SHR Warmup ($5,000)

Building up the momentum for bigger action in the next two weeks, two-day SHR Warmup, drew in a solid 92 entries, sizing up a grand prize pool of $419,428. Day 1 concluded with only 15 players surviving the initial fifteen levels, and capped with Manuel Carvalho leading the Final Day charge.

With 14 guaranteed a payday, the bubble burst right at the start of Day 2 with Valeriano Toledano delivering the elimination. Martin Ng went with pocket fours for his last 9 BBs and ran smack into Toledano's rockets to crash out one spot shy of the money.

A great forecast of what lay ahead, Toledano eventually reached three-handed with the lead against day chip leader Carvalho and Viet superstar Nang Quang Nguyen. Shortest stacked Nguyen was the first to bow out after he risked his tournament life with an open ended straight draw and bricked the runout against Carvalho's aces. While Carvalho picked up a boost following the bust, Toledano remained with a substantial advantage onto the heads up duel. Despite deep stacks - a 92 big blind average, the match was over in less than twenty minutes, where it all came down to one key hand.

Toledano defended his big blind and read a flop 5♣ 5♥ 2♣ . A series of back and forth between the two saw Carvalho eventually call off for his entire 40 BBs with Q♦ Q♥ , up against Toledano's combo draw 4♣ 3♣ . Runout A♥ J♥ , instantly filled up Toledano's wheel straight, sealing the final victory for the Cambodia first-timer.

In a post-match interview, Toledano shared with SMP that he is primarily an online player and wasn't accustomed to the ante format. To overcome this, he decided to ramp up his aggression and take on a more assertive strategy. On the final deal, Toledano admitted he felt behind but his instincts told him otherwise, pushing him to risk it all. His bold decision paid off by mounts, earning him the largest series payout to date at $114,767, along with his first-ever trophy.