Main Event
Day 1a Started
2017 PokerStars Festival Manila
Main Event
Day: 1a
Event Info
Final Results
Event Info
Level Info
2017 PokerStars Festival Manila
Buy-in
55,000 PHP
Prize Pool
28,809,000 PHP
Entries
594
Level
28
Blinds
40,000 / 80,000
Ante
10,000
Day 1A of the PokerStars Festival Manila Main Event Set to Start
Greetings poker fans, and welcome to the PokerStars Festival Manila as the City of Dreams casino hosts the first ever PokerStars Festival Manila Main Event for the next 5 days running from August 3-7, 2017.
Previously a hot stop on the APPT, PokerStars Festival Manila has now taken over as the headliner for poker in the Philippines. Settled right in the heart of the Entertainment City gaming strip, City of Dreams boasts an impressive ballroom for the tournament area, as well as a poker room for live cash games, which will run throughout the series with stakes starting at ₱25/50 all the way up to ₱200/400.
The series’ ₱55,000 Main Event, which starts on Thursday, August 3 at 2pm local time and has a guaranteed prize pool of ₱20 million.
PokerStars Festival Main Event history
| Year | PSF Stop | Buy In | Entries | Prize Pool | Champion | Prize | Prize (USD) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | New Jersey | $1,100 | 208 | $201,760 | Jason Acosta | $38,220 | $38,220 |
| 2017 | London | £ 990 | 944 | £ 824,112 | Rehman Kassam | £89,320 | $111,638 |
| 2017 | Rozvadov | €1,100 | 1126 | € 1,089,310 | Petr Svoboda | €124,346 | $131,283 |
| 2017 | Chile | $1,650 | 329 | $500,000 | Christopher Franco | $97,360 | $97,360 |
| 2017 | Marbella | €1,100 | 949 | €911,040 | Ignacio De Maturana | €168,700 | $188,017 |
| 2017 | South Korea | KRW1,650,000 | 285 | KRW414,675,000 | Taehoon Han | KRW83,130,000 | $73,954.00 |
| 2017 | Lille | €1,100 | 800 | €768,000 | Philippe Le Touche | €143,000 | $164,849 |
| 2017 | Manila | PHP55,000 | |||||
| 2017 | Bucharest | €1,100 |
The eventual winner of the Main Event will be crowned on August 7 after four days of play. Players will begin with 30,000 starting chips and will have to navigate through one of three Day 1s to make it through to Day 2.
PokerStars Festival Manila Main Event starting days (times are listed in local time):
Day 1a – August 3 at 2 p.m. (45-minute levels)
Day 1b – August 4 at 2 p.m. (45-minute levels)
Day 1c – August 5 at 2 p.m. (45-minute levels)
Registration will remain open through the first nine levels of play for each Day 1 with play closing out after the 12th level.
The survivors for each of the Day 1s will reconvene for Day 2 (August 6) and play will restart with one-hour levels. All players remaining after Day 2 will continue on Day 3 (August 7) where players will continue with 75-minute levels and will play down to a winner.
Here's a look at the structure for Day 1a:
| Level | Duration | Small Blind | Big Blind | Ante |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 45 min | 50 | 100 | |
| 2 | 45 min | 75 | 150 | |
| 3 | 45 min | 100 | 200 | 25 |
| 4 | 45 min | 150 | 300 | 50 |
| 5 | 45 min | 200 | 400 | 50 |
| 6 | 45 min | 250 | 500 | 75 |
| 7 | 45 min | 300 | 600 | 100 |
| 8 | 45 min | 400 | 800 | 100 |
| 9 | 45 min | 500 | 1,000 | 100 |
| 10 | 45 min | 600 | 1,200 | 200 |
| 11 | 45 min | 800 | 1,600 | 200 |
| 12 | 45 min | 1,000 | 2,000 | 300 |
Even though PokerStars Festival Manila Main Event is the main attraction, there are other noteworthy events to watch out for during the festival.
One particular tournament to keep an eye on is Day 2 of the ₱215,000 No-Limit Hold’em High Roller Shot Clock, which begins at 1pm local time and will play down until a champion is crowned.
Entrants only have 30 seconds to make each decision, with players also starting with three time bank chips, which will allow them to have extra time for difficult decisions. So far 18 players have successfully circumnavigated the tournament minefield, but with late registration open until the end of level 12 this figure could well increase.
The PokerNews live reporting team will be on the floor all day to bring you all the thrills and spills from both the Main Event and the High Roller Shot Clock so keep your browser locked to this page as we see who will rise and who will fall as Day 1A plays out.
Furthermore, you can also follow the action of the PokerStars Festival Main Event in Bucharest as well by following this link.
Level: 1
Blinds: 50/100
Ante: 0
Cards in the Air
Level 1
: 50/100, 0 ante
The cards are now in motion and Day 1A of the PokerStars Festival Manila Main Event is now underway. The button started on seat 7 and there are 22 players registered already. Watch this space and we’ll let you know who’s playing when we find out more.
Patni Promises Action Table
Level 1
: 50/100, 0 ante
India’s Kunal Patni and Aditya Sushant are both seated at the same table, as is Denmark’s Michel Falcon.
“There’s gonna be a lot of action on this table,” promised Patni as we wandered past.
“How many bullets are you planning on having today Falcon?” joked the Indian player.
“I haven’t planned,” retorted Falcon.
It seems to be Sushant who, fresh from his speedy bust out in the High Roller Shot Clock Event, is driving most of the early action, though we have yet to see him win a hand.
We picked up the action on the turn with 500 in the pot and the flop spread 
just as the small blind checked the action over to Sushant (cutoff), who fired for 500.
The small blind called and the 
hit the turn with the action going check, check. This trend continued on the 
river and the small blind turned over 
, which was enough to get it done.
Sushant was at it again the next hand, opening to 300 in the hi-jack with Michael Falcon (button) making the call, as did a player in the small blind.
The flop fell 
and both the small blind and Sushant check, opening the door for Falcon, who took a stab for 600.
The small blind called and Sushant reached for chips, but not for calling with and he check-raised to 2,200 in total.
Falcon called and the small blind folded taking the action heads-up to the 
turn.
Sushant now led for 3,000 with Falcon calling once more and the 
completed the hand and paired the board. Sushant now checked the action over to Falcon, who reached for the big chips and fired for 10,000 and the Indian player let it go.
“I might not be needed any more bullets at this rate,” quipped Falcon as he raked in the pot.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
36,400 | |
|
30,000 | |
|
24,000 | |
|
||
More New Faces
Level 2
: 75/150, 0 ante
The field has grown to 44 entries with PokerStars Open Event #2 champion Virenjit Kapur, who has chosen to re-invest some of the PHP1,001,000 he won in the Main Event.
Another man who has already tasted success here in Manila already this week is
Wai Hong Wong who took down Event #13 the PokerStars Super Deep for a cool PHP894,174.
Wong is joined by another Super Deep final tablist in the form of Keshav Chadha who finished in 4th for PHP384,750 and will be looking to improve on that score this week.
Bach Hoang Nguyen is another familiar face and after busting the High Roller Shot Clock Event on Wednesday, August 2nd the Vietnamese player has decided to jump back into the action for the Main Event.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 | |
|
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 |
Level: 2
Blinds: 75/150
Ante: 0
Or-Paz Enters After Disastrous High Roller Start
Level 2
: 75/150, 0 ante
Tom Or-Paz may have began Day 2 of the High Roller shot Clock but it appears the Israeli had a bad run as he is now playing Day 1A of the Main Event.
The field has grown to 55, though someone has managed to chew through their entire 30,000 start stack already as just 54 players are in the running.
We have a partial player list now, with the rest of the field as follows:
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
30,000 | |
|
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 | |
|
|
30,000 | |
|
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 | |
|
|
30,000 | |
|
|
30,000 | |
|
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 | |
|
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 | |
|
|
||
|
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 | |
|
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 | |
|
30,000 | |
|
|
30,000 | |
|
|
30,000 | |
Narula Picks Off Li
Level 2
: 75/150, 0 ante
We arrived at Vijay Narula’s table just in time to see the Australian-based Indian player open the action to 550 from early position, picking up a caller in Zhe Li on the button before the big blind squeezed to 2,600.
Both Narula and Li called quickly and it went three-way to a flop of 
. The big blind checked, Narula led out for 3,800, Li called the button and the big blind folded to take the action heads-up to the 
turn.
This brought checks from both Narula and Li and the dealer peeled off the 
river card. Narula led for 4,000 and Li hit the think tank hard. It was a good two minutes of solid tanking before Li reached for chips, but they were not for calling with and he raised to 12,000 in total.
Narula thought it over but evidently was not a believer and made the call. Li rolled over 
but this was not enough to best Narula’s 
and the Indian player scooped a sizable pot.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
45,500
15,500
|
15,500 |
|
30,000 |
Oh Wow! Oh Kills Kumar and Falcon in One Hand
Level 2
: 75/150, 0 ante
The field in the Main Event has grown to 70 entrants, 65 of whom are still in the running. Two of the early casualties were Michael Falcon and Vikram Kumar, who have both recently fallen at the hands of Junhwan Oh, in the same hand.
It was Kumar who was the man to kick start the action with a raise to 350 from middle position with Oh making the call before a short stacked Michael Falcon moved all-in from the cutoff for 3,500 in total.
A player on the button made the call, as did both Kumar and Oh and the flop came down 
.
This is where the fireworks happened and Kumar, first to act, led for 7,000 before Oh raised to 14,500. After the button got out of the way Kumar moved all-in for 22,500 in total and sent Oh deep into the tank.
Eventually, the Korean player made the call and the cards were turned over.
Vikram Kumar: 
Junhwan Oh: 
Michael Falcon: 
The turn put Kumar in the lead, but not for long as the 
river completed Oh’s gutshot straight draw, winning the Korean player the monster pot and sending both Kumar and Falcon to the rail in one fell swoop.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
69,000
39,000
|
39,000 |
|
|
Busted | |
|
|
Busted |