Main Event Day 1b | 2017 PokerStars Festival Manila

08-05-2017 00:30 UTC+8

Michael Falcon Leads After Day 1b in Manila

Christian Zetzsche

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.

Tags: Alex Lee Alexander Grocott Andre Peters Antti Halme Badri Kedar Gosavi Celine Lee Dhane Chainani Dhaval Mudgal Geoff Mooney Lester Edoc Linh tran Mark Gruendemann Maxim Sorokin Michael Brunner Michael Falcon Peter Plater Po-Yi Wu Sam Nee Sam Polishetty Sathesh Muthu Seung Soo Jeon Shengyu Li Shinji Katsushima Victor Chong

08-04-2017 23:12 UTC+8

Falcon Busts Gruendemann to Take the Lead

Christian Zetzsche

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
Michael Falcon	255,000	78,000
Mark Gruendemann	Busted

Tags: Mark Gruendemann Michael Falcon

08-04-2017 22:43 UTC+8

Halme Doubles With Aces; Busts With Kings

Christian Zetzsche

Level 11 : 800/1,600, 200 ante

Antti Halme doubled to around 58,000 when the remainder of his stack went in with against on the turn and the river was a blank.

Right the very next hand, Michael Brunner raised to 3,200 and Van Tran Thanh three-bet to 9,100. Halme four-bet to 22,000 and Brunner moved all in. Thanh asked for a count on Brunner's shove, which amounted to 113,300, and reluctantly folded, while Halme called to put himself at risk.

Antti Halme:
Michael Brunner:

The left the Finn virtually dead and in need of running kings for a miracle. It was all over after the turn and the river completed the board.

Player	Chips	Progress
Michael Brunner	180,000	85,000
Van Tran Thanh	85,000	-10,000
Antti Halme	Busted

Tags: Antti Halme Michael Brunner van Tran Thanh

08-04-2017 20:17 UTC+8

Ong Cripples Wu, Lee Administers Coup de Grace

RazorSharpPro

Level 8 : 400/800, 100 ante

Manila Megastack 7 champion Po-Yi Wu opened the action with a raise from mid-position and Jun Yi Ong moved all-in from the small blind. Wu made a speedy call and the cards were turned over.

Po-Yi Wu:
Jun Yi Ong:

Wu had Ong covered and the best pre-flop hand. Unfortunately for Wu the flop came down to give Ong a lead he would not relinquish and while the turn gave Wu some additional outs the river was not one of them and he was left with a paltry 1,600 while Ong stacked up to 43,000.

Wu was all in the next hand for the last of his chips with a player in mid-position making the call before Alex Lee offered the Taiwanese player some protection with a raise to 5,500 from the big blind to fold out the caller.

Po-Yi Wu:
Alex Lee:

Wu’s fate was decided by a good old-fashioned race, though unfortunately for the Taiwanese player it was one he lost when the board ran out to pair Lee’s king on the turn. Wu headed for the rail while Lee stacked up to 74,000.

Player	Chips	Progress
Alex Lee	74,000	-6,000
Jun Yi Ong	43,000
Po-Yi Wu	Busted

Tags: Po-Yi Wu Alex Lee Jun Yi Ong

08-04-2017 19:08 UTC+8

Agdas Eliminated

Christian Zetzsche

Level 7 : 300/600, 100 ante

The cards were all but pulled into the muck already and Ahyan Agdas left the table with a dry smile when his reshove with ace-six was called by Changjo Im with pocket threes. The board was still there, showing , and the three on the flop spelled the end for the German, who quickly told Andre Peters about his fate before heading out of the tournament area.

Sam Nee sits just above starting stack, while Celine Lee has more than that, and Yo Seb Rhee is back in action on bullet number two.

Player	Chips	Progress
Celine Lee	52,000	22,000
Sam Nee	36,000	-7,900
Yo Seb Rhee	25,000	25,000
Ahyan Agdas	Busted

Tags: Ayhan Agdas Sam Nee Yo Seb Rhee

08-04-2017 18:00 UTC+8

Crazy Three-Way All In Vaults Jeon to Big Stack

Christian Zetzsche

Level 5 : 200/400, 50 ante

After a raise to 900 and several callers, Seung Soo Jeon three-bet to 3,600 and five players called to go six-way to a flop of . Daryl Lim on the hijack bet 8,000 and Sam Polishetty called from one seat over before Seung Soo Jeon moved all in from the button for what appeared to be another 9,000 on top.

It folded to Andre Peters and he moved all in, which saw Jeon jump out of his seat and celebrate with a "big pot, come on." Lim called all in after some consideration for less than Peters' 35,000 and the action was back on Polishetty. "There are just four kings in the deck, right?" he asked and folded face-up.

Seung Soo Jeon:
Andre Peters:
Daryl Lim:

The turn and river were both blanks and Jeon tripled up while Lim hit the rail to leave the smaller side pot to Peters.

Player	Chips	Progress
Mark Gruendemann	85,000	25,000
Seung Soo Jeon	80,000	48,000
Sam Polishetty	32,200	-16,300
Andre Peters	23,000	1,000
Daryl Lim	Busted

Tags: Andre Peters Daryl Lim Sam Polishetty Seung Soo Jeon

08-04-2017 11:43 UTC+8

Welcome to Day 1B of the PokerStars Festival Manila Main Event

RazorSharpPro

Previously a hot stop on the APPT, PokerStars Festival Manila has now taken over as the headliner for poker in the Philippines.

Once again it is the City of Dreams casino complex that will play host to a horde of hungry poker aficionados with the tournament taking place in the spacious and smoke-free ballroom area.

The series’ ₱55,000 Main Event, which began on Thursday, August 3, has a guaranteed prize pool of ₱20 million and it is nearly game time once again, with the second of the three starting flights getting underway at 2pm local time (GMT+7).

So far 38 players have locked themselves up a berth for Day 2 out of a 95-strong field, though with the format offering unlimited re-entries 37 players fired multiple bullets to see the total number of entries climb to 132.

It is still far too early to tell who will emerge on top but the man leading after the first of the starting flights is Elan Zak, who bagged up an impressive 234,000 in chips – over double that of the average stack and 27,800 more than next closest rival Hoa Thinh Nguyen who finished play with 206,200.

The eventual winner of the Main Event will be crowned on August 7 after four days of play. Players will begin with 30,000 starting chips and will have to navigate through one of three (now two) Day 1s to make it through to Day 2.

PokerStars Festival Manila Main Event starting days (times are listed in local time):

Day 1b – August 4 at 2 p.m. (45-minute levels)
Day 1c – August 5 at 2 p.m. (45-minute levels)

Registration will remain open through the first nine levels of play for each Day 1 with play closing out after the 12th level.

The survivors for each of the Day 1s will reconvene for Day 2 (August 6) and play will restart with one-hour levels. All players remaining after Day 2 will continue on Day 3 (August 7) where players will continue with 75-minute levels and will play down to a winner.

Here's a look at the structure for Day 1b:

Level	Duration	Small Blind	Big Blind	Ante
1	45 min	50	100
2	45 min	75	150
3	45 min	100	200	25
4	45 min	150	300	50
5	45 min	200	400	50
6	45 min	250	500	75
7	45 min	300	600	100
8	45 min	400	800	100
9	45 min	500	1,000	100
10	45 min	600	1,200	200
11	45 min	800	1,600	200
12	45 min	1,000	2,000	300

Of course, the PokerNews live reporting team will be on the coal face all day mining the best hands for your viewing pleasure so stick around and we will keep you up-to-date with all the action as it happens.