Emanuel Florendo Wins Maiden Title At Manila Super Series 21 Main Event

After just over 30 levels of Day 2 play, Emmanuel Florendo overcame a field of 705 entrants, and fully dominated the final table to be crowned the Manila Super Series 21 Main Event champion here at Okada Manila, Philippines. Not only was this Florendo's career first title, it was also his largest career payout of ₱2,066,078 (~$35,238). Along with the cash prize, Florendo received an APPT Main Event package worth ₱125,000.

After a swingy heads up, Canadian player Christian Lortie defeated Filipino player Jiego Erquiaga to lock up the Manila Super Series Kick Off title and a cash prize of ₱560,000. In addition, Lortie also received a seat worth ₱80,0000 to APPT Manila. In a post-win interview with the champ, he shared,

"It feels good to win! I almost messed up the heads up. I made a pretty big mistake one time. It cost me alot of chips but I managed to climb back and win in the end. I'm the luckiest player at the table."

The Superstack event drew 105 runners to edge past its guarantee and build a sweeter prize pool of ₱1,120,350 (~$19,180). Out of the 15 players that reached ITM, USA's Fred Feridoun navigated to glory, finishing off the last two players in his path. He eliminated Emmanuel Segismundo in 3rd place with J♦ J♥ set over A♠ 6♥ then faced Haruki Seiha at heads up. Seiha quickly doubled up to steal the lead on a flip with K♣ 8♦ trips eights over 7♣ 7♥ . Feridoun answered back winning A♠ Q♠ over A♣ 3♣ then closed it out with another A♥ Q♠ dominating Q♥ 5♣ .

In just four heads up hands, India's Anant Acharya defeated UK's Ashley Patterson to hoist his first-ever PokerStars spadie. Anant outlasted the 134 entry field of the Deepstack Event for a payout of ₱356,780 (~$6,105).

The most critical hand was Anant's K♥ Q♣ spiking a pair on a board 7♦ 6♠ Q♥ 4♦ 8♣ to double up through Patterson's J♦ J♣ . Two hands later, Anant claimed the rest of Patterson's chips.

Canadian player Marc Gagne closed out the Mystery Bounty event defeating Marco Espela at heads up. Despite both players sitting on 40 and 30 big blinds, they engaged in a preflop battle initiated by Gagne then called Espela's shove. Both players had an ace with Gagne's kicker one point higher. Espela paired up on the flop then was burned by Gagne's higher pair on the river.

For the biggest bounty, it was hot-handed Anthony Castro who spun and found the biggest bounty of ₱140,000 early in the day. He reached his fourth final table, finishing in 6th place.

Local runner Anthony Castro emerged victorious at the Survivor Knockout games and earned the PHP 216,380 (~USD 3,705) top prize along with seven additional bounty tokens, bringing up his total to PHP 391,380 (~USD 6,705). Castro has had a great run at this season's Manila Super Series, having already landed two final table appearances prior to his victory. Third time's the charm as they say, Castro closed out the win following a noon to midnight grind and finally came out with a trophy in hand.

Festival closer Mini Main Event gave players one last chance to capture a spadie and turn a ₱5,000 (~$85) buy in into a substantial payout. With 174 turning up, it built a prize pool of ₱1,856,580 (~$31,660). Out of the 23 players that monied, it was Russia's Nikolai Babushkin claiming the trophy and a cool ₱203,880 (~$3,477) heads up deal payout.

After Babushkin eliminated Kazuki Yamashita in 3rd place with pocket Threes spiking the two outer to defeat pocket Eights, he amassed a towering stack that Masahiro Nakamura could not crack. On the third showdown, Babushkin nailed it shut with 9♦ 7♠ over 4♣ 5♠ on a board 3♠ 9♠ 2♥ 2♦ 3♥ with the shoves seen at the flop.