WPT Philippines: Main Event Day 1A brings 126 entries; Jaeho Kim sets the bar
After eight days of side event action at WPT Philippines, the Main Event arrived and with it a turnout of 126 entries (109 uniques, 17 re-entries) for Day 1A. This was a strong turnout considering the travel ban and quarantines imposed in the region. Another piece of good news, the Philippine government lifted the ban on traveling to and from Taiwan. That should bring in more players. Lastly, theprize pool. It is now at Php 8.25M and with Day 1B still to come, players can expect the Php 12 million guarantee to be smashed. We’ve got all the info below including chip counts and other useful numbers.
Day 1A closed with 24 players led by Korea’s Jaeho Kimwith 312,000. One of Kim‘s victims was Asia Pacific Player of the Year contender, Sim Jae Kyung aka Simba.
Bagging up a close second was Guam’s Julien Weymouth with 290,000. He would have had more than Kim at bagging had he not lost the last hand of the day to Vikaash Shah.
Another player advancing was Filipino David Erquiaga with 189,500. Erquiaga has been running deep at major events since last year, he is due for a big win. If Day 1B matches up with Day 1A (at the minimum), Erquiaga will be in contention in the POY race.
On the opposite end of the pole were players that missed the mark. Among them was POY joint leader Hamish Crawshaw who fired two bullets, WPT Cambodia finalist Si Yang Phua, Linh Tran, Henrik Tollefsen, Richard Marquez, and Huu Dung Nguyen. These players all have Day 1B to look forward to.
Read up on the Day 1A action via our live posts.
Main Event info
Dates: February 14 to 17
Venue: Coral Lounge at Okada Manila
Buy-in: Php 75,000 (~US$ 1,500)
Guarantee: Php 12,000,000 (~US$ 237,300)
Re-entry: one allowed per day
Day 1A: 24 advanced out of 126 entries (completed)
Day 1B: Saturday, February 15 at 12pm
Day 2: Sunday, February 16 at 1pm
Final Day: Monday, February 17 at 1pm
Starting stack: 30,000
Opening blinds: 100 – 100 ante 100
Starting day level duration: 40 minutes
Registration: closes at the start of Level 10
Bagging time: end of Level 14
Day 2 and Final day level duration: 60 minutes
Final heads up level duration: 30 minutes
Day 1A chip counts – 24 players
| Last Name | First Name | Country | Chips |
| Kim | Jaeho | Korea | 312,000 |
| Weymouth | Julien | Guam | 290,000 |
| Morales | Francesco | Italy | 252,000 |
| Chargualaf | Joshua | Usa | 249,000 |
| Garberg | Markus | Norway | 247,500 |
| Kim | Kunwoo | Korea | 239,000 |
| Gulbrandsen | Simen | Norway | 199,500 |
| Ragozzini | Sean | Australia | 194,000 |
| Erquiaga | David | Philippines | 189,500 |
| Sammarco | Daniel | Usa | 181,000 |
| Berg | Andre | Norway | 160,000 |
| Schade | Sebastian | Germany | 154,000 |
| Uhara | Motokatsu | Japan | 138,000 |
| Obara | Jun | Japan | 136,000 |
| Jeremias | Joseroy | Philippines | 128,500 |
| Shah | Vikaash | India | 127,500 |
| Fujihisa | Naoya | Japan | 125,000 |
| Han | Yeongpil | Korea | 119,000 |
| Rivera | Marc | Philippines | 78,500 |
| Akahori | Kaname | Japan | 74,500 |
| Tolon | Wilson | Philippines | 71,500 |
| Edoc | Redentor | Philippines | 59,000 |
| Chen | Zhining | China | 51,500 |
| Kikiuchi | Masahiro | Japan | 18,500 |
Average stack: 157,500
Chips in play: 3,780,000
