Main Event
Day 1b Completed
2017 PokerStars Festival Manila
Main Event
Day: 1b
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
Michael Falcon Leads After Day 1b in Manila
Level 12
: 1,000/2,000, 300 ante
The second of three starting days of the 2017 PokerStars Festival Manila Main Event saw an additional 177 entries take part, consisting of 148 unique players and 29 re-entries that all ponied up PHP55,000 (~$1,092) each. With now 309 entries in total, only 100 further additions to the field are needed for Day 1c on August 5th, 2017, however the biggest single field is expected when the cards go back in the air at 2 p.m. local time.
After 12 levels of 45 minutes each, it was Denmark's Michael Falcon who emerged with the biggest stack among the 43 Day 1b survivors, claiming 307,100 to his name. The 55-year-old housing developer lives in nearby Thailand. "I had too much money committed already," Falcon said after firing multiple bullets for Day 1. His total was up to six before finally finding traction here on Day 1b.
"To be honest, normally when I play I’m either deep or out. That’s my style you know? I’m never the one who’s gonna go to the second day with a medium stack. I’m either out or deep.”I have a girlfriend here in the Philippines, and it’s convenient to combine these things. I love the venue here. I love the fact that you don’t have all the cigarette smoke around. The only thing I would hope they could improve in the future is the food."
Second in chips is Germany's Andre Peters (241,500) followed by Dhane Chainani, who also fired three bullets on Day 1b before eventually bagging up 235,200. Other notables and big stacks include Andy Xueyan Li (218,000), Singapore's Alex Lee (212,500), Michael Brunner (211,400), Linh Tran (194,300), Shinji Katsushima (171,900), Alexander Grocott (157,200), Victor Chong (148,600) and Celine Lee (101,200).
Among those to take part and fail to bag up chips for Day 2 just yet were High Roller Shot Clock champion Peter Plater, Tom Or-Paz, Geoff Mooney, Antti Halme, High Roller runner-up Sathesh "Stash" Muthu, Sam Nee, Dhaval Mudgal, Maxim Sorokin, Sam Polishetty and Lester Edoc to name just a few.
Mark Gruendemann was the first player to bust right away in level one when his second nut flush ran into the nut flush. Irishman Gruendemann ran up a big stack on the next entry before putting his hopes on a ten-high flush draw only to see Michael Falcon quickly call with ace-king for trips aces in the last level of the night.
Linh Tran won a big flip with ace-king against the pocket queens of Badri Kedar Gosavi to send the Aussie home empty-handed. Just prior to that, Antti Halme went from hero to zero in a matter of two hands. First Halme doubled with pocket aces versus queen-six suited only to run with pocket kings into the very same aces the very next hand.
Manila Megastack 7 champion Po-Yi Wu failed to hold up with ace-jack versus king-deuce suited. Early on, Andre Peters was part of a memorable three-way all in that emerged after a six-way king high flop. Two-time APT champion Seung Soo Jeon tripled up with ace-king for top pair and top kicker while the ace-eight suited of Peters for the nut flush won the side pot against an inferior flush draw. Peters was down to less than the starting stack but recovered quickly before spinning it up in the last levels of the night.
While Day 1b is in the bags, all players that haven't bagged up a stack yet can take another shot at the juicy prize pool on Day 1c and unlimited re-entries are available during the first nine levels of 45 minutes each. The registration will officially close in level 10 and the prize pool information will be released before all Day 1 survivors return to the tables on Sunday August 6th for Day 2.
The PokerNews live reporting team will be on the floor to provide all the action as per usual.
End-of-Day Chip Counts (full)
Level 12
: 1,000/2,000, 300 ante
A full list of all 43 Day 1b survivors will be published when PokerNews receives them, and a recap of today's action is to follow.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
307,100 | -7,900 |
|
241,500 | 119,500 |
|
235,200 | 70,200 |
|
218,000 | 68,000 |
|
212,500 | 112,500 |
|
211,400 | 31,400 |
|
194,300 | -5,700 |
|
180,700 | 142,700 |
|
171,900 | 21,900 |
|
169,600 | 169,600 |
|
157,200 | |
|
156,700 | 156,700 |
|
|
150,100 | 40,100 |
|
148,600 | 38,600 |
|
148,300 | -12,700 |
|
|
145,400 | 145,400 |
|
139,700 | |
|
137,600 | 64,600 |
|
135,800 | 83,800 |
|
|
125,100 | 70,100 |
|
118,300 | 8,300 |
|
|
118,000 | -28,000 |
|
114,800 | -35,200 |
|
|
102,500 | 102,500 |
|
102,000 | 102,000 |
Wang Busts Tsai on Last Hand
Level 12
: 1,000/2,000, 300 ante
Wei Han Wang opened the action with a raise to 5,000 from middle position and picked up a customer in neighboring John Dalessandri before Du-Ming Tsai moved all-in for 29,700 from the button.
Both Wang and Dalessandri made the call to swell the pot to a chunky 90,900 and take the action three-way to a flop of 
.
Wang quickly moved all-in for another 50,000 more and Dalessandri stood up and mulled over his options.
“You have pocket nines?” he asked Wang, who gave nothing away. Dalessandri flashed pocket tens before throwing his hand away and Wang and Tsai turned their cards over.
Du-Ming Tsai: 
Wei Han Wang: 
While Tsai had the best hand pre-flop Wang had him out-flopped and the 
turn and 
river saw a dejected Tsai skulk off to the exit while Wang stacked up to 139,700.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
139,700 | 139,700 |
|
76,300 | 76,300 |
|
|
Busted |
Lim Busts at the End
Level 12
: 1,000/2,000, 300 ante
Jaehyun Lim got his last few chips in for 23,400 and found a caller in Seun Oluwole in the second-last hand of the night.
Both players tabled aces, but Lim was the one at risk and in need of help with 
. Oluwole had the better kicker in and ultimately prevailed after dodging a flush draw on the board 
.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
79,600 | 39,100 |
|
Busted |
Judeh Will Return for Day 1c
Level 12
: 1,000/2,000, 300 ante
Hassen Judeh was the player that was left short against Corbin White previously and got the remainder of his stack in with the 
. Alexander Grocott looked him up with 
. The table woke up at the end, cherring for Judeh to get there and he indeed improved on the 
turn.
However, a cruel 
river gave Grocott a set and the table erupted in gasps in the last hand. Judeh confirmed that he will be back for Day 1c after firing three bullets so far, though he will likely skip the first two levels.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
157,200 | -17,800 |
|
|
Busted |
More for Falcon
Level 12
: 1,000/2,000, 300 ante
Just before the last hands were announced, Michael Falcon and his table neighbor in the cutoff got into a bigger pot. Falcon bet the flop for 20,000 and was called before the 
turn went check, check. After the river, Falcon glanced at the stack of his opponent and made it a hefty 50,000 to go.
That proved to be too much and the cutoff folded, which prompted Falcon to reveal 
for a successful bluff.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
315,000 | 60,000 |
Jeon Doubles
Level 12
: 1,000/2,000, 300 ante
Seung Soo Jeon and an unfortunate opponent got all the chips in pre-flop as soon as the last five hands were announced.
Jeon’s was trailing to his opponent’s and while the 
flop was no help, the turn saw Jeon shoot up out of his seat with a whoop, much to his unfortunate opponent’s displeasure.
The 
river saw Jeon send his adversary to the rail and stack up to 150,000.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
150,000 | 28,000 |
Last Five Hands
Level 12
: 1,000/2,000, 300 ante
The clocks have been stopped and five more hands will be played tonight before bagging and tagging.
Geoff Mooney and Shengyu Li were among those that ran out of chips and Corbin White also got very short before moving all in twice in a row. The first shove went through and his second all in saw the reshove of the cutoff.
Corbin White: 
Cutoff: 
"I only saw the ace," the cutoff said and there were some "ohhh's" at the table when both players paired their kicker on the flop. The turn provided some split pot outs, while the river gave White a double up for 24,000.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
53,000 | -43,000 |
|
Busted | |
|
|
Busted |
Falcon Busts Gruendemann to Take the Lead
Level 12
: 1,000/2,000, 300 ante
A sudden pace of action at the table saw the elimination of former big stack Mark Gruendemann, who collided in a big pot wuth Michael Falcon. Gruendemann had raised to 9,000 from early position and Falcon called from the big blind. On the 
flop, Falcon bet and Gruendemann called before the appeared on the turn.
Falcon made it 25,000 to go this time around and Gruendemann moved all in, which Falcon quickly called.
Mark Gruendemann: 
Michael Falcon: 
The flush draw of the Irishman failed to get there with a blank 
on the river and he was eliminated.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
255,000 | 78,000 |
|
Busted |