Falcon Flying High as Final Day of the PokerStars Festival Manila Dawns
Just 14 players remain out of the 594-strong field in the PokerStars Festival Manila Main Event, with play re-starting at 2pm local time (GMT+7) on Monday 7 August.
All 14 remaining players are guaranteed a payday of at least ₱285,000 (~$5,663) but it is the trophy, title and ₱5,515,000 (~$109,563) first prize that all will have their eye on.
The man flying high is Day 1b frontrunner Michael Falcon who ran hotter than the sun for the majority of Day 2, busting players left, right and centre to bag up an absolutely monstrous 3,820,000 in chips – nearly 1 million more than next closest rival Uday Bansal who finished the day with a stack of 2,950,000.
Finland’s Antti Halme rounds out the top three after gunning down Chi Thinh Nguyen with pocket aces shortly after the last five hands were announced in the early hours of Sunday night/Monday morning. Halme bagged 2,130,000 in chips – the only other player to have more than 2 million – with the rest of the field stacking up as follows:
Day 3 Redraw:
| Table | Seat | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Raphael Gall | Germany | 430,000 | 14 |
| 1 | 2 | Yo Seb Rhee | Japan | 1,765,000 | 59 |
| 1 | 3 | empty | - | - | - |
| 1 | 4 | Uday Bansal | India | 2,950,000 | 98 |
| 1 | 5 | Hoa Thinh Nguyen | Vietnam | 1,055,000 | 35 |
| 1 | 6 | Andre Peters | Germany | 1,260,000 | 42 |
| 1 | 7 | Kenneth Buck | Australia | 455,000 | 15 |
| 1 | 8 | Duc Nguyen | Vietnam | 150,000 | 5 |
| 2 | 1 | Tien Than Nguyen | Vietnam | 675,000 | 23 |
| 2 | 2 | Jaehyun Lim | South Korea | 1,140,000 | 38 |
| 2 | 3 | Michael Falcon | Denmark | 3,820,000 | 127 |
| 2 | 4 | empty | - | - | - |
| 2 | 5 | Sam Razavi | United Kingdom | 775,000 | 26 |
| 2 | 6 | Mike Takayama | Philippines | 745,000 | 25 |
| 2 | 7 | Corbin White | United States | 620,000 | 21 |
| 2 | 8 | Antti Halme | Finland | 2,130,000 | 71 |
Blinds will be starting at 15,000/30,000 with a 5,000 running ante and the levels have been extended from 60-minutes to 75-minutes when the cards are back in motion. You can read a full recap of the Day 2 action here.
The PokerNews live reporting team will be on the tournament floor in the Grand Ballroom at the City of Dreams casino until a champion is crowned and will be bringing you all the action as it happens. Stick around and we’ll see who has what it takes to become the first everPokerStars Festival Manila Main Event champion.