The crown jewel of the Manila Megastack 17 held at PokerStars LIVE’s hub in Okada Manila, Philippines, recorded a great start on its first day on the felt. Flight A of the PHP 10,000,000 (~USD 180,830) guaranteed Main Event played down today with 26 players advancing through to Day 2. India’s Shah Chirag snagged the lead from Malaysia’s William Teoh late in the game and came out to top the field once the flight wrapped up.
Manila Megastack – Coverage
Manila Megastack – Festival Results
Manila Megastack – Schedule
Two more flights complete the schedule with Flight B slated to run through today at 13:00. Registration will remain open across ten levels, closing down at 20:10 to wrap up the total flight entries. Players are welcome to re-enter as many times as they wish and are allowed to qualify multiple times with the Best Stack Forward format in place.
Main Event Flight A Recap
A strong attendance was seen in today’s Main Event festivities with a total of 167 entries collected for its first flight on schedule. By the time registration closed at Level 10, only a third of the field was left in the games. Flight chip leader Shah Chirag was already sitting among the top ranks, stacking just behind William Teoh. It wasn’t until the flight’s last level in did Shah overtake Teoh for the lead. In a four bet pot preflop between the two, both players found their chips pile high in the middle on 
, Shah with 
against Teoh’s 
. The pot ended up going to Shah with his top pair, better kicker earning him the 111 big blind pot.
Following closely in second is Singapore’s Tai Weiliang who bagged an equally healthy stack of 370,000 to start the Day 2 games. Tai amassed his stack, having won a cooler with pocket kings against Liu Zhiqiang’s ace-king, as well as delivering the bubble to cap the day. The final hand saw short stacked Juanito Ibarra shove his remaining 10 big blinds with 
, called by Tai with 
. Ibarra in rough shape, exited as the day’s bubble shortly after, guaranteeing the rest a minimum payout to conclude the flight.
Date: December 7 – 11, 2023
Buy-in: PHP 35,000 (~USD 630)
Guarantee: PHP 10,000,000 (~USD 180,830)
ITM: 15% of the field
Flight A: 167 entries, 26 qualified
Flight B: December 8, Friday
Flight C: December 9, Saturday
Day 2: December 10, Sunday
Final Day: December 11, Monday
Top Chip Counts
| Pos. | Player | Flag | Chip Count |
| 1 | Shah Chirag | India | 402,000 |
| 2 | Tai Weiliang | Singapore | 370,000 |
| 3 | Jeon Seungsoo | Korea, South | 298,500 |
| 4 | Dela Cruz John | Philippines | 294,000 |
| 5 | Liu Zhiqiang | China | 277,500 |
| 6 | Chong Kai Shing Peter | Philippines | 273,500 |
| 7 | Nagy Andrej | Slovakia | 266,500 |
| 8 | Sayo John Carlo | Philippines | 258,000 |
| 9 | Teoh William | Malaysia | 255,500 |
| 10 | Seshimoto Sayaka | Japan | 213,500 |
