Warm-up (5,000 PHP)

With the pot already at 100,000 and a flop of A♦ 7♥ 5♥ , the Philippines’ Michael Cheng is at risk anew this time against Sun Hui of Hong Kong as the cards are shown: Cheng has A♣ Q♠ for top pair while Sun reveals Q♥ T♥ for a flush draw.

The last two community cards are 2♦ and the 3♠ as the Filipino—after two big double ups—is now entering big stack territory.

The money bubble remains intact.

Michael Cheng of the Philippines opens from the +1 position for 10,000 and the action gets folded all the way to the BB where Malaysia’s Kai Ping Choo declares he is all-in for his remaining 46,500. Cheng calls.

Kai shows A♠ T♦ while Cheng is live with Q♠ J♦ .

The runout goes 5♦ 4♦ 3♥ A♦ (a sweat card for Kai in both the flush for his opponent and a chop). But the river card is the 5♣ to have the Malaysian double up and regain a six-figure chip stack.

In another battle of the Philippines, Michael Cheng opens from the LJ for 3,000 and gets a re-raise from Alex Yao in the BB to 8,000. Cheng calls.

The flop comes J♠ 9♣ 4♥ as Yao continues firing, this time for 4,000. Cheng stays sticky. The turn is the 5♣ as now Yao moves all-in for 25,000. Cheng goes into the tank and can’t pull the trigger.