Main Event
Day 1A Started
2015 PokerStars.net APPT Season 9 Manila
Main Event
Day: 1a
Event Info
Final Results
Event Info
Level Info
2015 PokerStars.net APPT Season 9 Manila
Buy-in
45,000 PHP
Entries
585
Level
31
Blinds
80,000 / 160,000
Ante
20,000
Welcome to the Pokerstars.net 2015 APPT9 Manila
The first starting flight of the Pokerstars.net Asia Pacific Poker Tour Manila Main Event will get underway at the City of Dreams complex in Manila at 18:00 local time today. This location also hosts the PokerStars LIVE Manila poker room, however, the tournaments on this tour stop play out inside the property's Grand Ballroom, featuring 30 tables in total.
The numbers at all events so far have been very promising, including yesterday's ₱10,000 Main Event Mega Satellite, which crushed its guarantee of 10 seats and awarded 23 tickets instead. Another two Satellites are currently undergoing and the ₱50,000 Main Event gets underway just minutes from now. The tournament features a starting stack of 20,000 chips, the first three levels last 40 minutes each and the duration increases to 60 minutes after.
One optional re-entry is possible per starting flight and players can also participate on Day 1b even if they bag chips on Day 1a. In this case, the bigger stack will be carried over for the restart Saturday. The event concludes Sunday with the winner receiving the lion's share of the prizepool and a HKD $100,000 entry to the 2015 ACOP Main Event.
There's sure to be a ton of action in Manila and you can follow PokerNews' live reporting from start to finish to find out who will be crowned champion and climb the Asia Player of the Year rankings as well.
Level: 1
Blinds: 50/100
Ante: 0
Perfect Start for Casey Jr.
Level 1
: 50/100, 0 ante
While walking through the tournament area to find any familiar faces in today's field, a large heads-up pot emerged and the board was reading 
. The player in the small blind led for just over 1,000 chips and Gerald Casey Jr. raised it up to 2,350 before his sole opponent called.
The American then faced a bet of 2,500 on the 
river and again raised, making it 13,000 to go for almost the entire stack. It took a while for the opponent to call but Casey Jr. got his nut straight with the 
paid off and almost doubled up the stack after only a few minutes.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
37,000 |
Familiar Faces from Macau
Level 1
: 50/100, 0 ante
More than 160 players are already registered and among them are a few notables that were immediately recognized from the stop in Macau. Team PokerStars Pro Vivian Im and her boyfriend Gab Yong Kim, Weiyi Zhang and KC Wong are among today's participants.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
20,000 | |
|
20,000 | |
|
20,000 | |
|
||
|
20,000 | |
Razavi the King of Asia
Level 1
: 50/100, 0 ante
Most poker players in Asia will know the name Sam Razavi. The Brit not only found success at the poker tables over here but also the love of his life. Razavi was also deep in the $ 3,000 No Limit Hold'em (Event #38) at the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas earlier this year and came fourth while most other cashes on his Hendon Mob profile are indeed from Asia.
Just now we saw the Brit in the small blind and he called a raise to 250, the player in the big blind came along and they checked down the three-way flop of 
. On the 
turn, the player in the big blind led for 500 and enforced two folds.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
20,000
20,000
|
20,000 |
Level: 2
Blinds: 100/200
Ante: 0
Ward and Tian on Board
Level 2
: 100/200, 0 ante
Thomas Ward and Hao Tian final-tabled events during the APPT9 stop in Macau back in May and both are playing today as well. Tian is already up quite a few chips while Ward just recently sat down.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
25,000 | |
|
20,000 |
Chen's Reign
Level 2
: 100/200, 0 ante
Fresh off a third-place finish in APPT Manila's ₱10,000 Warm-Up Opener, reigning Asia Player of the Year Pete Chen has jumped into Day 1a here in the APPT Manila Main Event.
The Taiwanese poker pro won the APOY legacy trophy and and a one-year sponsorship to PokerStars Asia special events last season by making seven final tables, earning HK$1,383,511 (USD $178,411) and winning the HK$2,500 No-Limit Hold’em Deepstack at the Macau Poker Cup 21.
Chen's final table appearance in the Warm-Up here has him in the top three in this year's POY race and a couple of raise and take its have him up above a starting stack here in the Main Event already.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
21,000 | |
|
||
Chen Gives up River
Level 2
: 100/200, 0 ante
About 6,000 chips were in the pot and the 
board was complete. Pete Chen had checked in middle position and faced a bet of 4,000 by his sole opponent to eventually let his cards go after checking them once. Next to Chen is Dennis Wilke and the German has been over here for holiday for two weeks already before now playing some poker again.
Another familiar face is Brian Mcallister from Australia, who travels the Asian circuit a lot.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
22,000
1,000
|
1,000 |
|
|
||
|
20,000 | |
|
20,000 | |