The final day of the 2015 PokerStars.net APPT Season 9 Manila Main Event will kick off inside the City of Dreams Grand Ballroom at 14:00 local time today with just 23 players still in the hunt for the title and ₱6,016,250 first-place prize.
The tournament drew 585 entries this year, smashing the record for a major tournament in the Philippines with a ₱25,535,250 prizepool and a champion will be crowned later today.
Leading the field is German Iona Finkenrath who grabbed the overnight lead Saturday in Manila, bagging 1,084,000 chips.
Poker King Club President and Asian high-stakes legend Winfred Yu, Korean Seung Soo Jeon, who finished 44th in this event last year, 2013 World Series of Poker Asia-Pacific bracelet winner Aaron Lim and 2015 WSOP $3,000 No-Limit Hold'em fifth-place finisher Terry Fan are also among those still in with a shot.
Play will resume with the start of Level 21 and blinds at 8,000/16,000 with a 2,000 ante.
All eyes are on Manila today and some exciting poker action is expected as the 2015 PokerStars.net APPT Season 9 Manila Main Event title will be decided and the PokerNews Live Reporting Team will be on hand for it all from beginning to end.
Terry Fan opened the action with a raise to 35,000 and Nicandro Filart moved forward his stack worth 187,000. Romit Advani in the cutoff asked for a count and gave it some thought before electing to fold. The action folded around to Fan and he snap-called, following by a sigh when he spotted the cards of his opponent:
Filart:
Fan:
The flop immediately provided help for the big stack and Filart had six outs after the turn in order to stay in the tournament. However, the river was a brick and Fan apologized before Filart headed to the payout desk.
Iona Finkenrath opened the action with a raise and received a three-bet by short stack Jiaxiu Wang from one seat over. The German opted to shove with the and got called by the Chinese with pocket tens. A comeback story was stopped by an ace on the flop right away and the two-outer for Wang didn't come anymore.
Seung Soo Jeon opened from early position and the Korean had been quite active early on while today's action had been careful thus far. Andrei Dementev then three-bet shoved for what looked like 350,000 in the cutoff and was snap-called to set up the following showdown:
Jeon:
Dementev:
The board ran out and the Russian has been eliminated in 20th place. One further exit will unite the remaining field on the last two tables.
Ying Chua limped and then faced the all in of Hao Tian for 154,000. Xiao Tian Yang moved all in himself from one seat over and the action folded around to Chua. "Count, count," he asked and took his time to make a decision.
"Sorry. Give me some more time," the Malaysian then apologized and folded, saying he had ace-queen. He had the cards high enough for us to confirm it: .
Tian:
Yang:
The board ran out and the battle of the Chinese went to Yang. There are 18 players left, which now get combined to two tables.
Hayato Kitajima raised it up and Mitan Chandihok defended his big blind. The flop came and after a Chandihok check, Kitajima made it 55,000.
Chandihok check-raised to 127,000 and Kitajima called. The turn brought the scary and another check from Chandihok. Kitajima led for 79,000 and Chandihok check-raised again, this time going all in for 452,000 total, having Kitajima barely covered.
Kitajima called with and Chandihok was on a naked bluff, holding . After the river a 1,200,000-chip pot was shipped to Kitajima and Chandihok was left super short.
They redrew for seats in the final 18 and Chandihok got it in a hand later for less than a min-raise, facing a Terry Fan open. Iona Finkenrath also called and they checked down an board to the river. Fan bet, Finkenrath folded and Tan's was good enough to send Chandihok and his to the rail.
In a battle of the blinds, Kazuhiro Shirasawa moved all in from the small blind and Ashley Tay called from one seat over for his last 106,000 chips. Shirasawa only had the and Tay's secured a double up on the board.
A few hands later, the big blind was nearing and the Japanese got his last 84,000 chips in from under the gun. Thomas Lee called out of the big blind with the and won the flip versus despite a scary flop on the board.
Winfred Yu made it 45,000 and Frederick Hernandez pushed all in for some 180,000.
Yu made the call with and Hernandez was flipping for his tournament life on . The flop came down giving Yu a set and he busted Hernandez after the turn and river combo.
![[user127999]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
flop immediately provided help for the big stack and Filart had six outs after the 
turn in order to stay in the tournament. However, the 
river was a brick and Fan apologized before Filart headed to the payout desk.
and got called by the Chinese with pocket tens. A comeback story was stopped by an ace on the flop right away and the two-outer for Wang didn't come anymore.
needing help against Huang's 
and getting none on the 
board.
.
and the battle of the Chinese went to Yang. There are 18 players left, which now get combined to two tables.
and after a Chandihok check, Kitajima made it 55,000. 
board to the river. Fan bet, Finkenrath folded and Tan's 
to the rail.
and Tay's 
secured a double up on the 
board.
. The flop came down 
