WPT Philippines: Edilberto Gopez flips for the kickoff title; Sandro Bruni and Paul McCabe ship one

It was a multi-winner day at WPT Philippines as three players walked away carrying one of the festival’s first trophies. If you want to score one of those classy glass mementos, more events are lined up to try to claim one. The highlighted Main Event with a Php 12M guarantee will be the tournament to capture. It runs from February 14 to 17. Buy-in is Php 75,000 (~US$ 1,500). For now, read up on the recent results and recaps.

Event 1: All Bankrolls Kickoff – Edilberto Gopez – Php 596,200 (~US$ 11,700)

The festival opener All Bankrolls Kickoff saw the return of 32 flight qualifiers and with the money already guaranteed, it was a battle for the title and the top cash prize. The event wrapped up with Edilberto Gopez awarded the trophy on a five-way flip.

Recapping the final day action, Florencio Campomanes was the man to measure up to as he entered with the largest stack however as the day progressed, it was Christopher Mateo who brought out the sledgehammer. Down to two tables, Mateo was way out front while Campomanes fell out of the running in 16th place. He shipped more by knocking out Seung Guyen Choi (13th) with set to top two pair and Marc Rivera (12th) with aces to ace-king. Mateo entered the final table as chip leader where he continued his dominance railing Jessie Leonarez (9th) on a set over set.

Attempting to catch up to the leader was second-ranked Edilberto Gopez. His first attack cost him a double up to Joseph Sia but quickly gained it back by railing Terry Gonzaga (8th). Gonzaga’s pocket tens lost the flip against Gopez’s ace-king when an ace came on the river. American player Ryan McAllister was out next to bring about an all-Filipino final 6 lineup.

After two levels played, Emmanuel Segismundo shaved some off Mateo to climb to second rank. The players then opted on an ICM deal leaving just the trophy to play for. Chip leader Christopher Mateo began to lose a series of large pots, mostly to Gopez. After he left in 6th place, the remaining players agreed to flip for the trophy and Gopez went on to claim it.

The All Bankrolls Kickoff ran from February 14 to 17. It drew 371 entries with a guaranteed Php 5,000,000 (~US$ 99,000) prize pool.

Here’s how they tumbled on the final day. Payouts reflect the top 6 ICM deal.

Payouts

1st Edilberto Gopez – Philippines – Php 596,200
2nd Emmanuel Segismundo – Philippines – Php 642,800
3rd Joseph Sia – Philippines – Php 434,500
4th Wilson Tolon – Philippines – Php 324,100
5th Euryd Rivera – Philippines – Php 308,000
6th Christopher Mateo – Philippines – Php 912,900
7th Ryan McAllister – USA – Php 1657,500
8th Terry Gonzaga – Philippines – Php 140,000
9th Jessie Leonarez – Philippines – Php 115,000
10th Bryan Santos – Philippines – Php 98,000
11th Ivan Yeow – Singapore – Php 98,000
12th Marc Rivera – Philippines – Php 98,000
13th Seung Guyen Choi – Korea – Php 84,000
14th Mark Almusajin – Philippines – Php 84,000
15th Keith Basso – USA – Php 84,000
16th Florencio Campomanes – Philippines – Php 70,500
17th Royly Oracion – Philippines – Php 70,500
18th Naoki Koshikawa – Japan – Php 70,500
19th Rogelio Pacheco – Philippines – Php 58,000
20th James Bonanno – USA – Php 58,000
21st Roger Spets – Sweden – Php 58,000
22nd Michael De Leonm – Philippines – Php 45,500
23rd KIm Kunwoo – Korea – Php 45,500
24th Koki Takeishi – Japan – Php 45,500
25th Temu Kaneoka – Japan – Php 39,500
26th Michael Jurik – Czech Republic – Php 39,500
27th John Riad – Denmark – Php 39,500
28th Rick Jason Ambata – Philippines – Php 34,500
29th Renniel Galvez – Philippines – Php 34,500
30th Gerardo Lubas – Philippines – Php 34,500
31st Stefan Negado – Philippines – Php 34,500
32nd Ryan Malangen – Philippines – Php 34,500

Event 3: Main Event Warm Up – Sandro Bruni – Php 922,000 (~US$ 18,100)

The two-day Main Event Warm Up concluded with Sandro Bruni overcoming an arduous heads up match against Anthony Abram to collect Php 920,000 in winnings for his largest live tournament score.

The final day opened with registration available for one level. This brought in another 13 players to tally up to 60 entries (47 entries at Day 1). With buy-in at Php 55,000 (~US$ 1,100), this built a healthy prize pool worth Php 2,910,000 (~US$ 57,000) to be paid out to the top 8 players.

Leading the charge were Ma Yong Keon, Simen Kind Gulbrandsen, and Jinho Hong. Gulbrandsen and Hong failed to reach the money. Unlike the opener, there were no Filipino players at the final table. Hong busted on the bubble when Taijin Kim cracked pocket kings with pocket jacks turned set on the river.

With the money guaranteed, sent to the cashier first was Takuru Sugiura in 8th place. Before the next bust, Keon fattened up getting full pay for his quad nines through Daniel Holmedahl then padded up again by railing Petter Kristiansen (7th) with pocket aces over ace-king. Sandro Bruni joined the party by eliminating Holmedahl (6th), and Anthony “Ozy” Abraham doubled up through Taijin on a cooler with pocket aces over pocket kings. This gave Abram the chip lead.

Action continued with Michael Mariakis awarded then denied. He doubled up through Bruni with pocket sevens turned full house over ace-three offsuit but proceeded to lose it all to Abram who spiked a ten-outer on the river. Mariakis had the nuts straight on a board of and Abram with set. Both players moved all in at this point and the river came to end Mariakis in 5th place. Abram continued to crush the competition eliminating Kim in 4th place to amass an enormous chip lead.

Three-handed stacks were lopsided. Bruni and Keon were very short. After two levels, Bruni doubled up through Abram with holding against , then stole the chip lead by finishing off Keon. Keon pushed with that missed against Bruni’s . Bruni and Abram immediately agreed on a deal that guaranteed Bruni Php 800k, Abram Php 740, and Php 120k on the side for the winner.

Despite the deal, the final grab for the trophy was a long and hard race. Abram gained to take a slight lead. The first all in showdown arrived with Abram shoving preflop and Bruni tank-called with . The board doubled up Bruni and sent Abram tumbling down to four bbs. However, the Aussie would prove difficult to slay. He won three double ups and more to regain the lead. From there, both continued to challenge for the advantage. Bruni had the edge when the final hand arrived. He pushed with , Abram snap-called with , the board was .

Payouts

1st Sandro Bruni – Italy – Php 922,000
2nd Anthony Abram – Australia – Php 740,000
3rd Ma Yong Keon – Korea – Php 386,000
4th Taijin Kim – Korea – Php 262,000
5th Michael Mariakis – Australia – Php 204,000
6th Daniel Holmedahl – Norway – Php 160,000
7th Petter Kristiansen – Norway – Php 131,000
8th Takuru Sugiura – Japanese – Php 105,000

Event 4: Megastack NLH – Paul McCabe – Php 259,000 (~US$ 5,100)

The Megastack NLH was the third event taking up space on the floor drawing a big field of 152 runners. At Php 10,000 each, the prize pool amounted to 1,297,472 (~US$ 25,400) of which only 19 players took a slice. Pocketing the most was UK’s Paul McCabe taking home Php 259,000 for his victory.

Picking up the action during the bubble round, McCabe eliminated James Bonanno with top pair holding against open-ended that missed. From there, bust outs were quick. Bringing in the biggest stack to the final table was local player Richard “Hotsauce” Marquez however he couldn’t keep it intact to eventually fall early in 8th place. After a few more dropouts, Yu Kobayashi fell in 4th place to McCabe. A deal was then struck between the three remaining players guaranteeing McCabe Php 250k for his big stack and Php 230k each to both Kodai Doi and Joven Huerto. A small pot of Php 9k was set aside for the winner.

From there, the race to the gold was quick. McCabe ended Doi with top two pair over top pair then shut out Huerto with dominating throughout on a final board .

Payouts

1st Paul McCabe – UK – Php 259,000
2nd Joven Huerto – Philippines – Php 230,000
3rd Kodai Doi – Japan – Php 230,000
4th Yu Kobayashi – Japan – Php 81,000
5th Roozbeh Namvarasi – Iran – Php 63,000
6th Kohei Wada – Japan – Php 52,000
7th Jian Xiang Soin – Singapore – Php 45,500
8th Richard Marquez – Philippines – Php 40,500
9thj Takuya Mizuno – Japan – Php 35,500
10th Chirag Tarunkumar Shah – India – Php 31,000
11th Gerardo Lubas – Philippines – Php 31,000
12th Joseph Talamayan – Philippines – Php 31,000
13th Kimiharu Nakamura – Japan – Php 26,600
14th Yuga Yoshimi – Japan – Php 26,600
15th William Kang – UK – Php 26,600
16th Reynaldo Ong – Philippines – Php 22,700
17th John Lee – USA – Php 22,700
18th Sompop Jittrakul – Thailand – Php 22,700
19th Junsei Yamashita – Japan – Php 20,072

The Somuchpoker team will continue to provide daily recaps including Main Event live coverage from start to finish. WPT Philippines runs until February 17th.

WPT Philippines Coverage and Schedule