Dakota Anderson Claims GOP Manila Main Event Title for a Career-Best PHP 6.3 Million (~$101,000)

The fifth edition of the Gods of Poker live series has crowned a new champion in its flagship event. Dakota Anderson won the 2026 GOP Manila Main Event at City of Dreams Manila , topping a 383-entry field for PHP 6,304,500 (~USD 101,322) after a final day that stretched across more than 200 hands.

#27 GOP Main Event (82,500 PHP)

Total Prize USD

$485,970

Total Prize

30M PHP

Guaranteed

30M PHP

Entries

383

ITM

54

#	Payout	Player	SPI
1	₱6,304,500 $102,125	DA Dakota Anderson United States of America	2,118.70
2	₱3,840,600 $62,215	JM Joris Michl Netherlands	1,498.15
3	₱2,600,100 $42,120	MR Marc Rivera Philippines	1,223.23
4	₱1,886,100 $30,555	LE Lester Edoc Philippines	1,059.35
5	₱1,436,700 $23,275	JM John Matsuda Japan	947.51
6	₱1,134,600 $18,380	AZ Aleksei Zhukov Russia	864.96
7	₱921,900 $14,935	TC Thanh Cao Nguyen Viet Nam	800.79
8	₱765,900 $12,405	DB Dmitrii Belikov Russia	749.07
9	₱648,300 $10,500	JH Joven Huerto Philippines	706.23

Check the 54 Payouts & Results ...

A Comeback Story, On and Off the Felt

Anderson’s own poker story reads almost as improbably as his final table. The American had cashed in Manila as far back as 2017 before his Hendon Mob resume went quiet for seven years.

His return to the record books came right back here in Manila, in November 2025, and a string of three dozen cashes across Asia followed, including a final table finish in Vietnam earlier this year for what was then his second-largest career score. The Main Event win nearly triples that best result.

“Honestly, overwhelmed,” Anderson said after the win. “I didn’t expect to win until I won. I was just waiting to lose because it’s never easy. But I pulled it off. It’s just surreal, to be honest.”

The victory carried extra weight given the layoff. “I’ve been retired from poker for a while, and I saw how Asia is just exploding with poker, and I wanted to see if I still was what I believe to be one of the best players,” he said. “This pretty much shows me that I’m still great. I’ve only been playing now for about a year after a seven-year break, and coming back and winning this just means I’ve done it. I’m still good, I guess.”

From 5-to-1 Underdog to Champion

Anderson entered heads-up play against Joris Michl at a roughly 5-to-1 chip disadvantage. The Dutchman , a longtime Manila resident, looked to be cruising toward the gauntlet – but Anderson had a card up his sleeve the rest of the field likely didn’t see coming.

“Back in the day when I used to play, I was a heads-up professional,” he explained. “I’m from America, so they outlawed PokerStars, so I had to play on all these sketchy sites, and I was one of the top heads-up players. Playing heads-up against a tournament player is a dream come true, because most tournament players don’t study heads-up at all. So I figured as soon as I got chips I could work with, I would dominate – and I did.”

Anderson admitted to misreading his own cards on a key bluff. “There was a crazy one where I actually misread my hand,” he said.

“I had king-seven offsuit, but I thought I had the king of spades – I actually had the king of clubs. On the turn there were three spades and an ace, and I check-raised him and got him to fold. I thought I had the nut flush blocker with the nut flush, so I could bluff him. After the hand was over, I looked down and I didn’t. I just got a bluff through in a sick spot.”

By the time the deficit had been erased, Anderson was into a rhythm few of the earlier chip leaders could match. “This is the best structure I’ve ever played, by miles,” he said of GOP’s Cronus Structure .

“I went wire to wire and won without getting a single suckout. Not one. And I got sucked out on – I had kings against ace-jack. The structure was just so good that I was able to navigate without much luck. How many people can say they won a Main Event without a single suckout? I’ve never heard of it before, and I just did it.”

Final Day Action

Sangjin An returned with fewer than six big blinds and was first out inside ten minutes, his queen-nine missing against Rivera’s king-six. Mc Yeldarb Mantos then jammed a suited queen, and Michl called with ace-king to recoup some early losses against Lester Edoc , bringing the field to the final table bubble.

Nguyen doubled through Manoj Pentakota to escape danger, and Aleksei Zhukov doubled through Edoc. Pentakota tripled once on his short stack but ultimately busted to set the nine-handed final table.

The Final Table

Joven Huerto , the shortest stack at the start, went first when his ace-ten ran into Matsuda’s pocket kings. Dimitrii Belikov doubled once but stayed the short stack as blinds climbed, eventually falling all-in with king-ten against Michl’s pocket tens.

Michl found pocket aces to send Nguyen out drawing dead in 7th. Anderson then doubled through Zhukov, who busted in the very next hand to fall in 6th.

Michl added another knockout soon after, flopping top pair with ace-queen against Matsuda’s king-queen to leave a gutshot unanswered and send Matsuda to the rail in 5th.

Four-handed play turned when Anderson jammed ace-jack and Edoc called with king-queen, ending Edoc’s grip on the chip lead he’d held all day. Michl overtook him after Edoc paid off an ace-high flush, and extended the lead further with a well-timed value hand before the next break.

Edoc’s stack didn’t survive the restart, his king-queen three-bet jam running into Michl’s pocket sixes to bring the field to three. Rivera followed soon after, his top two pair no match for Michl’s flopped top set with pocket kings, setting up the Anderson-Michl heads-up battle.

Heads-Up

Heads-up play was a cagey affair, with Anderson jamming repeatedly to keep his dominated stack afloat. The first time he was called, Anderson had top pair on the flop, but Michl held plenty of equity with an open-ended straight and flush draw. Michl made an inferior pair on the turn, and the river bricked, doubling Anderson.

A couple of hands later, Michl was the at-risk player with both revealing top pair – there was a sweat with 15 outs on the turn, but Michl found no reprieve and Anderson claimed the victory.

Anderson Reflects on the Win

Manila has become something of a second home for Anderson. “Manila is my favorite city in the world,” he said. “Everybody is so friendly, and I’m a climber – there’s great climbing gyms here. My girlfriend’s also from here, so I try to spend as much time as I can. The poker community here is so welcoming and warm, it’s my favorite.”

As for what’s next, Anderson’s plans are less poker and more crypto. “I’m pretty much all in on crypto and cryptocurrency,” he said. “My time is the only thing I have left because I believe in it so much – I started playing poker so I could invest into Bitcoin with my winnings. So I want to just invest it straight into Bitcoin.”

Celebrations, for now, would have to wait for food. “Honestly, I have not eaten – when I play, I don’t eat, because I can’t concentrate with a full stomach,” he said. “I’m pretty lightheaded and completely worn out, but I’m stoked to go get dinner with my girl. Maybe Korean barbecue, I don’t know, whatever’s open.”

All data and images courtesy of Gods of Poker.

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