A budding hub for live poker, Manila, Philippines is continuing to cement its rightful place in the tournament scene with nonstop great value action month after month. Just following last June’s Asia Pacific Poker Tour (APPT) Open Manila held at Okada Casino, major operator PokerStars is back again with two full festivals – Manila Super Series 15 and APPT Manila, this coming July. The first of two begins in less than a week while the latter is not scheduled until the end of the month extending up to early August. Scroll down below for all the details and full schedule of events for both series.
Manila Super Series 15 kicks off in 5 days
Set to run its fifth series in the city for the year, PokerStars LIVE Asia is hosting yet another Manila Super Series this coming July 5-11, 2022 at its Manila homebase, Okada Casino. The fifteenth edition boasts a similar PhP 5,000,000 (~USD 90,981) in total prize guarantees across its week-long schedule. Twelve tournaments fill the interesting lineup of events with its Main Event showcasing a PhP 3 million (~USD 54,588) guarantee. Buy-ins range from an affordable Php 2,500 – Php 30,000 (~USD 45 – 545) for its biggest highlight of the series.
The festival’s previous edition which ran last February of this year saw local runner Joe Mark Vasay take home the lion’s share of the PhP 5.2M (~USD 94,620) Main Event prize pool amounting to PhP 720,000 (~USD 13,101). Due to the ongoing pandemic and shortage of international players at that time, the series still smashed its combined guarantee to more than double in value, recording 1,370 cumulative entries across 14 events. With Covid-19 restrictions more relaxed at this point in time, higher numbers and results are expected to follow in next week’s festivities.
Manila Super Series 15 Schedule of Events
| Time | Event # | Tournament Name | Buy-in (PhP) |
| Tuesday, July 5 | |||
| 15:00 | 1 | Warm-up NLH – Day 1A Play to ITM – Re-Entry ₱1 Million Guarantee | ₱6,000 (5,280+720) |
| 19:00 | 1 | Warm-up NLH – Day 1B Play to ITM – Re-Entry ₱1 Million Guarantee | ₱6,000 (5,280+720) |
| Wednesday, July 6 | |||
| 13:00 | 2 | ₱3,500 NLH – Re-Entry (₱300,000 Guarantee) | ₱3,500 (3,080+420) |
| 14:00 | 1 | Warm-up – Day 2 Final | |
| 20:00 | 3 | ₱10,000 NLH Turbo Freezeout | ₱10,000 (8,800+1,200 |
| Thursday, July 7 | |||
| 15:00 | 4 | Main Event Day 1A Play to ITM – Re-Entry ₱3 Million Guarantee | ₱15,000 (13,500+1,500) |
| 20:00 | 5 | ₱10,000 NLH Knockout Turbo [₱5K Bounty] – Single Re-entry | ₱10,000 (8,800+1,200) |
| Friday, July 8 | |||
| 15:00 | 4 | Main Event Day 1B Play to ITM – Re-Entry ₱3 Million Guarantee | ₱15,000 (13,500+1,500) |
| 20:00 | 6 | ₱15,000 NLH Deepstack Turbo Single Re-entry | ₱15,000 (13,500+1,500) |
| Saturday, July 9 | |||
| 15:00 | 4 | Main Event Day 1C Play to ITM – Re-Entry ₱3 Million Guarantee | ₱15,000 (13,500+1,500) |
| 20:00 | 7 | ₱30,000 NLH Megastack Freezeout | ₱30,000 (27,000+3,000) |
| 00:00 | 8 | ₱20,000 NLH Midnight Super Knockout Turbo [₱10K Bounty]- Re-Entry | ₱20,000 (18,000+2,000) |
| Sunday, July 10 | |||
| 13:00 | 9 | Megastack – Re-Entry (₱500,000 Guarantee) | ₱6,000 (5,280+720) |
| 15:00 | 4 | Main Event – Day 2 | |
| 17:00 | 10 | ₱10,000 NLH Knockout Turbo [₱2K Bounty] – Re-Entry | ₱10,000 (8,800+1,200) |
| Monday, July 11 | |||
| 15:00 | 11 | ₱2,500 NLH – Re-Entry (₱200,000 Guarantee) | ₱2,500 (2,200+300) |
| 15:00 | 4 | Main Event – Final | |
| 20:00 | 12 | ₱5,000 NLH DeepStack Freezeout Turbo | ₱5,000 (4,400+600) |
APPT Manila: Four weeks to go!
Next on PokerStars LIVE Asia’s calendar is the APPT Manila series set to run this July 29 through August 7, 2022 for another round of even bigger action. The 8-day schedule comes in after its successful opening series held earlier this June, this time for over PhP 30 million (~USD 545,886) in guarantees across its 26-event lineup. The bulk of this massive prize pool falls into its multi-day key tournaments listed below with this year’s APPT Main Event featuring the most impressive guarantee.
APPT Main Event
Date/s: August 4-7, 2022
Buy-in: PhP 65,000 (~USD 1,182)
Prize pool: PhP 20,000,000 Guaranteed (~USD 363,977)
Buy-ins for the festival also see a slight boost from its APPT Open Manila event with price tags ranging from as low as PhP 5,000 (~USD 90) to as high as PhP 500,000 (~USD 9,098) for the Super High Roller tournament. While the trip may be heavy on the bankroll for some, the festival remains to offer multiple daily satellites throughout the schedule for those interested in scoring cheaper seats to the series’ key events.
Recently concluded opening festival already saw a boosted PhP 16,102,880 (~US$ 304,300) prize pool where 464 runners from 28 different countries turned up to compete for the top prize. After four days of action however, it was Norway’s Henrik Tollefsen who captured the worthy payout of Php 3,215,900 (~US$ 60,850) and his career 5th PokerStars title.
APPT Manila Key tournaments & Schedule of Events
APPT Kickoff
Date/s: July 29-31, 2022
Buy-in: PhP 20,000 (~USD 363)
Prize pool: PhP 3,000,000 Guaranteed (~USD 54,588)
APPT National
Date/s: July 31-August 3, 2022
Buy-in: PhP 35,000 (~USD 636)
Prize pool: PhP 5,000,000 Guaranteed (~USD 90,981)
APPT Manila Super High Roller
Date/s: August 3-4, 2022
Buy-in: PhP 500,000 (~USD 9,098)
APPT Superstack
Date/s: August 6-7, 2022
Buy-in: PhP 40,000 (~USD 727)
Prize pool: PhP 2,000,000 Guaranteed (~USD 36,392)
APPT High Roller
Date/s: August 6-7, 2022
Buy-in: PhP 250,000 (~USD 4,550)
