Main Event

218 entries for Day 1B ended with only 55 remaining. Great news, the Php 12M guarantee was blown to bits for a much larger Php 22.5 million. All the info will be in our recap so stand by for that. For now, chip counts below on who made it through the day. Among the players advancing was Si Yang Phua. He may be the only player remaining in contention for the POY top spot. Hamish Crawshaw and Sim Jae Kyung failed to reach Day 2.

2500

The last two hands we saw Zheko Dinev in action. From the button, he limped, sb limped and bb Elmer Kalaquian checked. On the flop J♥ 8♠ T♦ , Dinev bet 4500, no callers.

The final hand, cutoff Dinev limped again, button Ryan McAllister raised to 10k, Dinev called. At the flop Q♠ J♥ 6♦ , McAllister c-bet 10k, Dinev check-folded.

2500

Earlier in the day, Edilberto Gopez and Thijs Hilberts battled for a big pot that ended with Gopez shoving on the river and Hilberts tank-folding. Same situation here, like previous both were on the blinds. On a board showing 4♦ T♥ 8♠ Q♦ 3♦ and 87.5k in the pot, sb Gopez shoved (45.5k), Hilberts tanked with around 30k+ then folded. Gopez showed 7♥ 5♥ bluff.

2500

Preflop raise to 5500 by utg Graeme Siow, three players called. On the flop 3♦ 5♣ 7♦ , all checked. On the K♦ turn, button Leonarez bet 10k, only Siow check-called. On the river 4♦ , back to checking. Siow was first to show and had A♦ 2♦ .

2500

Mid-position Daniel Holmedahl raised to 5500, sb Jessie Leonarez three-bet to 13k, Holmedahl answered with a 35.5k, Leonarez folded. Holmedahl at 215k.

2500

63 players have reached the last level of play here. 40 minutes before the survivors bag up. Currently ahead is Zhekov Dinev with 345k. Let’s see if he will be able to hold it to the end of the day.

From utg+1, Takumi Matsuzaka raised to 4500 then called cutoff Chirstopher Mateo‘s three-bet to 10.5k. At the flop 2♦ 9♥ 4♣ , Mateo c-bet 13.5k, Matsuzaka check-called. No bets on the 8♣ turn. The river 3♣ , Matsuzaka checked, Mateo bet 32k, Matsuzaka called. Mateo showed T♣ T♠ for the pot as Matsuzaka mucked. Mateo at 240k, Matsuzaka dropped to 135k.

Christos Vlahos was already sitting with well over 200k when he won another pot to bring him up to 273k. He maintains his status at third rank.

Raised pot to 12k, the flop was J♦ 7♠ 6♠ , mid-position Moses Saquing bet 6500, sb Graeme Siow check-called. On the turn 4♥ , Saquing fired 12k, Siow check-raised to 27k, Saquing called. On the river 9♣ , no bets. Siow showed 9♠ 2♠ , Saquing won it with K♣ J♥ top pair. Saquing at 212k, Siow dropped to 115k.

Pot at 16k preflop, the cards landed A♦ 2♦ Q♥ , Christopher Mateo checked, Rogel Del Rosario bet 12.5k, Mateo tank-folded.

Rogel Del Rosario 300k Zheko Dinav 290k Christos Vlahos 255k Scott Iain Alm 249k Takumi Matsuzaka 200k Christopher Mateo 200k Edilberto Gopez 177k

85 players remaining. Three players over 200k lead the race and they are all from the Philippines: Edilberto Gopez, Rogel Del Rosario, and Christopher Mateo.

On a flop 8♥ 7♦ 9♥ and a raised pot in the middle, sb Edilberto Gopez bet, bb Thijs Hilberts raised to 30.2k, Gopez callled. On the turn 3♥ , Gopez led out 30k, Hilberts called. On the river K♠ , Gopez all in for 66.5k, Hilberts tanked with 46k behind. Hilberts asked Gopez if he would show one card if he (Hilberts) folded, Gopez didn’t react. Hilberts folded. Gopez scooped and is over 200k.

Pete Chen is out of the Main Event and the player that sent him there was Rogel Del Rosario. Chen opened for 2700, Del Rosario three-bet to 12.5k, Chen tank-jammed, snap-called by Del Rosario. Chen A♥ K♦ , Del Rosario Q♣ Q♠ , the board ran low. After the count, Chen had 4k less. Del Rosario zoomed to around 210k.

We got to the table as Mike Takayama‘s chips were being shipped to Victor Chong. Chong had A♠ 2♠ , Takayama K♠ T♠ . We missed the board. Chong up to 75k.

That’s it! Registration is closed for the Main Event. Day 1B dragged in 218 entries to add Php 14,273,550 to the Day 1A tally. This more than smashed the guarantee and the original Php 20M that was advertised. Here’s a look at the numbers.

Day 1A: 126 entries for Php 8,249,850 Day 1B: 218 entries for Php 14,273,550

Total entries: 344 Overall prize pool: Php 22,523,400

We will have the payouts for you once it is up on the screens.

Elmer Kalaquian pushed his short stack (7800) from utg, was called by Felipe Quijano and Edilberto Gopez. Before the hand ended, Kalaquian told the SMP reporter he was going triple up. When the board completed A♠ 3♠ K♣ 2♦ Q♣ and no side pot was generated, Kalaquian showed his K♦ J♦ good for a triple up.

Scoop scoop for John Lee to bring him up to 130k . From mid-position he raised to 2k, found two callers, then cutoff jammed for 13.8k, sb joined with 30.9k, Lee made it a three-way with the largest stack. Two initial callers folded. At the showdown, Lee had Q♣ Q♠ dominating A♦ 3♦ and 9♦ 9♥ . Board ran clean. Lee shipped it.

Two players built up the pot to 12.5k then watched the flop come K♠ 4♣ 8♥ . Nathanael Seet bet 3800, Sung Chang Park called. No bets on the Q♦ turn. The river came K♦ . Seet fired 9500, Park folded. Seet up to 43k, Park slipped to 85k.

Scott Iain Alm raised to 2500, next to act three-bet all in for 9700, called by Olivier Duran and Alm. Both players checked down the board Q♥ K♠ 8♠ 8♥ 9♦ . All in player had Q♣ J♣ , Duran T♥ T♣ , Alm won it with A♦ Q♦ to ship it and boot one out. He now has 92k.

Current Day 1B entries at 213, prize pool Php 13.9M, this is the last level to enter. Combined with Day 1A, prize pool is over 22.1M and 339 entries. Due to the lifting of the Taiwan travel ban to the Philippines, pro Pete Chen has arrived. He is a WPT Asia POY champion. Another player in the field is Singapore’s Graeme Siow.

At table 1, Lee Sukwon is chip leader with over 140k. We stuck around to try to get a hand on him and got lucky. He won two small pots back-to-back. First one, he raised to 1600 from utg, called by the big blind. At the flop 9♦ 7♠ J♥ , he c-bet 2500, bb check-folded.

Next hand, Sangjun Lee raised to 1500, called by two players, then bb Lee three-bet to 6500. No callers.

More have arrived, we are at 201 entries with Php 13.1M prize pool. Combine that with Day 1A, we are over the original Php 20M guarantee with 327 entries. Two more levels to join the action.

All in preflop, Junho Hyeon T♣ T♦ , Daewoong Song A♥ K♠ , board bricked. Out went Song.

3200 in the pot and an ace-high flop, Taijin Kim bet 3k, Huu Dung Nguyen jammed, Kim called. Kim had A-4 top pair, Nguyen K-9. No help on the turn and river of Nguyen. He busted and re-entered half an hour later. Kim up to 47k.

John Beveridge is just under 60k after winning a small pot against Hubert Spiess. A pot of 5200 preflop saw a board 7♦ K♥ Q♦ . One player checked, Beveridge bet 1500, Spiess called, first player folded. No bets on the 5♠ turn and the river came 7♣ . Beveridge bet 2k, Spiess called, Beveridge had A♥ 7♥ trips, Spiess showed one card Q♠ pair.

Utg Lester Edoc raised to 1100, big blind Vu Duc Trung defended. At the flop J♠ 2♠ K♣ , Trung check-called a c-bet of 800. Same on the 6♣ turn with 2200 bet by Edoc. Then with the river 5♦ , Edoc bet 5500, this time Trung check-folded.

Another level went by and the numbers continue to escalate. 184 is the current tally. Today’s prize pool is at Php 12M and rising, impressively breaking the guarantee this heat alone. Combined with Day 1A results, we are now over the original Php 20M guarantee and over 300 entries. Among the new arrivals were Victor Chong, Brett Kennedy, Flo Campomanes, Cao Ngoc Anh, Sven McDermott, and Christopher Mateo.

Chip leaders:

Edilberto Gopez 140k Johnny Moreno 124k John Tech 116k Takumi Matsuzaka 100k Hamish Crawshaw 90k

Players were getting up for the second break of the day but not for two players at the far table. Jinho Hong and Joseph Talamayan were in a hand. The board was 7♥ 6♣ J♣ 3♣ , Hong was all in and Talamayan called for his tournament life. Hong had A♣ 2♣ nut flush and Talamayan shook his head in disappointment while showing his Q♣ 8♣ lower flush. the river A♠ made no difference. Hong up to 78k.

Two players all in on a turn board 3♦ T♠ J♣ 6♣ , Alfonso Daja was ahead with T♥ 6♥ two pair, Felipe Quijano with top pair K♥ J♥ . When the river dropped J♦ , Quijano took the lead to bounce out a very upset Daja. Quijano with 36.5k.

Vu Duc Trung is back and looking to make it through after yesterday’s fall. His first bullet here didn’t pan out though. On a board K♥ Q♠ 5♦ 7♠ 6♦ , he was all in with K♦ Q♦ top two pair but Christos Vlahos had better with K♣ K♠ set. Vlahos up to 70k, Trung out then quickly re-entered.

5400 built up preflop, the cards ran Q♥ 4♥ 3♣ . Koji Takagi bet 2800, POY contender Si Yang Phua raised to 6700, Takagi tank-folded. Phua is sitting at the same table as the other POY contender Sim Jae Kyung aka Simba. Both are back from missing the mark at Day 1A.

20 more entries to bring the running total to 150 so far. Today’s pot is now at Php 9.2M. Among the new players were Si Yang Phua, Huu Dung Nguyen, and Vu Duc Trung. Chip leader is Edilberto Gopez with 150k.

John Tech and Seungmook Jung were all in on a flop J♥ T♥ 6♣ . Jung with Q♥ J♦ top pair, Tech with J♠ T♣ two pair, the turn 9♥ gave Jung a straight flush draw but with 3♣ on the river, Jung was eliminated. Tech up to 86k.

Johnny Moreno aka Johnnyvibes knocked out another player to bring him to 90k. His J♣ J♠ dominated 6♦ 6♣ throughout.

Vamerdino Magsakay claimed a pot that in turn sent Ronnie Bardah down then out. With 4800 in the pot, three players looked on a board A♠ T♥ 7♦ 8♥ . Bardah bet 3300, called by Huu Dung Nguyen, Magsakay check-raised to 10k, tank-called by Bardah, Nguyen folded. On the river 4♦ , Magsakay bet 14k, Bardah tank-called. Magsakay showed the straight with J♥ 9♥ , Bardah mucked. With less than 5k, Bardah busted on the next hand.

Getting to the table with a full board T♣ 2♥ 3♥ 8♣ A♥ and 37k in the pot, big blind Renato Villanueva raised 10k, button player tank-folded. Villanueva up to 90k.

Steadily climbing, 130 entries at the end of Level 4. Among the new arrivals was defending WPT Philippines champion Ying Lin Chua from Malaysia. Also pulling seats were Mike Takayama, John Tech, Linh Tran, Thomas Lee, Jinho Hong, Joseph Talamayan, Seungmook Jung, and just before the new round, Martin Gonzales.

A small pot of around 3k was in the middle when two players laid out huge bets on a flop 2♦ 9♣ Q♦ . One player had 9k out front, Adonis Carmona all in for 35.5k, he was eventually called. Player had 9♠ 9♥ set, Carmona with A♦ 9♦ flush draw, the turn came 3♠ , no help to Carmona but with the river 4♦ , he completed the flush and celebrated his win while his challenger filed out. Carmona with 74k.

POY joint leader Hamish Crawshaw delivered a double knockout unfortunately we missed the hand. He now has 90k.

Johnny Moreno aka johnnyvibes shipped a pot to rise to 101k. The hand opened with cutoff Renato Villanueva raising to 600, called by button Moreno, then three-bet to 1800 by the small blind. The flop was checked and the turn board was 9♠ J♣ 3♥ K♣ . Small blind led out, Villanueva raised to 6300, Moreno three-bet all in, sb all in, Villanueva folded.

Moreno Q♥ T♥ straight Sb J♠ J♦ set

The river A♠ didn’t improve the set to bust out. Villanueva down to around 40k.

First break of the day just completed. 104 entries so far, 97 seated. That puts today’s prize pool at Php 6.8M. Combined with Day 1A, we are well over the Php 12M guarantee. Among the new players joining the action were Lester Edoc, Linh Tran, Twitter personality Johnnyvibes, and Ronnie Bardah.

Chip leaders are Edilberto Gopez at 86k, Johnson Tan 79k, and Takumi Matsuzaka with 73k.

Four way action on a flop 9♥ 4♥ 5♠ with 2200 built preflop. Big blind Edgar Kim bet 1k, hijack Vincent Huang and button Ryan McAllister called. Small blind check-folded. On the turn T♦ , check by Kim, Huang bet 3k, called by McAllister and Kim. On the river 3♣ , Huang bet 5500, McAllister shoved (20k), Kim check-folded, Huang folded as well. McAllister at 43k.

Michael Kim Falcon was on his second bullet and had already lost just over half his starting stack when the rest went to Hamish Crawshaw. Crawshaw opened for 800, two players called, then Falcon shoved his 13.9k ammo. Crawshaw called, the rest bowed out. Falcon was dominated 8♥ 8♣ to Crawshaw’s K♠ K♦ . The flop gave some hope K♥ T♥ 6♥ for a possible flush but it didn’t materialize with the turn J♣ and river Q♦ . Crawshaw up to 77k.

Edilberto Gopez is off to a great start. He just won back-to-back pots to bring his stack to 86k. The first one was against Shota Nakanishi. With 12.1k in the pot and a flop 3♠ A♠ 2♠ showing, utg Nakanishi bet 6k, hijack Gopez called. On the turn 2♦ , action switched up with Gopez laying out 6k and Nakanishi check-calling. Nakanishi took charge and fired 14k on the river 6♠ , Gopez called. Nakanishi A♣ Q♥ two pair, Gopez won it with T♥ 9♠ flush.

Next hand Gopez raised to 600, called by two players. On the flop A♣ 2♠ 3♥ , Gopez bet 1100, cutoff Jhih Lou Wang called, bb check-folded. On the 8♦ turn, Wang bet 1100, Gopez check-raised to 4300, Wang called. The river 2♥ , Gopez bet 16k, Wang folded.

The room is filling up with new arrivals jumping in the second level. Another 38 turned up for a current tally of 85 . The Php 12M guarantee has been obliterated. We are well over Php 14M and rising. The original Php 20M guarantee will likely be reached as well. Among the latest arrivals were POY contenders Hamish Crawshaw and Sim Jae Kyung. Also out there are Phachara Wongwichit, Seitaro Aso, Edgar Kim, William Kang, Michael Mariakis, and Ryan McAllister. A♠ for the locals here are kickoff winner and 3rd placer Edilberto Gopez and Joseph Sia.

Heavy preflop action began with utg Hidekazu Tanaka raising to 800k, called by Michael Mariakis and Eum Mi Kwon. Button Seitaro Aso - 6 Max NLH champion - three-bet to 3300, Tanaka, Mariakis, and Kwon called. On the flop Q♠ Q♦ 4♥ , action was checked to Aso, he c-bet 3500, only Mariakis called. On the turn and river 7♣ and 9♥ , no bets. Mariakis showed T♣ T♠ , Aso mucked. Mariakis just over starting stack.

On a king high turn board, Takumi Matsuzaka {A-K) shoved and Michael Kim Falcon (K-Q) called for his tournament life. Both hit the king but Matzuka’s kicker held to the end.

With 11.4k in the pot and a board 6♣ Q♥ 4♥ 8♠ , bb Vincent Huang bet 7500, button Jiannan Yu called. On the river 8♣ , Huang shoved (17.3k), Yu tank-folded. Huang up to 43.7k, Yu down to 17k.

Great start! We are headed for a big turnout here. The first level has quickly gone with 47 entries and for a prize pool of Php 3M. Just Php 756k more to breach the Php 12M guarantee. Should happen soon!

Within the first half hour of play brought on the first casualty and it was Rehg Delos Reyes. one of the few ladies in the field. Prior to her fall, Delos Reyes lost on two pair to a set. This brought her to half stack of around 160 bbs however, she proceeded to lose that as well ten minutes later.

Here’s a list of some notable players already slugging it out. We have Jim Bonanno, Thijs Hilberts, Kim Hak Do, Anthony Abram, and just arriving was Michael Kim Falcon. Falcon has already won an event here. He took his seat next to Bonanno who exclaimed “Oh no! You’re sitting next to me? To my left?”