The 15th edition of the PokerStars LIVE Manila Megastack is in full swing at Okada Manila, Philippines. Doors blasted open on November 28 with a 2-day No Limit Hold’em (NLH) Kickoff event and concluded with South Korea’s Seong Jeon besting the 410 entrants to nab his share of the ₱5,249,640 (~$92,820) prize pool amounting to ₱856,140 (~$15,138). This was Jeon’s first ever title outside of home soil.
Final Table Payouts – ₱15,000 NLH Kickoff Event
| Place | Player | Prize |
| 1 | Seong Jeon (South Korea) | ₱856,140 |
| 2 | Dzmitry Budai (Russia) | ₱800,000 |
| 3 | Jonathan Tek Wye Looi (Malaysia) | ₱459,000 |
| 4 | Randee Clybouw (Philippines) | ₱364,500 |
| 5 | Meng Xuan Ang (Singapore) | ₱286,000 |
| 6 | Hok Hei Ngai (Hong Kong) | ₱224,000 |
| 7 | Akitoshi Okuda (Japan) | ₱168,500 |
| 8 | Alvin Jeff Sembrano (Philippines) | ₱119,500 |
| 9 | Rommel Angeles (Philippines) | ₱95,500 |
The opening event was followed by a ₱10 KBuy-in NLH Freezeout that drew 80 players who competed over the ₱682,880 (~$12,075) prize pool. Ahmed Ibrahimi of Morocco emerged the victor for his first ever spade trophy and ₱187,300 (~$3,317) to bring his total live earnings to over US$360k.
Payouts – ₱10,000 NLH Freezeout
| Place | Player | Prize |
| 1 | Ahmed Ibrahimi (Morocco) | ₱187,300 |
| 2 | Kento Chogo (Japan) | ₱133,600 |
| 3 | Edgar Asehan (Philippines) | ₱87,500 |
| 4 | Maggy Mae Cenon (Philippines) | ₱67,300 |
| 5 | Raymundo Gomez (Philippines) | ₱53,300 |
| 6 | Darren Yu (Philippines) | ₱41,700 |
| 7 | Keith Basso (USA) | ₱32,800 |
| 8 | Takayuki Fukagawa (Japan) | ₱25,700 |
| 9 | Hyeonggon Im (South Korea) | ₱19,480 |
| 10 | Joseroy Jeremias Jr (Philippines) | ₱17,100 |
| 11 | Emmanuel Segismundo (Philippines) | ₱17,100 |
The series runs until December 5 in Okada Manila, Philippines, spanning 17 events and a total guaranteed prize pool of ₱17 Million (~$300,585). With the searing opening, it is only proper to end the series with a much larger boom.
The much-anticipated Main Event will book-end the series with three Day 1 heats starting on December 2, culminating with the final table on December 5. Buy in is ₱35,000 (~$620) with a single re-entry allowed per day. Heavy competition can be expected over the ₱10 Million (~$176,815) guaranteed prize pool and the 2023 APPT Event Package worth ₱100K for the winner. If the Kickoff event was any indication of what’s to come, then that prize pool is bound to reach a mouthwatering level.
PokerStars LIVE Manila Megastack – Full Schedule and Player Guide
*Article by Aris Aquino
*All images from PokerStars LIVE Manila
Tricia David
Tricia David has long experience as a recreational poker player and has been covering poker events since 2010 for numerous outfits in Asia. She spent one year working part time with Poker Portal Asia then became editor and lead writer for all event coverage of the Philippine Poker Tour (PPT). Under the PPT, she overlooked content for their website, and produced live updates on all their events. In addition, she served as the live and online events website content writer for the Asian Poker Tour. Currently, she does live events reporting in Asia for online news site Somuchpoker and is also one of their news contributors.
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