Day 3 of the Manila Megastack 19 fell on a Saturday, and just like most weekends – PokerStars LIVE promised to make it a fun-filled day with a super offering of poker events at Okada Manila in Manila, Philippines. A lot of poker events equals a lot of chances to grab your share of the PHP 37 Million Guaranteed prize pool in 40 numbered events and 11 qualifiers.
The day opened with a Deepstack PHP 1M Guaranteed that brought in 213 registrants and pushed the prize pool beyond the guarantee to PHP 2,181,802 with the top 31 players making it in the money. The biggest payout always goes to the champion. In this event, that was none other than Filipino poker pro Alvir Incocentes, who took home PHP 451,000 (~USD 8,100) and a PokerStars champion’s trophy.
Playing simultaneously was the Kickoff PHP 3M Guaranteed Day 2 Final- the first of many multi-day events. The Day 2 final saw the return of top 50 from 3 qualifying flights to compete for the championship. All 50 who returned were already guaranteed a minimum payout, but of course, all eyes were on the champion’s purse.
Claiming that lion’s share of the prize was Kickoff champion Sham Wing Sheuk, who topped 325 players over two days of poker. Sheuk won for himself a PokerStars spade trophy, a cash prize of PHP 830,000 (~USD 15,000) and a PHP 200,000 APPT package that includes a few nights stay at Okada Manila and a seat to the APPT Championship Main Event this October.
As one multi-day event ends, so begins another. The Mystery Bounty (PHP 2M Guaranteed) kicked off the Day 1A flight with 40 entries registered. The top 10 will move on to the Day 2 Final along with the other qualifiers from the Day 1B flight, who play the next day. Of the 10 survivors from the Day 1A flight, the biggest chip leader was Daijiro Tomoto with 421,000. All survivors, who will be carrying over their stacks to Day 2, are guaranteed a minimum payout, but all will be looking to climb higher in the payout ladder. As an added bonus, players have a chance to win more prizes by earning a Mystery Bounty for every player knocked out on the final day.
The events were also diversified for Day 3, adding more excitement with the mix of different poker event options. There was a Pot Limit Omaha that drew 52 entries and was won by Siddharth Mishra, receiving a champion’s payout of PHP 173,000 (~USD 3,100) and a PokerStars trophy.
Another fun side event was the Showtime Hold’em, where players who fold would have to expose their hole cards to be viewed for the duration of the hand by those still in the hand. It certainly makes for a different strategy and a unique kind of fun. Emerging as Showtime Hold’em champion was Jonathan Studer, who bested a field of 35 players to bag home a trophy and a PHP 154,500 (~USD 2,700) first prize payout.
Of course, just like any Saturday – the poker action for the day went well into the witching hours of the next day. The players might be tired and poker hungover, but Manila Megastack has other events that will have them racing out of bed on a Sunday.
Article by JJ Duque
Links:
Manila Megastack 19 – Schedule / Player Guide
Manila Megastack 19 – News
Manila Megastack 19 – Daily Updates
Manila Megastack – Photos
Manila Megastack – Festival Results
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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