WPT Philippines: Main Event smashes guarantee; 344 entries, 79 advanced to Day 2 with Zheko Dinev leading
Amid travel bans and quarantines, WPT Philippines went on as planned at Okada Manila. The past two days were dedicated to entering the Main Event where a Php 12 million guarantee was on the table.
Despite numerous cancellations by avid supporters, the featured event drew a solid 344 total entries to crush the guarantee for a much richer prize pool worth Php 22,523,400 (~US$445,517). For the eventual champion, Php 4,812,000 (~US$95,182)awaits.
Let’s have a look at the numbers.
Day 1A: 126 entries
Day 1B: 218 entries
Total entries: 344
Buy-in: Php 75,000 (~US$ 1,500)
Prize pool: Php 22,523,400 (~US$ 445,400)
ITM: 43 places
1st prize: Php 4,812,000 (~US$ 95,200)
Now that both starting days have completed, 79 players head to Day 2 taking place on Sunday, February 16.
Day 1A: 24 players
Day 1B: 55 players
Total Day 2 qualifiers: 79 players
Starting time: 1pm
Opening blinds: 1500 – 3000 ante 3000
Level duration: 60 minutes
Bagging time: Final table (9 players)
Chips in play: 10,320,000
Average stack: 130,632
Top 5 players
Asia Pacific Season XVIII Player of the Year race
Among the qualifiers are two players in contention for the top spot in the Asia Pacific Season XVIII Player of the Year race, Si Yang Phua and David Erquiaga.
Si Yang Phua will need to reach at least 4th place and David Erquiaga must finish at least 2nd place to overtake the leaders Hamish Crawshaw, Hari Varma, and Brian Tougias all with 1500 points each. The latter two were unable to make the the trip however Crawshaw did attend missing the mark on both entry days. Also in the field was Sim Jae Kyung aka Simba. He was ranked 7th with 1263 points but he too failed to advance.
The Somuchpoker team will continue to bring you Live Updates on the Main Event action including recaps, results, photos, and videos of the ongoing festival. So stick with us!