Terry Gonzaga three-bet big out of the big blind and Hao Lin came along to see a flop of [AhQ4h]. With some 75,000 in the middle, Gonzaga bet 50,000 and Lin tanked for more than two minutes to then fold.
Once again, a classic coin flip got the chips into the middle between Eng Soon Ewe and Joseph Reyes. Both had very similar stack sizes and it was Ewe as the player at risk.
Eng Soon Ewe: A♠K♥
Joseph Reyes: J♥J♣
No paint card came on a 5♠5♣3♠10♥2♣ board and Reyes lost the remaining few chips shortly after. With now just 46 players in contention, the money bubble for Day 1b may be reached very soon.
On a completed board of A♦8♣5♠5♣K♦, Stephen Nathan bet 15,000 for around one third of his stack. Henrik Tollefsen raised big to 100,000 and Nathan sent the cards into the muck to drop to a mere six big blinds.
Mary Cantong had previously doubled with Q♣Q♠ to keep her short stack afloat but she would not be able to do so again when the chips go in preflop against table chip leader Nicola Montalbano.
Mary Cantong: K♥Q♦
Nicola Montalbano: A♦9♦
The suited ace prevails when both players miss the J♥J♠8♣J♣5♦ board and the field dropped to just 48 contenders after all was done.
Heads-up to a flop of K♥9♣2♣, Ryan McAllister bet and called the shove of Christopher Chua for what appeared to be around 55,000.
Christopher Chua: A♦K♦
Ryan McAllister: K♣Q♣
The 4♣ turn left Chua drawing dead to make the K♠ river a formality. Chua snapped a picture of the outcome before heading out of the tournament area.
"You won every all-in?! ... Don't look here," Eng Soon Ewe joked.
"Well, I also doubled him up before," McAllister responded.
Level: 15
Blinds: 2,500/5,000
Ante: 5,000
With the turbo heat now also having reached level ten with blinds of 1,000-1,500 and a big blind ante of 1,500, the late registration for the 2023 Poker Dream Manila PHP66,000 Main Event has officially closed. There are 61 players out of 93 entries remaining for an average of 30 big blinds.
In total, a field of 499 entries generated a prize pool of PHP28,751,382 to comfortably surpass the guarantee.
Day 1b currently features 52 players still in the mix. Latest casualty was Jeorge Lagatuz on the live-streamed feature table.
With some 50,000 in the middle to the K♣Q♣3♥A♥ turn, Jinlong Hu in the cutoff checked and called a bet worth 25,000 by Hao Lin from the very next seat. Hu checked again the Q♦ on the river and Lin now pushed all-in for 65,500. That proved to be too much for Hu and he opted to fold.
Euryd Rivera pushed all-in for a short stack of 33,500 and the action folded all the way to Andrej Nagy in the big blind. The Slovakian tanked and then came along with the superior stack.
Euryd Rivera: K♥9♠
Andrej Nagy: A♦7♥
No help came for the player at risk on the 10♣6♥2♠ flop and 8♦ turn. Both now had a gutshot and it was Nagy who improved on the 9♣ river, sending Rivera to the rail and reducing the Day 1b field to seven tables.
Gary Thompson had previously lost a big pot to Byungwook Anh, who joined the current chip leaders.
He avoided another major setback in a classic coin flip with Jimmy Johan soon thereafter.
Jimmy Johan: 10♠10♦
Gary Thompson: A♥Q♣
The J♦10♣4♣ flop improved Johan to a set and the 5♠ turn only had him fear one of the remaining four kings on the deck. Sure enough, that's what came on the K♠ river as Johan jumped out of his chair in disgust.
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