Lester Edoc Wins the First-Ever PokerStars Red Dragon Super High Roller for ₱5,222,000 ($102,127)
After a heads-up battle of 2.5 hours, 38-year-old Manila native Lester Edoc has won the inaugural PokerStars Red Dragon Manila ₱500,000 Super High Roller for ₱5,222,000 ($102,127) by defeating Florencio Campomanes in the dazzling Okada Manila. The tournament attracted 25 unique players during the first ten levels of Day 1 with 5 players reentering to create a total prize pool of ₱14,113,500 and five players cashing.
“This is one of the best final tables ever!” stated an elated Edoc immediately after taking down his second-largest career score and largest-ever career victory after having been playing professionally for twelve years. “I was short-stacked all the way, from nine players until we got to heads-up [chuckles] then became chip leader, then got down to eight big blinds, then came back to win…”
As a matter of fact, Edoc’s biggest cash took place here in the Okada Manila too when he finished as the runner-up during the 2019 APPT Manila five months ago when he couldn’t win his final all-in against Chaofei Wang. The cash he collected here today will take the Filipino player to over the $1,000,000-mark according to The Hendon Mob. “I think I had the luck this time,” a modest Edoc continued, “I’m very lucky this time but it was a great final table!”
Apart from Edoc and Campomanes, Nang Quang Nguyen, Lei Yu, and Yake Wu have also cashed in the Super High Roller.
PokerStars Red Dragon Manila a ₱500,000 Super High Roller Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize (PHP) | Prize (USD) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lester Edoc | Philippines | ₱5,222,000 | $102,127 |
| 2 | Florencio Campomanes | Philippines | ₱3,599,000 | $70,386 |
| 3 | Nang Quang Nguyen | Vietnam | ₱2,293,000 | $44,844 |
| 4 | Lei Yu | China | ₱1,658,000 | $32,426 |
| 5 | Yake Wu | China | ₱1,341,500 | $26,236 |
Start of the Day
Out of those 30 entries, eleven players returned to the felt at 1 p.m. local time and it would take less than 20 minutes before the final table was reached. Lei Yu managed to double up through Meng Li with the higher pocket pair with the latter busting in tenth place when he lost the remainder of his stack to Yu. But before Li left the field, Yufei Hui was eliminated by Nguyen when all his chips went over the line on the river with pocket kings. Nguyen held ten-nine suited and had turned a straight to send the second of a total of six Chinese players on Day 2 to the rail.
The Race to the Money
Minh Le managed to double up immediately when there were nine players but then fell to Campomanes when he had flopped a set of sixes but Campomanes had rivered a flush to take Le out. He then claimed another victim in Xiao Ling Li, the only woman to enter the Super High Roller. She managed to double up through Wu but then returned most of those chips back to him. She lost the remainder of her stack when she shoved with pocket jacks and was called by Campomanes who held tens who turned a set and improved to a full house.
Weihao Ma had been short for most of the later parts of Day 1 but doubled up several times to go to bed knowing he still had a shot for a share of the prize pool on the final day. He doubled up through Edoc for just over four big blinds but then lost them all to Wu in a three-way pot which also included Phachara Wongwichit. It was Wu’s turn to have pocket tens to eliminate Ma and leave Wongwichit behind with almost 18 big blinds.
Wongwichit bubbled the Super High Roller when he three-bet shoved his last chips in after Wu had raised and the latter called with ace-king. Wongwichit held pocket sixes and flopped a set but Wu hit a runner-runner straight to secure the min-cash for the rest of the field.
From Five Players to a Winner
Campomanes and Nguyen started at the top of the chip counts at the kick-off and held those throughout most of the day. It would take almost an hour before Wu left the stage when he pushed his stack over the line with jack-ten and Nguyen held tens. Wu picked up a gutshot on the flop but the straight never materialized as Wu was sent to the payout desk to collect a min-cash. Ten minutes later, the last Chinese player in the field was sent to the rail when he was put at risk by Edoc. Yu called with ace-deuce but he couldn’t beat Edoc’s queen-jack who turned a straight.
An hour-and-half later, Nguyen lost his whole stack to Edoc after having had bled chips for a while to make him the short stack. He got his last ten big blinds in with queen-seven and got looked up by Edoc who had found kings in the big blind. Edoc and Campomanes went into heads-up play with pretty even stacks with a difference of only four big blinds.
The chip lead went back and forth several times but after an hour, Campomanes doubled up with a flopped straight against Edoc’s two pair. He held to leave Edoc behind with almost nine big blinds. Edoc doubled up twice before the players decided to discuss a deal. They couldn’t agree on the numbers so heads-up play continued.
Edoc lost his hard-earned chips again to get down to another nine big blinds before doubling up once more on the turn with a gutshot. This signaled the start of Edoc’s rise to the top as he then won a big pot when he flopped top pair, turned two pair, and rivered a full house. In the final hand of the night, Campomanes shoved 15 big blinds in with jack-ten suited and Edoc called with ace-five. No help came on the board as Edoc celebrated and his rail cheered loudly. Campomanes and Edoc congratulated each other on their results, hugged, and chatted a bit more before the latter was pulled away for all the things that come with becoming the first-ever Super High Roller champion at Red Dragon Manila.
This concludes the Super High Roller coverage for the PokerNews live reporting team at Red Dragon Manila but stick around as Day 1a of the Main Event with a guaranteed prize pool of ₱50,000,000 starts at 1 p.m. local time on Monday, January 5 and you can follow all the action right here.