Main Event

Markus Garberg became the first player to breach 200k by railing Hotaka Ishiguro on a set over set. Garberg had pocket tens, Ishiguro pocket threes, both connected on the board Garberg had the higher set. He is up to 203k.

Button Ayumo Tsurumaki raised to 5k, bb Daniel Sammarco defended. At the flop 7♣ 8♦ 5♦ , Sammarco check-called 3k. On the Q♠ turn, Sammarco check-raised from to bring the bet from 10k to 25k. Tsurumaki folded. Sammarco up to 157k.

Julien Weymouth celebrated his win here. Arvhin Malinab was all in with A♣ K♠ , Weymouth had him well covered with J♠ J♥ . When a jack showed up on the turn, it was a sure win for Weymouth who climbed to 160k.

Stopping by table 1 provided us with plenty of hands from POY contender David Erquiaga. He first won an 11k pot on an uncalled raise on the flop. Next hand he earned a little more. Utg Ayumo Tsurumaki raised to 3k, sb Erquiaga called. At the flop and turn T♣ 9♣ 6♦ 5♥ , Erquiaga called 6k and 10k. On the river 8♠ both checked. Erquiaga won it with 4♣ 6♣ pair, Tsurumaki had A♦ Q♠ overcards that missed.

Immediately after, Erquiaga and Tsurumaki faced off again. Button Erquiaga raised to 3k, bb Tsurumaki defended. At the flop J♠ Q♥ T♣ , Tsurumaki led for 5k, Erquiaga folded while showing 8♦ 8♣ . He has around 106k.

All in preflop, Daniel Holmedahl with A♠ 4♠ fell to Masahiro Kikiuchi’s A♣ A♥ .

Huu Dung Nguyen is on a mission to regain the towers he lost. He won a pot against Simen Gulbrandsen to bump up a bit. With 6k in the middle and a board 2♣ 3♥ J♦ T♦ , Gulbrandsen led for 3300, Nguyen raised to 8k, called by Gulbrandsen. On the river 5♥ , both checked. Gulbrandsen had K♦ 4♦ missed, Nguyen with J♠ 7♥ top pair.

Pot was built up to 8400 when the flop came 7♣ 8♠ J♦ . From the button, Jun Obara bet 3400 and small blind player check-called. The turn 5♠ and river 2♣ Obara fired 4800 and 6500, both check-called. Obara showed J♣ 8♥ two pair for the pot.

Huu Dung Nguyen was enjoying his chip leader status at his table that is until Markus Garberg was moved to his immediate left. Both players had well over 100k when they tangled. Catching the action on a board 4♣ Q♥ 2♣ 7♥ 5♠ with 42k in the pot, Nguyen checked, Garberg fired 24k, Nguyen tank-called. Garberg showed A♣ A♠ , Nguyen mucked. Garberg up to 175k, Nguyen dropped to 98k which is still well above average.

Vincent Huang has just fallen here. He was all in with pocket queens that dominated his challenger Jaeho Kim who had pocket jacks, however a jack appeared on the board.

That’s it! Registration has closed for Day 1A. The tally is 126 entries with the pot currently at Php 8.25M. 59 players remaining. Five more levels remaining until they bag up at the end of Level 14. Good news for the Main Event, the Philippine government lifted the travel ban on all travelers to and from Taiwan. With one more starting day available, we should see some players jump on a flight to get here before reg closes. Already confirmed to come is Pete Chen.

For now, here are the current chip leaders…

Huu Dung Nguyen 160k Yeongpil Han 155k Julien Weymouth 150k Jun Obara 150k Kaname Akahori 130k

On a turn board 9♠ K♣ A♦ (10d) with 10.8k in the pot, Si Yang Phua checked, Vincent Huang bet 7300, Phua raised to 20k, Huang called. On the river 7♠ , Phua led for 15k, Huang called. Phua showed Q♣ J♠ straight, Huang mucked while showing Ax Tx two pair.

Passing by Julien Weymouth’s table, his second bullet is paying off. He is now at 150k. He scored a big takedown help him get there and he was kind enough to give us the story. From utg, Weymouth raised to 2200, sb player called. At the flop 4♦ 2♦ 8♠ , Weymouth c-bet 3800, sb check-jammedk, Weymouth called. Sb had A♦ 9♦ nut flush draw, Weymouth 5♦ 3♦ , the turn was J♠ and river 6♣ to give Weymouth the straight.

Three-way showdown Markus Garberg dominating throughout. He had A♣ A♦ and was up against Toshiyuki Watanabe A♦ K♠ and a player with A♠ T♣ . The board came 5♥ 4♦ 4♠ 8♣ K♥ . He zoomed to 110k.

Everytime we pass by Huu Dung Nguyen’s table he is scooping up a pot which meant we missed the hand. It happened again. However we stuck around, saw him lose one then win one. The winning hand had a board K♣ 7♠ 5♦ J♠ with 21.8k in the pot, Nguyen checked, Hotaka Ishiguro bet 13k, Nguyen shoved, Ishiguro tank-folded.

Michael Raymond was on a steady run however it ended abruptly at the hands of Sean Ragozzini. We happened to catch it only on the river betting. The board was 2♥ 2♠ Q♦ A♦ 9♦ , three players in, bb Raymond bet 7k, utg Ragozzini raised it to 22k, third player folded, Raymond put it all out front, quick call by Ragozzini. Raymond 9♠ 9♥ full house on the river, Ragozzini A♥ A♣ higher full house. Ragozzini up to 90k.

Two big stacks engaged for a pot. Utg Kunwoo Kim raised to 1400, only Simen Gulbrandsen called. At the flop 7♣ T♣ 2♦ , Kim sent the action to Gulbrandsen who bet 1600, Kim called. On the turn K♦ , Kim switched up and slid out 3k, Gulbrandsen stuck with him. The river 9♥ saw no bets. Gulbrandsen took the pot with K♥ Q♠ pair to Kim’s A♠ J♠ .

Crazy hand went down at table 4 between Jiannan Yu and Motokatsu Uhara. Raised pot preflop saw the cards spread A♦ 3♦ K♦ . Big blind Uhara shoved K♥ K♣ and Yu snap-called with 6♦ 7♦ flush. The turn came J♥ and river K♠ for quads to ship a double up. Yu dropped to 20k.

Action folded to the button Thomas Syversen who raised to 1400, big blind Sandro Bruni shoved 10.3k. Syversen called and showed A♣ J♣ but was behind Bruni’s A♠ K♠ . No help came on the board for Syversen to pay the double up. Bruni at 22k, Syversen dropped to 35k.

Huu Dung Nguyen is over 130k after calling out David Erquiaga’s bluff. The pot was at 17.2k when we got there with a board 4♣ 6♥ 9♦ 9♠ 2♣ . Big blind Nguyen checked, Erquiaga bet 8k, Nguyen called. Erquiaga with 8♥ 7♣ missed draw, Nguyen with 6♦ 7♦ two pair.

Second break of the day. Screens have the numbers at 119 entries with 88 on the floor. Average stack is 40,568. Pot is at Php 7.8 million. POY joint leader Hamish Crawshaw and PSPC finalist Marc Rivera have joined the action. Three more levels of registration open for today. Current chip leaders:

Simen Gulbrandsen 108.6k Masahiro Kikiuchi 108k Francesco Morales 103.5k Kunwoo Kim 100k Huu Dung Nguyen 100k Ayumo Tsurumaki 100k Kaname Takahori 100k

Simen Gulbrandsen is over 100k while once upon a time chip leader Kei Kitamura is down to 20k. The hand opened with utg Si Yang Phua limped, William Ysmael raised to 1600, called by Kitamura, button Gulbrandsen three-bet to 7k, called only by Kitamura. At the flop 5♠ 3♥ 9♥ , Gulbrandsen c-bet 6k, Kitamura check-raised to 15k, called. On the turn 8♦ and Kitamura fired 12k, called again by Gulbrandsen. On the river K♠ , Kitamura shoved, called by Glubrandsen. Kitamura 9♠ 6♠ second pair, Gulbrandsen A♠ K♥ , top pair. Gulbrandsen up to 108,600.

Battle of the blinds. A big pot worth 15.4k was already brewed preflop when the cards came 2♣ T♦ 8♠ . Small blind Jaeho Kim bet 20k which was more than what big blind Sim Jae Kyung (Simba) had. Simba tank-called for his tournament life and showed A♥ K♣ . However, he needed help against Kim’s J♥ J♦ . It was not to be with the turn 2♦ and river 6♣ . Simba packed up, Kim up to 73k.

Several hands later, Kim won another another good one. This time it was against Marek Weber. The board was Q♣ 5♠ T♣ J♦ with 18k in the pot. Weber had 10k out front, Kim made it 20k, Weber tank-folded. He now has over 100k.

Hand opened with one player raising to 1100, button Jia Rong Loke three-bet to 3500, big blind Masahiro Kikiuchi four-bet to 10k, initial raiser folded, Loke shoved, called by Kikiuchi.

Loke A♣ K♦ Kikiuchi Q♦ Q♥

The board bricked 2♣ 7♣ J♥ 4♠ J♦ . Kikiuchi shipped it and is up to 124k.

We only caught the action as the pot was being pushed to Vu Duc Trung and Kim Changhan filing out. The board was 6♣ 4♥ 8♦ 3♣ A♠ , Kim had 6x 4x two pair, Trung had better A♥ 8♥ higher two pair. Trung up to 66k.

Crazy hand went down at table 3 with two players getting the boot. Utg Jun Obara opened for 800, mid-position Richard Marquez, button Qibing Wang and bb player called. Heavy action on the flop 8♦ 4♦ 5♠ . Marquez bet 1500, Wang raised to 4k, bb player check-jammed, Obara folded, Marquez and Wang joined all in.

Bb K♦ 6♦ draw Marquez 6♠ 7♠ straight Wang 8♥ 8♠ set

The turn was T♠ and river T♣ for a full house to Wang. He now sits with around 70k.

We are past the halfway mark of today’s registration. The screens say 104 entries with 88 at the tables. Among them were Henrik Tollefsen, and Si Yang Phua. We forgot to mention Sim Jae Kyung who took his seat at Level 3. Currently with a big lead is Kei Kitamura with over 100k. Other big stacks are listed below:

Toshiyuki Watanabe 75k Jose Mari Cinco 63k Masahiro Kokiuchi 63k Rok Pajek 60k Marek Weber - 58k Michael Kim Falcon 54k Sandro Bruni 52k Chan Kian Bing 52k

Average stack is 36,280.

First break info. 88 entries, 80 at the tables. Registration open until the start of Level 10. Average stack is 33,000, just 3k above starting stack. Pot is already at Php 5.7M.

With 25k in the pot and a full board showing 6♠ 2♥ 8♥ Q♦ J♣ , Julein Weymouth checked, Toshiyuki Watanabe bet 165.k, Weymouth tank-folded. Watanabe has more than doubled his starting stack with around 63k.

On a full board Q♠ A♥ 3♥ 5♠ Q♦ and 16.3k in the middle, Jia Rong Loke bet 5k, Juannan Yu called. Loke won it with K♥ Q♥ trips. He now has 42k, Yu down to 18k.

Daniyal Kazi shipped to stacks while simultaneously booting two players. On a turn board T♦ 7♦ 6♠ K♥ , three players all in. Kazi with K♦ 5♦ , the other two had 4♠ 5♠ and A♠ A♦ . The river 6♦ granted Kazi the flush. He is at 60.6k.

Catching the action on a board 7-J-J-5-5, Daniyal Kazi paid Marek Weber to 10k on the river for his dominated 7-7 full house. Weber had K-J. Weber up to 58k, Kazi down to 22k.

Keisuke Nakamoto raised to 300, button Motokatsu Uhara three-bet to 900, Keisuke called. No bets on the flop 4♦ 3♣ Q♣ , Uhara bet 1k on the 5♠ turn, check-called by Keisuke. On the river Q♦ , Uhara announced 2500, and took the pot with Keisuke folding.

Button Daewoong Song raised to 300k, blinds called. When the flop came 7♦ | 3♦ 6♠ , there was plenty of betting action. Sb Michael Kim Falcon checked, big blind Luqman Alghanim bet 600, Song raised to 1600, Falcon raised to 4k, no callers.

Big stacked at table 5 is Thijs Hilberts and added more to his stack against Ricardo Torres. Fromt utg+1, Hilberts raised to 500, button Torres called. At the flop 3♦ 9♠ 8♠ , Hilberts c-bet 800, Torres called. No bets on the A♣ turn to lay down the river T♥ . Hilberts bet 1800, Torres raised to 4k, Hilberts called, Torres mucked and is down to 26k. HIlberts up to 53k.

We are off to a great start here. The screens say 60 entries with more making their way to the floor. Among them are series event winners William Kang, Sandro Bruni, Joshua and Chargualaf. Notable players are Linh Tran, Richard Marquez, Jun Obara, and Markus Garberg.

Event winner Sandro Bruni raised to 400 from cutoff and sb Hotaka Ishiguro called. On the flop J♣ 6♦ 2♦ , Bruni c-bet 1100, called by Hotaka. On the turn 4♦ no bets but on the river 2♣ Hotaka took the reins and bet 2k, Bruni called, Hotaka showed 6♣ 6♥ full house to rise to 48.3k. Bruni dropped to 21k.

The first big pot we caught was at table 1. Action opened with Christos Vlahos raising to 300 from cutoff, called by button Julien Weymouth, then three-bet to 900 by Kim Changhan on the small blind. At the flop 9♦ J♣ 3♦ , Weymouth bet 1700, Kim check-called, Vlahos check-folded. On the turn 2♠ and river A♦ , same action with Weymouth firing 3800 and 9000, both check-called by Kim. Weymouth showed his Q♠ T♥ missed draw, Kim won it with A♠ J♠ . Weymouth down to 11.4k, Kim up to around 50k.

Markus Garberg 270k David Erquiaga 250k Jaeho Kim 225k Jun Obara 225k Kunwoo Kim 220k Julien Weymouth 208k Daniel Sammarco 185k Francesco Morales 180k

34 remaining Average stack 111,176

Two levels left before bagging time.

Having once enjoyed being way on top, Huu Dung Nguyen will now have to re-enter in Day 1B if he hopes on winning. His big stack downsized until he was all in with Ax Jx . Naoya Fujihasa had Tx Tx . Nguyen paired up both his cards by Fujihasa also found a partner for a winning set. Fujihasa at over 100k.

After 14 rounds, Day 1A is in the bag. 126 entered, 24 players remained. They return on Sunday, February 16 at 1pm for Day 2. We will have a recap for you shortly. Prize pool is currently over Php 8M. The likelihood of exceeding the Php 12M guarantee is very high. One more starting day left. For now here are the chip counts by rank.

Vikaash Shah faced off with big stacked Julien Weymouth. Three-way raised pot to 19k saw a flop 3♣ 6♣ J♥ . Shah bet 14k, Sean Ragozzini folded, Weymouth check-called. On the turn J♠ no bets came and the river was Q♦ . Shah bet 21k, Weymouth check-folded. Shah closed the day with 127.5k.

Two shoves and Seungmook Jung tumbled out. The first loss was against Redentor Edoc who had A♦ 7♦ , Jung with Q♣ 6♣ , the flop paired both of Jung’s cards to take the lead but Edoc was luckier with both of his cards pairing up for a runner-runner higher two pair. Shortly after, Jung was all in with A♠ 9♣ but was way behind Weymouth’s A♥ A♣ .

POY contender Si Yang Phua fell to Kaname Akahori with 6♥ 6♦ unable to improve against A♦ A♥ . Both had 38k at the shove.

Marc Rivera was very happy to ship this pot. From lo-jack raised to 5500, cutoff Markus Garberg three-bet to 16k, Naoya Fujihisa called, back to Rivera who shoved (48k). Garberg tank-folded followed by Fujihisa who also folded.

With 19k already brewed and a flop Q♥ T♦ 7♦ , utg+1 Daniel Sammarco bet 12k, cutoff David Erquiaga called. On the turn 3♥ , Sammarco bet 22k, Erquiaga folded. Sammarco up to 185k.

Kunwoo Kim has joined Jaeho Kim with around 300k after railing a player. Kim had pocket jacks that held against A-K.

22k in the pot, flop Q♦ J♠ 3♣ . Hijack Julien Weymouth check-called a 5500 bet by cutoff Seungmook Jung. On the turn 4♠ , Weymouth check-called another 12.k bet. The river 2♥ , Weymouth checked, Jung bet 28.5k, Weymouth folded. Weymouth down to 185k, Jung up to 155k.

Pot was 39.5k preflop, two players stared down a board J♣ J♦ Q♥ . Small blind David Erquiaga bet 20k, utg+1 Joshua Chargualaf called. On the turn 5♥ , Erquiaga checked, Chargualaf bet 17k, Erquiaga tank-folded. Chargualaf up to 145k.

Hand opened with lo-jack Kunwoo Kim raising to 6k, hijack Jun Obara called, button Jaeho Kim called, then big blind Sebastian Schade shoved. Kunwoo and Obara called, Jaeho folded. The board ran 4♥ 8♥ 4♣ 2♣ K♣ with no side bet produced. Schade had 7♠ 7♦ which was good enough against Kunwoo’s A♠ Q♣ and Obara’s J♦ T♦ . He stays in the running with 130k.

Joven Huerto was down a short stack and pushed it all with A♣ J♣ however he ran into Sean Ragozzini’s J♦ J♠ who proceeded to take all of his chips. Ragozzini up to 180k.

From utg+1, Jaeho Kim raised to 6k, bb Jun Obara defended. At the flop and turn 3♠ 5♣ A♦ 2♠ , no action. On the river 2♣ , Obara bet a huge 32k, Kim tanked then found the courage to call. It was a good one. Obara showed Q♥ J♠ bluff, Kim won it with 9♣ 9♥ . Kim now at 300k. Obara down to 155k.