Main Event Day 1a | 2017 PokerStars Festival Manila

08-03-2017 19:00 UTC+8

Post-Break Stacks

RazorSharpPro

Level 7 : 300/600, 100 ante

There are 76 players still in the running out of the 119 entries with some of the notable stacks as follows:

Player	Chips	Progress
Van Sang Nguyen	107,000
Junghwan Oh	95,000 26,000	26,000
Aditya Sushant	95,000 71,000	71,000

Kwangyeop Choi	81,000 46,000	46,000
Wai Kiat Lee	75,000
Kunal Patni	67,000 35,500	35,500
Ken Thoo	65,000
Kenneth Buck	62,000 29,000	29,000
John Gallagher	52,000 22,000	22,000
Daniel Benor	47,000
Alan Lau	37,500
Vijay Narula	32,000 -13,500	-13,500
Aki Virtanen	31,000
Simon Burns	30,000
Sparrow Cheung	27,000
Dhaval Mudgal	20,000
Jack Wu	17,500 -12,500	-12,500

Level: 7

Blinds: 300/600

Ante: 100

08-03-2017 18:46 UTC+8

Break Time

RazorSharpPro

Level 6 : 250/500, 75 ante

The 82 remaining Main Event Day 1A players are on their second 10-minute break of the day.

08-03-2017 18:20 UTC+8

Kim Takes From Narula, Okada Busts Li

RazorSharpPro

Level 6 : 250/500, 75 ante

We caught Korea’s SJ Kim involved in a hand against Vijay Narula on a flop of just as the latter checked the action over to Kim on the button.

Kim threw out a bet of 1,500, which Narula called to bring in the turn, which saw both players check.

After Narula checked for a third time on the river Kim fired out a pot-sized bet, which was enough to take down the hand and he climbed to 49,500 while Narula dropped to 37,500.

The field shrunk a little more the following hand with Zhe Li the most recent casualty. Li had been nursing his short stack for the past few levels after losing that early big pot against Narula.

Pre-flop it was SJ Kim who was playing his rush, opening the action from the cutoff to 1,200. Li (button) moved all-in for his last 3,975 and Japan’s Ken Okada made a quick call from the small blind.

While he did not look too pleased at this turn of events Kim made the call after a brief visit to the think tank and the action went three-way to a flop of .

First to act Okada fired out a 5,000 bet, Kim folded immediately and the cards were turned over.

Ken Okada:
Zhe Li:

While Li had caught a piece of the flop Okada’s piece was bigger and the turn and river saw Li head for the rail while Okada stacked up to 35,000.

Player	Chips	Progress
SJ Kim	45,500 45,500	45,500
Ken Okada	35,000 35,000	35,000
Zhe Li	Busted

Tags: Ken Okada SJ Kim Zhe Li

08-03-2017 18:10 UTC+8

Zhu Take From Wu

RazorSharpPro

Level 6 : 250/500, 75 ante

The field has grown further and is up to 112 entries now, with 88 of those remaining in the running with High Rollers Linh Tran and Ken Okada just two of those to take their seats.

One of the recent arrivals is Manila Megastack 7 Champion Po-Yi Wu whom we caught involved in a hand against China’s Xingbiao Zhu.

Wu was the pre-flop aggressor, making it 1,200 to go from middle position with Zhu making the call on the button and Bach Hoang Nguyen coming along in the small blind to take the action three-way to a flop of .

Nguyen checked the action over to Wu, who continuation bet 1,500 into a pot of a little over 4,000. Zhu quickly raised to 4,000 with Nguyen quickly folding. Wu thought it over but decided to wait for a better spot and mucked as well. Wu dropped to 18,775 after the hand while Zhu climbed to 33,000.

Player	Chips	Progress
Xingbiao Zhu	33,000
Po-Yi Wu	18,775

Tags: Po-Yi Wu Xingbiao Zhu

Level: 6

Blinds: 250/500

Ante: 75

08-03-2017 17:40 UTC+8

Field Grows, Or-Paz Exits

RazorSharpPro

Level 5 : 200/400, 50 ante

The field has grown to 108 entrants, 87 of whom remain in contention. Some of the more recent arrivals include reigning Asia Player of the Year Jack Wu, Sweden’s Roger Spets and Ireland’s John Gallagher.

However, one man who is no longer in the running, unless of course he choses to re-buy, is Tom Or-Paz who busted at the hands of Korea’s Jae Wook Shin.

We missed Or-Paz’s exit hand but arrived in time to see Shin stacking up a pile of chips and Or-Paz’s seat conspicuously empty apart from his tournament receipt.

Shin chose to play his rush the very next hand, opening to 900 from late position with Sam Nee (small blind) and Kenneth Buck (big blind) making the call to take the action three-way to a flop of .

There was no more betting in the hand with all three players checking the flop, the turn and the river.

Nee turned over , Buck had the best pre-flop hand with but Shin, holding had out flopped the Australian and took down another pot.

Player	Chips	Progress
Jae Wook Shin	52,700 52,700	52,700
Sam Nee	35,000 -1,000	-1,000
Kenneth Buck	33,000 3,000	3,000
Roger Spets	30,000 30,000	30,000
Jack Wu	30,000 30,000	30,000
John Gallagher	30,000 30,000	30,000
Tom Or-Paz	Busted

Tags: Jae Wook Shin Kenneth Buck Sam Nee Tom Or-Paz

08-03-2017 17:31 UTC+8

Or-Paz and Nee Win Some, Nee Picked Off

RazorSharpPro

Level 5 : 200/400, 50 ante

The number of entrants has risen to 100 though only 85 of these remain in contention with several players, including Pranay Kapoor, on their second bullet already.

While there have been plenty of early exits our timing seems a little off and we keep missing all the bust outs.

One player who does not look like busting anytime soon is Tom Or-Paz, and we arrived in time to see the Israeli win a small pot from Kunal Patni.

Or-Paz was the aggressor in this particular hand, making it 600 to go pre-flop with Patni the only caller in the big blind.

Patni checked the flop over to Or-Paz who tossed out a single 1k blue chip, which was enough to get Patni to give it up.

Malaysia’s Sam Nee has been fairly active and has taken down a few small pots uncontested, though he was picked off recently.

The first was against fellow countryman Ken Thoo, who called Nee’s 800 button raise in from the big blind to take play heads-up to a flop of . Thoo checked, Nee bet 1,075 and took down the hand.

Nee was at it again a couple of hands later, making it 900 to go from the cutoff with a player in the small blind making the call and the flop came down .

The small blind checked, Nee led for 1,500 and was called and the hit the turn. This brought checks from both players and after the small blind checked for a third time on the river Nee

Player	Chips	Progress
Sam Nee	36,000 6,000	6,000
Kunal Patni	31,500 1,500	1,500
Tom Or-Paz	29,400 -600	-600

Tags: Sam Nee Tom Or-Paz Kunal Patni

Level: 5

Blinds: 200/400

Ante: 50

08-03-2017 17:02 UTC+8

Gall Doubles Li

RazorSharpPro

Level 4 : 150/300, 50 ante

Junzhong Loo opened the action with a raise to 700 from the cutoff and Raphael Gall made the call from the button before a short-stacked Zhe Li moved all-in for a little under 4,000.

While Loo folded Gall made the call and the cards were turned over.

Zhe Li:
Raphael Gall:

Li was in bad shape and needed some help, which he duly received when the flop came down to give the Chinese player middle set.

The turn kept Li’s nose in front and he locked in the double and improved to a full house when the hit the river. Li climbed to 9,000 while Gall still has plenty of chips with a stack of 63,325.

Player	Chips	Progress
Raphael Gall	63,325 33,325	33,325
Zhe Li	9,000 -21,000	-21,000

Tags: She Li Raphael Gall