Warm-up (5,000 PHP)

Malaysia’s Lim Kok Leong goes for it all as he open shoves his last 25,500 in the +1 position and is called by local bet Chierro de Leon from the CO for less, putting his remaining 18,000 in the middle of the table. In the BB, Filipino Renato Villanueva sees the pot and determines that there is no further preflop action so he joins in. Villanueva covers both.

Lim turns over A♦ T♦ while de Leon shows A♠ J♠ . Way behind is Villanueva’s Q♣ J♥ .

The flop, though, flipped the script: Q♠ T♣ 3♥ as suddenly Villanueva takes the lead with top pair, Lim needs to hit a four-outer and de Leon is praying to nail a gutshot. The turn is the 3♠ and the river card is the 5♣ as Villanueva successfully KOs two players and pads his chip count to come into the big stack conversation.

From the +1 position, Filipino John Philip Baider makes a bold move by open shoving his stack of 24,700 but gets called by compatriot Renato Villanueva in the HJ.

Baider shows A♣ J♦ and is crushed to discover that Villanueva has him dominated with A♦ Q♣ .

The poker gods have other plans, though, as the first three community cards are J♣ 9♣ 6♦ as Baider pairs his Jack. The turn is the 4♠ and the river is the K♠ as the loss via outdraw sends Villanueva’s stack spiraling downwards.