Main Event Day 2 | 2017 PokerStars Festival Manila

08-06-2017 18:18 UTC+8

Incredible Hero Call and Double for Halme Keeps Bubble Alive

Christian Zetzsche

Level 16 : 2,500/5,000, 500 ante

Antti Halme raised to 15,000 and start-of-the-day chip leader Woohyuk Yang three-bet to 50,000 out of the small blind, which Halme called. On the flop, Yang continued for 30,000 and was called before a second barrel worth 60,000 on the was called once more.

The 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.

He leaned back and started some table talk, but Yang gave away no reaction. Four minutes passed and the Finn announced "Okay I call," and Yang immediately sighed, then turned over . Halme showed for just top pair, and that was enough to score a double for 226,500. Players watching the action around the table started clapping and the Finn jumped into second place overall. The money bubble is still going on.

Player	Chips	Progress
Antti Halme	760,000 600,100	600,100
Woohyuk Yang	220,000 212,000	212,000

Tags: Antti Halme Woohyuk Yang

08-06-2017 18:13 UTC+8

Zak Gets Big on the Bubble

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Christian Zetzsche

Level 16 : 2,500/5,000, 500 ante

Victor Chong, Hoa Thinh Nguyen and Elan Zak are some of the biggest stacks on the money bubble and the latter just won a big pot against Kian Weng Choong. On the turn, Zak called a bet of 40,000 by Choong and then pushed all in after the river. Choong had 140,000 behind and reluctantly folded.

"I am a gentleman," Zak announced and flashed for trips jacks. "I had the nut flush draw, otherwise I would not have called the 40."

Player	Chips	Progress
Hoa Thinh Nguyen	500,000
Elan Zak	490,000
Victor Chong	445,000
Kian Weng Choong	140,000

Tags: Elan Zak Hoa Thinh Nguyen Kian Weng Choong Victor Chong

08-06-2017 18:03 UTC+8

Buck Straightens Out Soh

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Ben Wilson

Level 16 : 2,500/5,000, 500 ante

Kenneth Buck is hitting his run good at just the right time and we arrived in time to witness the Aussie push Singapore’s Yan da Tyronne Soh off a hand.

There was close to 70,000 in blinds and antes in the pot already with the community cards spread and Buck had just led out for a sizable 50,000 bet to send Soh deep into the tank.

Eventually, the Singaporean sighed, flashed Buck the and folded his hand. Buck obligingly showed Soh for a rivered straight and scooped the pot to climb to 235,000 while Soh slumped to 120,000.

Player	Chips	Progress
Kenneth Buck	235,000
Yan da Tyronne Soh	120,000 10,000	10,000

Tags: Yan da Tyronne Soh Kenneth Buck

08-06-2017 17:50 UTC+8

Amparo Doubles on the Money Bubble

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Christian Zetzsche

Level 16 : 2,500/5,000, 500 ante

After a button raise by Mark Amparo and a three-bet by Boon Leong Tan out of the small blind, Amparo tossed in the extra 20,000 to see a flop of . Tan continued for 35,000 and Amparo moved all in for 143,500 in total. Players gathered near the table while some tables were still playing, and Tan eventually announced the call.

Once all other tables were finished, the following cards were turned over:

Mark Amparo:
Boon Leong Tan:

The on the turn instantly secured the double for Amparo, who celebrated loudly, while Tan went from big stack to danger zone in just one hand and one spot off the money.

Player	Chips	Progress
Mark Amparo	370,000 150,000	150,000
Boon Leong Tan	55,000 145,000	145,000

Tags: Boon Leong Tan Mark Amparo

08-06-2017 17:36 UTC+8

Hand-for-hand Mode Enabled

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Christian Zetzsche

Level 16 : 2,500/5,000, 500 ante

Alex Lee was left empty-handed while Francis Vilamar doubled up his short stack of 41,000 with against the of Seung Soo Jeon. The board came and once the hand was finished, the action on all tables was frozen to break one table and start hand-for-hand on the money bubble.

Player	Chips	Progress
Francis Villamar	90,000 62,400	62,400
Seung Soo Jeon	30,000 143,000	143,000
Alex Lee	Busted

Tags: Alex Lee Seung Soo Jeon Francis Vilamar

08-06-2017 17:35 UTC+8

Tran Cripples Wu

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Ben Wilson

Level 16 : 2,500/5,000, 500 ante

A huge hand played out between Po-Yi Wu and Linh Tran that was rather reminiscent of the recent Manila Megastack 7, where Wu defeated Tran after a lengthy heads-up battle to take the title.

Tran gained some measure of revenge in the following hand that left the Wu’s stack decimated and gave Tran some breathing room as the bubble reared its ugly head.

We picked up the action on the turn on a board reading with 95,000 in blinds and antes already in the pot just as Wu (small blind) checked the action over to Tran (mid-position) who fired for 55,000.

Wu thought long and hard and eventually made the call, leaving himself with 127,000 behind, slightly ahead of Tran who had 118,000, we know this as all the chips went in on the next street with Wu pulling the trigger as soon as the hit the felt.

Tran called instantly and the cards were turned over and while Wu had top pair with this was not enough to beat Tran’s and he climbed to 365,000 while Wu fell to a paltry 9,000.

Player	Chips	Progress
Linh Tran	365,000 90,000	90,000
Po-Yi Wu	9,000 85,300	85,300

Tags: Linh tran Po-Yi Wu

08-06-2017 17:30 UTC+8

The "Terminator" Strikes Again

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Christian Zetzsche

Level 16 : 2,500/5,000, 500 ante

The preflop action is unknown, but Tom Or-Paz in late position pushed more than 90,000 in after a flop of and chip leader Michael Falcon looked him up from the button. Or-Paz had fired eight bullets in this event and Falcon six, and the cards were turned over:

Tom Or-Paz:
Michael Falcon:

The turn gave Or-Paz additional outs, but he bricked off with the river. A player from another table walked over and joked "terminator" to Falcon, who is the dominating chip leader just before the money bubble.

Player	Chips	Progress
Michael Falcon	1,290,000 290,000	290,000
Tom Or-Paz	Busted

Tags: Michael Falcon Tom Or-Paz

08-06-2017 17:24 UTC+8

Approaching the Bubble

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Christian Zetzsche

Level 16 : 2,500/5,000, 500 ante

John Dalessandri was left with no chips after his push for 64,500 with saw Jae Wook Shin in the big blind quickly call with . The board came and that was it for Dalessandri.

Sok Meng Hun lost the vast majority of his stack, 128,000 in total, when his ended up second best to the of Uday Bansal on a board of and the remainder vanished shortly after.

Last but not least, Xingbiao Zhu lost a flip with against Mark Amparo, who held . Zhu was drawing dead on the turn of a board and picked up a meaningless seven on the river.

Below are further casualties, and there are just 90 players remaining with 87 spots being paid.

Player	Chips	Progress
Uday Bansal	275,000 140,000	140,000
Jae Wook Shin	260,000 188,900	188,900
Mark Amparo	220,000 146,900	146,900
Xingbiao Zhu	Busted
Van Tran Thanh	Busted
Sok Meng Hun	Busted
John Dalessandri	Busted

Tags: Jae Wook Shin John Dalessandri Mark Amparo Sok Meng Hun Uday Bansal Xingbiao Zhu

Level: 16

Blinds: 2,500/5,000

Ante: 500

08-06-2017 17:15 UTC+8

Nikawadori Busts Loo, Chow Busts Ra

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Ben Wilson

Level 15 : 2,000/4,000, 500 ante

Hand 1:

Masato Nikawadori opened the action with a raise to 9,500 from the cutoff and the action folded around to big blind Jun Zhong Loo.

Loo peeked down at his cards and quickly moved all-in for his last 50,000 and Nikawadori made a quick call.

Masato Nikawadori:
Jun Zhong Loo:

Loo was the at-risk player racing for his tournament life but the flop fell to shoot Nikawadori further in front. While Loo picked up a backdoor flush draw on the turn the river was of no help and the Malaysian World Series of Poker Asia Pacific bracelet holder headed for the rail while Nikawador stacked up to 200,000.