Manila Super Series 19 Main Event shatters PHP 10M (~USD 180K) guarantee, 95 runners advance to Day 2 led by Lenart Ecarma

Boasting a generous PHP 10,000,000 (~USD 180,000) guarantee to start the year, PokerStars LIVE’s Manila Super Series 19 Main Event at Okada Manila, Philippines welcomed a staggering total of 649 entries on the felt. More than half of this attendance was recorded just yesterday with Flight C & D collecting close to 400 entries to shatter the guarantee and generate an PHP 11,079,728 (~USD 200,000) prize pool. Only 95 runners return to the tables with Flight A chip leader Lenart Ecarma still leading the penultimate order.

Today’s Main Event action resumes on Level 16: 2,000 – 5,000 ante 5,000 with blinds playing through 40 minute blind intervals all the way down to the final table. Also on this Saturday’s agenda are side events: SuperStack, Super Knockout, Super Series Turbo Flight D, Super Series High Roller Day 1, Super Stack Hyper Turbo, and lastly, Super Hyper Turbo to cap the night.

Main Event Flight C & D Turbo Recap

The four starting flights wrapped up across three days of play and saw 95 survivors advance through, making the minimum payout of PHP 30,000 (~USD 540). Flight C headlined yesterday’s schedule and saw the largest field at 268 entries turn up on the felt. An additional 40 qualifiers joined the list with Metro Team Pro Czardy Rivera topping the Flight C field. Rivera took advantage of bubble time to amass more chips and bring in a 636,000 stack (127 BB), just below Ecarma in the overall pecking order. Mongolia’s Ganbold Battulga also qualified for a second time, stacking a much bigger 507,000 (101 BB) to start the Day 2 festivities.

The flight concluded following Sim Jae Kyung’s exit as the bubble having lost a blind vs blind battle against Edmil Marcelo. Sim called off for his entire 32 BB stack with and ran smack into Marcelo’s. With Flight C in the books, Flight D Turbo was also drawing down to its last few eliminations and saw South Korea’s Song Sang Yoon in the lead across the 19-qualifier pack. Song, already with a healthy stack, delivered the bubble after busting Jeffrey Pardales in a blind vs blind battle as well. Song called a 10 BB jam from the big blind with and crushed Pardales’ after running a flush on board.

Wrapping up the qualifying rounds, all eyes are now on the hefty PHP 2,200,000 (~USD 39,635) top prize with only 95 runners left in the game. Looking to bag another PokerStars Main Event victory are previous champions Jason Kyle Magbanua, William Ysmael, Joemark Vasay, and Lester Edoc. Decorated local pros Renniel Galvez, Renato Villanueva Jr, Czar Ian Marcos, and Christopher Mateo similarly make the list and will appear back in the action today.

Dates: January 3-7, 2024
Buy in: PHP 20,000 (~USD 360)

Guarantee: PHP 10,000,000 (~USD 180,000)

Prize pool: PHP 11,079,728 (~USD 200,000)

Entries: 649

ITM: 96 players

Flight A: 93 entries, 14 qualified
Flight B: 162 entries, 24 qualified

Flight C: 268 entries, 40 qualified

Flight D Turbo: 126 entries, 19 qualified

Day 2: 95 runners
Final Day: Januar 7, 2024, Sunday

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Flight A Recap
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