Okada Millions (8,000 PHP)

In just over eight hours, Okada Millions wrapped up Flight A with 24 players out of 202 entries advancing to the ITM round out. At the top of that list was Canadian player Christian Lortie Cloutier who bagged up 700,000 (116 bb), thus setting the bar very high for the next flights.

Cloutier's run was filled with lucky moments starting with a double up pushing T♦ 7♦ that went on to crack Kai Ping Choo's J♠ J♥ when three diamonds showed up. A couple of levels later, he was all in with A♦ T♥ and survived Kento Chogo's A♠ K♠ when a ten landed on the river. To complete the hat trick, Cloutier was all in with pocket Queens that improved to a set to double up off Choi Younsik's pocket Kings.

Cloutier is a PokerStars LIVE circuit regular and has ran deep at numerous events by the brand in Manila, Philippines. In this series, he has already clinched a win at the Hot Hyper Turbo.

Flight A also saw two-time champion Jose Colada in the field but ran into a cooler that sent his stack down to just 1 bb from which he was unable to recover.

The 24 survivors are listed below. They are each guaranteed a piece of the PHP 5 Million guaranteed prize pool and have a few night's break as they await the results of the remaining six flights. Day 2 is on Sunday, April 13, 2025 at 1pm.

With 40,000 already in the pot preflop, and only the blinds left in the hand, small blind Rikuhito Komachi bets 15,000 on a flop 4♥ A♠ J♥ . Big blind Justine Talaroc answers with a raise of 33,000 and it's called.

More chips go in on the turn J♣ where action reverses with Talaroc betting 20,000 and Komachi check-raising to 80,000. Talaroc gives it a thought then folds. Komachi shows 4♦ 5♣ .

After eight hours of play, the bubble round has been reached with 25 players remaining. Once it bursts, players bag up and return on April 13 to race to the title.

Wanhee Kang falls just two spots to the money by risking his last 58,000 with K♠ 4♠ that runs into Renato Villanueva's K♦ K♥ .

The field is now down to 25 players which means it is bubble time.

Mario Valdiviezo was nearly outta there when he opened 14,000, got repopped to 35,000 by Seiya Kawada, shoved his last 149,000 and got called by Kawada who flipped over A♠ A♥ . Valdiviezo had K♣ K♥ .

Needing to connect, that's exactly what happened when the flop ran K♠ Q♠ K♦ for instant quads. With the turn 3♦ Kawada was drawing dead. The river A♣ was of no consequence. Valdiviezo asks in his language "wala bang premyo ito?" Translated to "isn't there a prize for this?"

From hijack, Kimura Gakuto opens for 8000 then gets reraised by Seitaro Aso to 24,000. Gakuto answers back with a four-bet of 70,000, Seitaro flats to end the preflop battle. When the board runs 2♦ Q♣ 6♥ 4♣ . Both players check until the river 5♣ . Gakuto bets 70,000 and wins the pot after Seitaro let's go of his hand.

Villanueva is ahead with two pair. Colada needs to hit on the river but misses instead to plunge to 1 bb.

From hijack, Chase Turnquest limps then calls cutoff player Seunghyeon An's 12,500 reraise. Flop comes 3♥ 6♣ T♥ , An bets another 12,000 and still Turnquest makes the call. Action slows down with the turn T♣ and river A♥ both checked.

Turnquest has 9♠ 9♦ , An wins it with A♦ J♥ top pair on the river.

Big blind Changlim Kim calls Gilson Chan's 6500 preflop raise then does the same at the flop 2♦ 7♣ 6♣ for another 6500. From there, both players slow down and check the turn 2♣ and river J♠ . Kim shows 3♣ 6♦ and wins with two pair.

Christian Cloutier doubled up off Choi Younsik with pocket Queens pairing up on the board to crack Younsik's pocket Kings.

Two-time Okada Manila Millions Main Event champion Jose Colada is in the house. He won this event in 2020 and 2022. We caught up with him during the break for a brief interview.

How does it feel to be entering this event as a two-time champion?

"Hopefully I get to win again. I will try to be aggressive and secure a big pot early."

How did you prepare for this event?

"I slept early and I had a good sleep. I also ate a lot to be prepared and have energy for this event."

Good luck to the two-time champiion!

The turn 5♠ sees no change with Junming still ahead with a pair however when the river comes T♠ , Colada lands the higher pair to send Junming out of the field.

Richard Marquez raises 4000 and gets three players to call to see a flop 3♦ 3♣ K♥ . Action checks to the button Seunghun Ju who overbets 21,000 and finding just one caller in Marquez. Ju continues the barrage with a jam on the turn 2♣ for 106,000, and Marquez decides to hold on to his chips and folds.

With no action before the button, Rodolf Ramo raises 3500. Big blind Norbert Koh makes the call for a flop of 9♦ K♥ J♥ . Ramo continues for 2000 and Koh matches it up for the turn card 4♥ . Again Ramo sends out a bet of 4000 and Koh keeps him honest to complete the board A♠ . Both players opt to check.

Koh shows T♥ 9♠ , Ramo wins it with A♦ 3♥ top pair on the river.

With only the river to go, Nowicki hopes for a club but it doesn't pan out with 4♥ landing on the board.

Registration for Flight A of the Okada Millions has closed. A total of 202 entries were seen throughout the ten levels with only 89 remaining at the start of the freezeout stage. They will play down to ITM of 24 players.

Cristopher Runas kicks off the hand with 3000 raise that finds one customer in the small blind Francis Ancheta. At the flop 9♥ 4♣ J♦ , Runas continues for 1500 and another 5000 on the turn K♠ . Ancheta calls off both. Then with the river 4♠ , Runas makes it 6000 that sees Ancheta fold. Runas shows his A♠ K♥ .

Warm Up champion Richard Marquez defends his big blind and goes hunting with two players. The all spade flop T♦ J♦ 8♦ is checked leading to the turn 2♣ . Marquez takes a chance for 3100 and gets called only by preflop raiser Samson Hiu. On the river J♠ , Marquez leads out again for 5500 and Hiu surrenders his hand.

Joseph Magnotti gets dealt 7♣ 7♦ and gives it a raise of 1200. Two players call to see the flop 9♠ 6♦ 3♠ where action is checked to the button Seulki Hong. Only Magnotti pays to see the turn J♦ and both check it. On the river 5♦ , Magnotti bets 3500, Hong calls, Magnotti's pair is behind Hong's 9♦ 8♠ .

Samson Hui three-bets 3500 and Makoto Miyatake defends his 1200 raise by calling. At the flop 8♦ 5♥ Q♦ , Hiu sends out another 4500 that picks up the pot.

Two players call Azamat Shafiev's 1200 raise for a flop of 2♠ 9♣ T♦ . Shafiev continues for 1800, Fred Farboud raises to 3600, one player folds and Shafiev calls. The turn 3♣ is checked to Farboud who bangs out 10,000 which is enough to take down the pot unchallenged.

After a raise of 1800 from under the gun Alma Aguila, action folds to the small blind Jesie Tabilangan who drives it to 4500. Aguila flats to see the flop 2♦ 7♣ Q♦ . Following a check from the aggressor Tabilangan, Aguila bet 4000 and gets called. When the A♠ comes on the turn, it is checked again to Aguila who barrels 10,000 and this time Tabilangan folds.

Suya Lee defends from hijack with a three-bet of 2500, initial raiser Ermito Sorio makes the call. At the flop and turn 6♥ 8♥ 2♣ 4♦ , Lee continues for 3000 and 6500, Sorio check-calls both bets then checks again on the river 9♦ . Lee announces all in and wins with Sorio folding.

Guerrero is way behind the set and with the turn T♠ and river J♣ , he packs up as Marriott ships it in.

Four callers to Yire Choi's 700 raise brings a good pot of 3800 preflop. When the dealer fans the flop 3♣ A♦ 6♥ , Choi continues for 1200 to trim the action down to heads up with only Makoto Miyatake making the call. Choi fires again on the turn Q♦ for 3000 and 5500 on the river K♥ . Both are called by Miyatake who then mucks to Choi's A♣ T♣ top pair.

Vijay Singh limps in from cutoff then calls Reuel Bacos's 1000 raise at button. When the board runs K♥ 4♦ 6♥ 4♣ , Bacos continues for 1300 and 3000, both are check-called by Singh. After all the action, they opt to check the river 6♦ . Bacos shows A♣ K♦ and wins the pot.

After Veselin Katrandzhiev brings it up to 400 that's called by one player, Peter Nowicki defends his big blind. The trio proceed to check it to the turn Q♣ K♥ 5♦ 4♥ where Katrandzhiev gives it a go for 1300 and only Nowicki continues to the river 3♠ . Both return to checking. Nowicki shows Q♦ J♣ and it's good to rake in the pot.

Cristopher Runas put the heat on in consecutive hands with the second one first seeing a raise of 400 from Benhur Ybarsabal that's sees a three-bet of 1300 from Jia Rong Alwin Goh. Action goes to the small blind Runas who four-bets 3300 and the aggressors give up their hands. The player beside Runas asks "back to back aces?" But got no reply from Runas.

Cutoff player Veselin Katrandzhiev and the big blind call a preflop raise from Jimmy Valle of 400, then they check it to the turn 5♦ 7♥ 9♣ 2♥. No more checking for Valle as he resumes for 800 that only Katrandzhiev matches up to bring about the river 8♦ . Valle goes back to checking, Katrandzhiev test-bets 2500 then shows A♦ 8♥ after Valle calls. It's a winner as Valle mucks.

Cards are now flying at Flight A of Okada Millions here at Okada Manila! Registration closes at the start of Level 11 so make your way and secure your seat to the ITM where PHP 5,000,000 guaranteed is set. Buy in is PHP 8000 (~US$ 140).

The 6th annual PokerStars LIVE Okada Manila Millions opens its gates today with the Okada Millions which for the second consecutive year features a PHP 5,000,000 (~US$ 87,450) guaranteed prize pool. This event has seen its numbers catapult through the years, with last year’s edition generating a record PHP 9.54 Million (~US$ 169,800), that’s nearly double the guarantee!

A total of 7 flights will be running from April 10-12, with the final day on April 13. For a buy in of just PHP 8,000 (~US$ 140) players begin with a stack of 25,000 which is a deep 250 times the opening blinds 100-100 ante 100. Registration closes at the start of Level 11 for each flight. The noon flights all have 25 minute blinds, the 5pm flights run 20 minute blinds, and the final flight is in the evening at 9pm with 15 minute blinds.

One of the past winners has already been spotted at the tables, Hernan Villa, and you can expect him to try for a repeat.

Cards start flying at 12pm. Somuchpoker will be onsite to bring you the action throughout the day.