Lester Edoc Bags APPT Championship Day 1A Chip Lead

PokerStars LIVE Manila launched its first ever APPT Championship at Okada Manila in Manila, Philippines. Players from around the globe took to the Day 1A felt and after eleven levels of play, 165 ponied up the PHP 165,000 (~US$ 2,850) buy in with only 59 further advancing to Day 2. This was the first of two starting days on schedule. The APPT Manila Championship guarantees a prize pool of at least PHP 55,000,000 (~US$ 960,850). There is only one starting day left to have a stake at the inaugural event title.

Familiar face in the crowd, Filipino Lester Edoc, stood out as the big chip leader with a commanding stack of 502,000 chips, being the only player who crossed half a million.  Ireland’s Patrick Clarke came in a distant second with 355,000 while Australian John Edward Perry ran up to third rank with 338,500.

Other players also making the cut were WSOP champions Motoyoshi Okamura and Carlos Chang, Thai top player Punnat Punsri, Korean high roller Namhyung Kim, James Mendoza, Marc Rivera, Quang Huy Nguyen, and Gary Thompson. 

Flight B is yet to be played with the survivors of that flight joining the 59 of Flight A to continue their competition into Day 2 on October 25. Those who make it to the end of Day 2 will come back for another round of poker on Day 3, October 26. Those hopefuls will play until a final table is formed. The final table players will then return on October 27 to determine a champion.

Apart from the guaranteed prize pool of at least PHP 55,000,000 (~US$ 960,850), PokerStars will also be awarding the top three finishers a PHP 175,000 (~US$ 3,000) APPT Cambodia Package which includes a seat and accommodation to the main event.

Top 10 in chips

Lester Edoc – 502,000
Patrick Clarke – 355,000
John Edward Perry – 338,500
Charles Ed Pansoy – 290,500
Akinobu Maeda – 263,500
Motoyoshi Okamura – 258,500
Namhyung Kim – 254,000
Aladin Reskallah – 251,000
Thijs Hilberts – 238,500
James Mendoza – 231,000

Read up on the Day 1A action and view all the chip counts via the SMP Live Updates.