button in SafariTwo Starting Flights Remain for the 2026 SiGMA Poker Tour Manila Main Event
Two starting days remain for the first-eber edition of the 2026 SiGMA Poker Tour Manila Main Event in the Philippines and a mighty overlay is looming, as the flagship tournament of the festival at the lavish City of Dreams Manila hotel and entertainment complex has only attracted 103 entries across the first three flights so far.
With a buy-in of PHP 40,000 (≈$650), the guarantee for the crown jewel stands at a mighty PHP 15 million (≈$242,755) and a strong turnout is needed to reach the goal with two more starting days scheduled for today. At 1 p.m. local time, Day 1d with a level duration of 40 minutes each is scheduled to kick off followed by the final turbo heat 1e at 6 p.m. local time on a reduced 20-minute clock.
So far, only 14 players have advanced to the money stages and the duo atop the leaderboard remains the same from the opening flight, as Gursimran Brar (988,800) and Alex Chong (672,900) have accumulated the far most stacks. Third in chips is one of the two qualifiers from yesterday's turbo heat 1c in Edzel Villares, who advanced with 435,900.
The action on Day 2 is set to resume where the fastest flight reached the money and the blinds will roll back to at least level 13 which features blinds of 1,000-2,000/2,000 as has been the case when Day 1a and 1b bagged up for the night. All qualified players so far can be found below.
Qualified Players for Day 2 so Far:
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | BB Day 2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gursimran Brar | India | 988,800 | 494 |
| 2 | Alex Chong | Hong Kong | 672,900 | 336 |
| 3 | Edzel Villares | Philippines | 435,900 | 218 |
| 4 | Marco Espela | Philippines | 273,900 | 137 |
| 5 | Henrik Tollefsen | Norway | 252,400 | 126 |
| 6 | Jaeil Lee | South Korea | 250,400 | 125 |
| 7 | Patrick Clarke | Ireland | 245,200 | 123 |
| 8 | Rodolf Ramo | Philippines | 209,900 | 105 |
| 9 | Justin Ong | Philippines | 190,600 | 95 |
| 10 | Lukasz Jankowski | Poland | 164,100 | 82 |
| 11 | Oleg Mordassov | Switzerland | 136,000 | 68 |
| 12 | Anton Del Rosario | Philippines | 110,900 | 55 |
| 13 | Christian Cloutier | Canada | 100,700 | 50 |
| 14 | Dylan Yip | Ireland | 90,200 | 45 |
All players start their journey with 40,000 in chips, which is good enough for 200 big blinds at 100-200 and the popular big blind ante format is used for the entire tournament as well. The late registration is open until the end of level 11 and following break with unlimited re-entries available. As previously mentioned, the penultimate flight has the more favourable 40-minute levels whereas the final chance turbo heat runs on a 20-minute clock.
The action clock is also in play from the first card dealt and gives players 20 seconds to act preflop and on the flop before it increases to 30 seconds for the turn and river. Should any participant bag up chips in more than one flight, they will receive a min-cash for the smaller stack which is subsequently taken out of play. Each Day 1 heat is playing down to the money with approximately 12.5% of each field set to advance.
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Today's PokerNews live updates will focus on Day 1d of the 2026 SiGMA Poker Tour Manila Main Event and continues all the way until a champion has been crowned on June 4, 2026. The full chip counts for Day 1e and the Day 2 seat draw will be published once the information has been provided by the Soul Poker Club at City of Dreams Manila.