 PHP)

The biggest guarantee among the six events slated today at the Manila Super Series 22 had its first qualifying sortie launch as 175 entries were logged in (Event #3A) Warm-Up Flight A with 27 making it through to Day 2 in this PHP780,000 (~US$13,970) GTD event here at Pokerstars Live in Okada Manila.

Among the notable who saw action were Manila Megastack 16 High Roller titlist Niroshan Loganathan from Canada, Pokerstars Open runner-up Kai Danilo Paulsen of Norway, Australia’s Andrew Xu who took down the Super Deep title in Manila Megstack 22 and international campaigners Ronnie Hoffman of the Netherlands, Ireland’s Damien, and Filipino hopefuls in APPT National Open winner Alvir Inocentes, Manila Megastack 19 Super Stack titlist Lenart Ecarma, Manila Super Series 18 Superstack champion Chierro de Leon, and WSOP veteran Tony Abesamis.

The action was riveting from the get-go with the chip trading hands in a frenzying pace until Korea’s Han Seung Hyun came back from certain demise when he shoved his Q♥ J♥ on a Q♣ 8♦ 5♥ Q♠ board and was called by Filipino big stack Segundo Barte who tabled K♥ Q♦ . Han rivered the J♠ to improve to a full houise and claim the overall chip lead that he would not relinquish for the rest of the proceedings.

In the end, the bubble was burst by Japan’s Tomohiro Wada when his steal shove from the SB with 5♦ 4♠ was rewarded by a hit on the flop against the K♥ 7♦ of Cypriot Anastasios Pavlou to ensure that the 27 left would be guaranteed to be ITM.

Han’s stack of 461,000 is closely followed by Wada’s 418,000. Sitting in third is Inocentes with 337,000.

Day 2 is on Sunday at 12:00NN (UCT+8).

Meanwhile, Flight B commences tomorrow (June 7) at 5:00PM.

A♠ the money bubble looms, Trevor Touchton of the United States shoves his remaining stack of 73,000 from the CO and gets called in the BB by Australia’s Hatin Hussein.

Touchton turns over A♦ Q♣ and to everyone’s amusement, Hussein flips over A♥ Q♦ .

The runout goes: A♠ 9♣ 8♦ 2♠ K♦ as they split the pot. The money bubble hasn’t burst yet.

Norihisa Zaitsu has it folded to him in the CO and open shoves his dwindling stack of 42,000. Australia’s Hatim Hussein calls from the D and just for good measure, big stack Jonald Garcia of the Philippines joins also from the BB.

The flop goes J♠ T♠ 6♦ as Hussein and Garica check. The turn is the K♣ and they still skip this betting street while the river is the 8♦. No further action ensues.

Zaitsu flips over A♣ T♥ for middle pair on the flop while Hussein has 9♣ 9♦ . Garcia unveils shows 4♠ 4♥ .

With the triumph, the Japanese player triples up and reenters the six-figure mark to stay in contention.

A player from the +1 starts it off with a raise to 700 and gets called by Australia’s Hatim Abdul Hussein from the D. Ki Young Son of Korea 3-bets it from the SB for 3,600 as both his opponents make the call.

The flop comes Q♣ 4♥ 5♥ as Son continues firing for 2,600. The original raiser folds but Hussein raises it 6,000. Son calls. The turn is the K♣ as both slow down and check. The river is the 8♦ and they check anew.

Son flips over A♥ T♥ for a missed gut-shot straight and nut flush draw while the Australian shows Q♦ J♦ for top pair that avoided all of his opponent’s outs.