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