167 Players Remain for Day 2 of the 2017 PokerStars Festival Manila Main Event
After three starting days with 12 levels of 45 minutes each, a field of 594 entries has emerged for the 2017 PokerStars Festival Manila Main Event at the PokerStars LIVE Manila poker room in the City of Dreams complex. The guaranteed prize pool of ₱20 million was easily surpassed and ₱28,809,000 (~$572,190) are up for grabs.
More than half of the 167 Day 1 survivors will be leaving empty handed still. The top 87 spots will receive a portion of the prize pool, however it is the ₱5,515,000 (~$109,536) first prize and the elusive golden PokerStars festival trophy that comes along with it that everyone has their eyes set on.
Best-positioned to claim the title here in Manila is Korea's Woohyuk Yang with a monster stack of 417,400 followed by Day 1b chip leader Michael Falcon with 307,100. Masatoshi Tanaka, who scored a massive double just before play concluded on Day 1c, follows in third place overall with 287,800 while fellow Japanese and High Roller Shot Clock finalist Yo Seb Rhee is hot on his heels with 265,300.
Other big stacks and notables still in contention include Andre Peters (241,500), Dhane Chainani (235,200), Day 1a chip leader Elan Zak (234,200), Alex Lee (212,500), Michael Brunner (211,400), Linh Tran (194,300), Tom Or-Paz (186,500), Jun Obara (174,400), former Asian player of th year Pete Chen (165,300), Antti Halme (159,900) and Alexander Grocott (157,200) to name just a few.
2017 Asian Player of the Year contenders Sparrow Cheung (120,200), Alan Lau (53,800) and Jack Wu (42,600) are also among those through to Day 2, while JunZhong Loo (50,000) and High Roller champion Peter Plater (40,900) will be among the short stacks when action resumes at 2 p.m. local time in the Grand Ballroom.
The action recommences in level 13 at blinds of 1,200-2,400 with a running ante of 400 and the level duration increases to 60 minutes each. A maximum of 11 levels or until the final table of the last nine are scheduled for Day 2, whichever of the two comes first. The winner will then be determined on Monday August 7th, where the levels last 75 minutes each.
PokerStars Festival Main Event history
| Year | PSF Stop | Buy In | Entries | Prize Pool | Champion | Prize | Prize (USD) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | New Jersey | $1,100 | 208 | $201,760 | Jason Acosta | $38,220 | $38,220 |
| 2017 | London | £ 990 | 944 | £ 824,112 | Rehman Kassam | £89,320 | $111,638 |
| 2017 | Rozvadov | €1,100 | 1126 | € 1,089,310 | Petr Svoboda | €124,346 | $131,283 |
| 2017 | Chile | $1,650 | 329 | $500,000 | Christopher Franco | $97,360 | $97,360 |
| 2017 | Marbella | €1,100 | 949 | €911,040 | Ignacio De Maturana | €168,700 | $188,017 |
| 2017 | South Korea | KRW1,650,000 | 285 | KRW414,675,000 | Taehoon Han | KRW83,130,000 | $73,954.00 |
| 2017 | Lille | €1,100 | 800 | €768,000 | Philippe Le Touche | €143,000 | $164,849 |
| 2017 | Manila | PHP55,000 | 594 | PHP28,809,000 | PHP5,515,000 | $109,536 | |
| 2017 | Bucharest | €1,100 | 736 | €705,560 | €133,400 |
The PokerNews live reporting team will be on the tournament floor to provide all the action until a winner is crowned.
turn for 7,100 from the cutoff and Niilo Heinikangas in the small blind called. The 
river was checked and the Finn showed 
for pair of kings to win the pot.
against the 
for trips eights of Chong.
turn, Euryd Rivera and Sparrow Cheung invested 15,000 each to see the 
appear on the turn. Rivera bet 15,000 and Cheung asked to see the stack of his opponent. He then took some time before moving all in for more than 60,000 and Rivera took equally long to call it off for slightly less.
river was a blank and Rivera was eliminated.
, Tien Than Nguyen checked from under the gun and Alan Lau bet 20,000 on the button, which Nguyen called. After the 
turn, Nguyen checked once more and called a bet worth 23,000 by Lau before checking the 
river.
. Nguyen held 
for a full house and the second in the APOY race for 2017 was eliminated just before the break.
was called once more.
river completed the board and Yang checked for the remaining stack of Halme, which was more than 220,000. He then pulled one stack worth 100,000 forward, gave it two minutes of consideration and he added a second stack without announcing any action. Finally, Yang moved all in and Halme was taken aback.
flop saw Razavi pair his six and take the lead, meaning the Indian player was two cards away from leaving empty-handed. Razavi was calling for the 
for top pair and blocked one of Virtanen's outs.
on the river failed to improve Virtanen and he became the next casualty.
river completed the board to award a big double to Amparo.
