PHP 215,000 High Roller
Day 1 Completed
2017 PokerStars Festival Manila
PHP 215,000 High Roller
Day: 1
Event Info
Final Results
Event Info
Level Info
2017 PokerStars Festival Manila
Buy-in
215,000 PHP
Prize Pool
9,118,000 PHP
Entries
47
Level
22
Blinds
10,000 / 20,000
Ante
3,000
Or-Paz Leads PokerStars Festival Manila High Roller Shot Clock Event
Level 11
: 800/1,600, 200 ante
Day 1 of the PokerStars Festival Manila High Roller Shot Clock saw 36 players (including re-entries) pony up the PHP215,000 (~$4,260) buy-in to grow the prize pool to an enticing PHP6,790,000.
However, with re-entry still open until the start of level 12 at 1pm local time (GMT+7) when play resumes on Thursday 3 August this figure could increase further.
Players started with 50,000 in chips and 18 players managed to hold on to the majority of them to lock up their Day two seat. After eleven 40-minute levels, it was Israel’s Tom Or-Paz who finished in front, bagging up an impressive 219,000.
Or-Paz seized the lead after ousting the UK’s Simon Burns not long after the last seven hands had been announced during the last level of the day, flopping top two pairs against the open ended straight draw of Burns and improving to a full house on the river to send the Brit to the rail.
"It's only because I was looking at my girlfriend’s [SMS] messages,' joked Or-Paz when asked about his good run.
"I had ten eight. I called from the button against a pre-flop raiser [Burns]. I checked it. The guy was betting it with a straight draw, I raised 25,000 and he went all in and I insta-called with the top two pair. He was up and down. Looked at my girlfriend’s [SMS] messages, turn is an ace, river is an eight — Boom! Full house," said Or-Paz.
The 29-year-old Israeli is vice president of one of the biggest sports betting companies in the world, SBTech Israel, and is clearly enjoying his time at the PokerStars Festival Manila.
“I wasn’t very lucky in most of the tournaments. I did a pre-qualifier to a satellite and I won it for $5, and I won it and I won the satellite so I have a ticket for the main event already… This so far [the High Roller Shot Clock] is the best one,” said Or-Paz.
Sathesh Muthu also enjoyed a good day at the felt, bagging up a very respectable 156,700. While the Singaporean’s tournament started poorly and he busted his first buy-in at the hands of Japan’s Yo Seb Rhee after the latter flopped a flush versus Muthu’s ace-king suited on an ace-high flop, the second time was the charm for Muthu.
On his second bullet, the Singaporean won the majority of stack from the unfortunate Van Sang Nguyen when the two became involved in a huge pre-flop raising war with all the chips finding their way into the middle. Muthu, holding pocket aces, had Nguyen’s ace-king crushed and the Singaporean shot into one of the top spots on the leaderboard, where he remained until play concluded.
The tournament’s only two satellite qualifiers, the United Kingdom’s Peter Plater (133,000) and Russia’s Timofey Asmolov, (156,700) both made it through to Day 2 with Asmolov concluding play with the third biggest stack.
While play began with three Nguyens in the field – with Bach Hoang Nguyen and Hoa Thinh Nguyen the other two – only one made it through to Day 2 with Hoa Thinh Nguyen (147,900) rounding out the top four stacks. Other notables to make it through included Taiwan's Pete Chen (33,700), Canada's Linh Tran (144,400) and Malaysia's Victor Chong (96,400).
Day 2 re-commences at 1pm local time on Thursday 3 August with blinds starting at 1,000/2,000 with a 300 running ante. The tournament will play out until a champion is crowned and the PokerNews live reporting team will be on hand to cover that and Day 1A of the PokerStars Festival Manila Main Event, which kicks off at 2pm local time.
Day 2 Seat Draw
| Table | Seat | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | Timofey Asmolov | Russia | 154,400 | 77 |
| 1 | 4 | Linh Tran | Canada | 144,400 | 72 |
| 1 | 5 | Sathesh Muthu | Singapore | 156,700 | 78 |
| 1 | 7 | Lester Edoc | Philippines | 103,900 | 52 |
| 1 | 8 | Tom Or-Paz | Israel | 219,000 | 110 |
| 2 | 1 | Victor Chong | Malaysia | 96,400 | 48 |
| 2 | 3 | Yo Seb Rhee | Japan | 45,800 | 23 |
| 2 | 5 | Jun Obara | Japan | 85,500 | 43 |
| 2 | 6 | Aki Virtanen | Finland | 56,900 | 28 |
| 2 | 7 | Mansour Matloubi | UK | 113,900 | 57 |
| 3 | 4 | Konstantin Pogodin | Russia | 35,400 | 18 |
| 3 | 5 | Hermann Lee | Singapore | 81,000 | 41 |
| 3 | 7 | Celine Lee | China | 105,900 | 53 |
| 3 | 8 | Ken Okada | Japan | 43,000 | 22 |
| 4 | 1 | Peter Plater | UK | 133,000 | 67 |
| 4 | 4 | Antti Halme | Finland | 24,700 | 12 |
| 4 | 6 | Pete Chen | Taiwan | 33,700 | 17 |
| 4 | 7 | Hoa Thinh Nguyen | Vietnam | 147,900 | 74 |
End-Of Day Chip Counts (full)
Level 11
: 800/1,600, 200 ante
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
219,000 | 2,300 |
|
156,700 | 9,700 |
|
154,400 | -23,400 |
|
147,900 | -2,100 |
|
144,400 | 39,400 |
|
133,000 | 30,000 |
|
113,900 | -29,100 |
|
105,900 | 12,900 |
|
103,900 | |
|
96,400 | 40,400 |
|
85,500 | -2,500 |
|
81,000 | -50 |
|
56,900 | -11,600 |
|
45,800 | -4,200 |
|
43,000 | -7,000 |
|
35,400 | -12,600 |
|
33,700 | -5,300 |
|
24,700 |
Edoc Doubles in Last Hand
Level 11
: 800/1,600, 200 ante
Hermann Lee raised and picked up two callers in Lester Edoc and Antti Halme. All three players checked the 
flop and Edoc bet the turn for 6,500, which just Halme called. The 
river saw a jam for 38,000 by Edoc and Halme snap-called only to see Edoc turn over 
for a full house.
Halme mucked his cards, flashing a king, and dropped back to half the starting stack in the very last hand of the night.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
103,900 | 65,900 |
|
|
24,700 | -61,200 |
Burns Misses Draw and Busts
Level 11
: Blinds 800/1,600, 200 ante
Simon Burns raised from under the gun and picked up a single caller in Tom Orpaz from the small blind. On a flop of 
, Orpaz checked and Burns made it 6,000 to go. Orpaz check-raised big to 25,000 and Burns moved all in for what appeared to be 85,000 not long after, which resulted in the call of Orpaz.
Simon Burns: 
Tom Orpaz: 
Neither the 
turn nor the 
river improved Burns and he was sent to the rail just shy of making Day 2. "Full house. Yes, I won the hand because of the hearts from my girlfriend. I just looked at the messages from my girlfriend, that's why I am winning."
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
216,700 | 93,200 |
|
Busted |
Seven Hands and Four Bullets
Level 11
: 800/1,600, 200 ante
The clock has been stopped and seven more hands are to be dealt for tonight. Yo Seb Rhee will get to experience them, as he bought in for bullet number four.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
50,000 | 50,000 |
Okada Gets Lucky
Level 11
: 800/1,600, 200 ante
Hoa Thinh Nguyen raised to 3,500 and Lester Edoc three-bet to 10,500 on the button before Konstantin Pogodin four-bet all in out of the big blind. The shove of the Russian was for 31,400 and that forced two folds.
Yo Seb Rhee's third time was not a charm, as he was eliminated by Linh Tran while Ken Okada was at risk and escaped from the same fate in spectacular fashion.
Okada was all in for 24,200 with the 
and Simon Burns looked him up with the 
. A rather ordinary coin flip took a dramatic run out on a board of 
to see Okada double up with the better full house.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
105,000 | 65,000 |
|
|
90,000 | -55,000 |
|
|
50,000 | 23,000 |
|
|
48,000 | 14,000 |
|
|
38,000 | 3,000 |
|
|
Busted |
Yam Runs Out of Jam
Level 11
: 800/1,600, 200 ante
Edward Yam reluctantly called all in for less after his raising war with Mansour Matloubi saw the latter squeeze to 55,000.
Edward Yam:
Mansour Matloubi: 
The board came 
and Yam headed to the rail.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
143,000 | 37,900 |
|
Busted |
The Last Level of the Night
Level 11
: 800/1,600, 200 ante
Level 11 has started and that is the last level for tonight. Players can only re-gister and re-enter tonight and during the firts one-hour level and following break of Day 2 in order to take a shot at the prize pool. Among those expected to join the action are Alan Lau and 2017 APOY leader Park Yu "Sparrow" Cheung, who was still active in Side Event as of a few minutes ago.
Last Batch of High Roller Pictures
