Thursday, 28th March 2024 20:12
Home / Uncategorized / Yasutake Oka leads after action-packed Day 1B in Manila Megastack 10

Japan’s Yasutake Oka edged into a late lead at the close of the second (and last) starting flight of the ₱30,000 Manila Megastack 10 Main Event.

Yasutake Oka

Day 1B saw 250 runners ante up and battle it out at the baize, beating the ₱10M guarantee and generating a prize pool of ₱10,921,230. The top 50 places will pay out, with a min-cash good for ₱48,500. No one will be playing for that though, and all will be eyeing up the ₱2,562,000 (~US$48,500) top prize, which includes a ₱100,000 APPT Manila Package.

Of the 250 eager hopefuls, just 56 survived the carnage that ensued over the sixteen 30-minute levels with chip leaders rising and falling faster than the value of Bitcoin.

Several players enjoyed stints as top dog with the UK’s Philip Wastel powering into an early lead with a stack of 85,000 midway during the third level. The Brit remained in front for another five levels before Norway’s Kai Paulsen overtook him for the top spot.

Philip Wastel

However, both were soon eclipsed, first by the Philippines Jharome Pena who did not get to enjoy his time at the top all that long before Malaysia’s Chee Seng Lim overtook him to seize the lead.

Lim was overtaken in turn by Filipino Julius Lagman who won a gigantic three-way all-in just before the last break of the day. It was Lagman who lit the fuse with an early position open, with fellow countryman Rogelio Pacheco flat calling from the next seat over before Singapore’s Arravind Udayakumar re-raised the button.

Julius Lagman

This was the spark that ignited the powder keg, with an explosion of action following that ended with all the chips in the middle and the cards were turned over. Pacheco was leading with pocket kings, Lagman held queens and Udayakumar was in trouble with jacks.

However, the timely arrival of the Q on the flop saw Lagman spike a set and scoop the 130k pot. While this did not put him in the lead, less than a level later Lagman had spun this up to 315,000 before an ill-timed bluff against John Jong saw the Filipino drop back down the counts, eventually concluding play with 233,000 in chips.

Both Paulsen (173,000) and Wastel (169,000) finished with decent sized stacks, which is more than can be said for Lim who finished the day with less than he started, bagging up 27,000.

Kai Paulsen

Lagman’s fall from grace opened the door for Oka, who climbed as high as 350,000 before dropping some chips to bag up a stack of 335,000, which puts him in second place overall, just behind Day 1A frontrunner Marius Zalpys who will be bringing the chip lead and a stack of 381,000 into Day 2.

Other notables to bag included the UK’s Hassen Judeh, who entered late and spun his starting stack up to 191,500 after railing the oldest man in the field, 79-year-old Romeo Catayas.

The USA’s Mike Raymond got as low as 10 big blinds, before spinning this back up after finding pocket aces at the perfect time and did not look back, concluding play with 180,000.

Singapore’s Aaron Lam was another who finished with an extremely playable stack and will be returning for Day 2 with 164,000 in chips. The UK’s Rob Glasspool found a chip bag after two days of trying, finishing the day with 69,000.

Reigning Asia Player of the Year Mike Takayama was in action, fresh off of victory in the Single Day High Roller, which was good for ₱587,000. While Takayama struggled to find much traction and busted his first bullet, he managed to find a bag with his second. Takayama will be returning with 32,000 in chips so will have his work cut out if he wants to make the money.

Mike Takayama

Notables who could not go the distance included Norway’s Henrik Tollefsen, who has had a miserable couple of days at the tables. Japan’s Iori Yogo was another who came up short but would not get lonely on the rail and was joined by Filipino’s Lloyd Fontillas, Eugene Co, Lester Edoc and many more.

You can view all the 1B survivors here and the seat draw for Day 2 will be available in tomorrow’s intro.

A total of 90 players in are left in the running – 34 Day 1A survivors and 56 1B survivors – and these will be united for the first time when Day 2 kicks off at 1pm local time on Sunday, December 16. Join us then as we see who has what it takes to become the tenth Manila Megastack Champion.

10:20pm: Yasutake Oka draws for last five hands
Level 15 – Blinds 2,500/5,000 (BB ante 5,000)

We don’t know how he’s done it, but Japan’s Yasutake Oka has edged into a late lead and won the honour of drawing for the last number of hands to be played today. Five is the magic number and Oka has five more hands with which to pad out his 350,000 stack.

10pm: Calingasan breaks Woodward’s heart
Level 15 – Blinds 2,000/4,000 (BB ante 4,000)

Nicholas Woodward

To be fair, the title is just a bit of artistic licence on our part, but there were hearts involved, and the UK’s Nicholas Woodward looked less than impressed when one showed up on the river.

Woodward had been flying under our radar for most of the day and we never managed to catch him in a hand. Maybe it’s the blogger’s curse, but when we did finally catch the Brit in action, it would be the last hand he would play in the Main Event.

We caught picked up the action on a flop of AK9, and there had clearly been plenty as the pot was a substantial one. We arrived just as Woodward had moved all-in for close to 90,000 and a player in late position was mulling things over. While he folded, big blind Carlo Rey Calingasan made the call and Woodward would be at risk for his tournament life.

Despite having the best of it with AJ against Calingasan’s QJ, the Brit could not fade the Filipino’s heart draw, and while the 6 turn was a blank, the 5 river saw Calingasan get there, stacking up to around 310,000 after that timely catch.

A disgruntled Woodward headed for the rail just as the blinds climbed, bringing the 72 remaining competitors into the last 30-minute level of the day.

9:35pm: Lagman leads
Level 14 – Blinds 1,500/3,000 (BB ante 3,000)

When you’re hot, you’re hot and sitting anywhere near Julius Lagman at the moment will probably see you get a decent suntan. Lagman has been a busy bunny over the last 30-minute level since spiking that set before the break and has run his 130,000 stack up to the giddy heights of 315,000 – which is good for the chip lead.

A recent table move saw Lagman seated at Philip Wastel’s table and should the pair clash, the winner would be sitting with a mountain of chips as the Brit has a stack of around 215,000 or so.

Both Jharome Pena (240,000) and Kai Paulsen (210,000) remain deep stacked while Malaysia’s Chee Seng Lim has dropped down the ladder and looks to have around 180,000 or so. The UK’s Hassen Judeh entered late and has managed to spin his starting stack up to around the same.

Both Richard Marquez (160,000) and Hong Kong’s Vincent Li (140,000) are in with a shout of making Day 2, barring no upset, while Eugene Co (60,000), Rob Glasspool (50,000) and Romeo Catayas (40,000) are all getting dangerously short with the average stack coming in at 104,000.

9:05pm: Last three levels
Level 14 – Blinds 1,500/3,000 (BB ante 3,000)

This is it folks, the final stretch. There are just three 30-minute levels remaining between the 90 players still in contention, and a chip bag. Let’s see how many will go the distance and make it to Day 2.

8:55pm: Three-way carnage before break
Level 13 – Blinds 1,000/2,500 (BB ante 2,500)

The 90 remaining Main Event players are off on their last 10-minute break of the day. When they return just three more 30-minute levels remain before the end of the day.

Two players who will not be making that departed in a flurry of cards and chips in a massive three-way all-in that ate into five minutes of the break as the pot was so huge.

We came running when we heard the shouting and arrived in time to see three players – Julius Lagman, Arravind Udayakumar, and Rogelio Pacheco all involved in a big pot. It was Lagman who lit the fuse with an early position open, with Pacheco flat calling from the next seat over before Udayakumar re-raised the button.

This was the spark that ignited the powder keg, with an explosion of action following that ended with all the chips in the middle and the cards were turned over.

Julius Lagman: QQ
Arravind Udayakumar: JJ
Rogelio Pacheco: KK

Udayakumar looked understandably upset at being the man with the worst hand, and Pacheco looked primed to win a sizable pot, before the flop fell 3Q2 to give Lagman a set.

The watching rail oohhed and ahhhed at this turn of events, with the 2 turn and 2 river completing the hand. Lagman’s queens full was good for a 130,000 pot, Pacheco was left with a paltry 400 chips, and Udayakumar hit the rail with all that excitement bringing us to the break.

8:40pm: Drilon gets flushed by Wastel, Lee takes from Paulsen
Level 13 – Blinds 1,000/2,500 (BB ante 2,500)

Philip Wastel

Level 13 is drawing to a close and just 90 out of the 250 entrants remain. The UK’s Philip Wastel is still going strong and we caught him in a battle of the blinds against local Jose Drilon.

We picked up the action on the turn, with the board reading 104Q3 just as Wastel (small blind) fired out a bet of 4,500 into a pot of around 14,500.

Drilon made a quick call and the dealer peeled off the 5 river. Wastel flicked a 11,500 bet in off the top of his stack and Drilon hit the think tank.

Eventually, he emerged and declared a raise, tossing in three blue 10k chips and announcing “26,500”. Wastel snap called and while Drilon had the goods with 87 the Filipino was trailing to Wastel’s KJ. The Brit is now on around 150,000, while Drilon dropped to 48,000.

“That’s the best cash game player in the Philippines!” piped up a tablemate who saw us writing up the hand. This, however, is a tournament, which is a whole different animal. Regardless, Drilon did well there to not drop more chips, with Wastel complementing him on losing the minimum.

8:10pm: Lim leading, Lam survives shove
Level 12 – Blinds 1,000/2,000 (BB ante 2,000)

Chee Seng Lim

The blinds are getting big and with the average stack coming in at a little under 60,500, for some of the remaining players, it’s getting to crunch time. One player who does not have to worry about his stack size in relation to the blinds is Malaysia’s Chee Seng Lim, who looks to have edged into the chip lead with a stack of ~210,000.

Jharome Pena is not far behind with close to 200,000 in his stack, though it’s hard to be exact as both players have their chips stacked unevenly and they have a lot of them.

Other notables still in the running include the UK’s Philip Wastel (122,000) and Rob Glasspool (75,000) who we have not caught battling for a while. Jae Kyung Sim is still in action and the Korean player now has close to 110,000 in chips.

Eugene Co managed to bust his first bullet and get down to 14,500 of his second just before the re-entry period ended. However, Co has had a remarkable change in fortune and has spun this up to six-figures and is now sitting on just over 100,000.

Hong Kong’s Vincent Li is still in the mix with a stack of around 70,000, as it reigning APOY Mike Takayama who has 45,000.

Aaron Lam

Aaron Lam has close to the same and we caught him in action, and while it looked as though the Singaporean was toast after getting all the chips in pre-flop with a dominated AQ against Taku Hashimoto’s AK, the poker gods were feeling magnanimous and both players made the wheel on the runout. Lam has around 50,000 while Hashimoto has 45,000 after the chop.

Others not as fortunate as Lam include Henrik Tollefsen, Lester Edoc and Lloyd Fontillas, though the latter busted before the previous break.

There are 108 players left in and four more 30-minute levels to go between them and a bag.

7:40pm: Numbers are in
Level 11 – Blinds 800/1,600 (BB ante 1,600)

Numbers are in for the Main Event, with Day 1B drawing 250 entrants. Combined with the 167 Day 1A entries, this brings the total entries up to 417, generating a prize pool of ₱10,921,230.

The top 50 places will payout, with a min-cash good for ₱48,500 and the eventual winner walking away with a top prize of ₱2,562,000 (~US$48,500) – not bad at all for a weekend of poker.

Manila Megastack 10 Top Ten Payouts

Place Prize (PHP)  
1 ₱2,562,000 Includes ₱100,000 APPT Manila Package
2 ₱1,542,000  
3 ₱952,500  
4 ₱730,500  
5 ₱541,000  
6 ₱433,000  
7 ₱354,230  
8 ₱298,000  
9 ₱243,000  
10 ₱190,000

For full payouts please click here.

7:15pm: Lee takes from Catayas
Level 10 – Blinds 600/1,200 (BB ante 1,200)

Romeo Catayas

We are still waiting for official confirmation on the numbers, but unofficially the tournament clock reads 250 Day 1B entries, with 145 players still in and the average stack coming in at 51,700 (around 43 big blinds).

Romeo Catayas now has less than this after tangling in a hand against Siyoung Lee. We are not sure when all the chips went in, but it was before the river as, with the board reading 104Q8 players were talking about the fact that Mr. Catayas was drawing dead.

That’s because his KQ had been outdrawn on the turn by Lee’s 9J. The river was a meaningless 5 and Catayas dropped down to 35,000 while Lee stacked up to around average with 51,000.

There are several big stacks who have climbed above the rest of the field, though it still looks as though Jharome Pena is in front with around 145,000, even after giving up a hand pre-flop after raising to 3,000 and getting three-bet to the tune of 12,000 by a player on the button.

Jharome Pena

Kai Paulsen is on around 130,000, Peter Plater has 115,000, and the Philippines’ Gerard Lubas (III) has not long earned a timely double with A7 after getting all the chips in pre-flop against another big stack.

The stack in question belongs to Chee Seng Lim, who called Lubas’ 13,000-chip shove with JJ with the latter spiking an ace on the turn to double to the 30,000 starting stack. Lim was left with around 190,000 after the hand.

6:45pm: Paulsen leading at the break
Level 9 – Blinds 500/1,000 (BB ante 1,000)

The 145 remaining Main Event players are on another 10-minute break, with the late registration/re-entry period closing once play resumes.

Mike Takayama has busted his first bullet but is not alone in that and we expect the reigning Asia Player of the Year to be back in action shortly, along with the countless other players taking that last shot at making Day 2.

We were able to get a few chip counts from the tournament floor just before the field when on break, and while Kai Paulsen still has a decent sized stack of 130,000, the Norwegian has some stiff competition and has been ousted from the top spot by the Philippines’ Jharome Pena, who has around 142,000.

Other big stacks and notables still in the running include another Filipino, Mark Almusajin, who has what looks to be 123,000, the UK’s Philip Wastel who has close to 122,000, and Australia’s Peter Plater has had a recent purple patch to climb to 120,000 after hitting a set at the same time an unfortunate opponent hit two pair.

Here’s how some of the rest of the field is stacking up:

Richard ‘Hot Sauce’ Marquez – 95,000
Rob Glasspool (UK) – 75,000
Vincent Li (Hong Kong) – 70,000
Romeo Catayas (Philippines) – 65,000
Aaron Lam (Singapore) – 50,000
Jae Kyung Sim (Korea) – 45,000
Soo Jo ‘SJ’ Kim (Korea) – 29,000
Henrik Tollefsen (Norway) – 21,000
Eugene Co (Philippines) – 14,000

6:20pm: Last level for entry/re-entry
Level 9 – Blinds 500/1,000 (BB ante 1,000)

This is it folks, the last chance to play in the Manila Megastack 10 Main Event. The late registration/re-entry period closes at the end of this 30-minute level and we will have prize pool details and the like once all the numbers are in. So far 230 players have anted up the ₱30,000 entry and 148 of them still have Day 2 in their sights.

5:45pm: Guarantee reached, Sim busts one
Level 8 – Blinds 400/800 (BB ante 800)

Day 1B of the Main Event has now drawn 220 entrants, reaching and breaching the ₱10M guarantee so those hoping for overlay will be sorely disappointed. Of these 220 players, 148 are still in action with one of the more recent exits that of Darren Abdulla.

After that failed bluff earlier against Edilberto Gopez, Abdulla’s tournament fortunes have not improved and the Malaysian has not long been sent to the rail at the hands of Jae Kyung Sim.

After that failed bluff earlier, Darren Abdulla’s tournament fortunes have not improved and the Malaysian has not long been sent to the rail at the hands of Jae Kyung Sim.

It was Abdulla who was the initial raiser, making it 2,000 to go from middle position with Sim (button) three-betting to 4,500 in total. Abdulla shipped in his last 14,000 and Sim made a speedy call.

Darren Abdulla: AQ
Jae Kyung Sim: AK

Sim held the dominating hand, and the 103510K runout saw the Korean scoop the pot and climb to 65,000 while Abdulla hit the rail.

5:30pm: Edoc and Tollefsen in, Glasspool and Wastel go second round, Paulsen in front
Level 7 – Blinds 300/600 (BB ante 600)

The field size continues to grow rather than shrink and has now attracted 207 hopefuls, 159 of whom are still in the hunt for that all-elusive Day 2 seat.

One of the more recent arrivals is Norway’s Henrik Tollefsen, who is hoping to run better today than yesterday where he busted three tournaments in a single day. Tollefsen is only playing the one event today so can’t really run worse than he did on Friday.

Lester Edoc is another recent arrival and we caught the hometown hero in action in a pot against India’s Sam Polishetty. It was Polishetty the man to raise initially, making it 1,200 to go from early position with Edoc (button) and the big blind making the call to take play three-way to a flop of J38.

Action checked around to Edoc, who took the pot down with a bet of 1,500 when both the big blind and Polishetty mucked. That pot puts Edoc on 37,000 so he has some chipping up to do if he wants to catch the frontrunners.

Speaking of frontrunners, we caught Philip Wastel and Rob Glasspool getting into it once again, only this time is was Wastel who walked away the winner.

We picked up the action on the river with the community cards spread 77858 and over 20,000 in the pot. Glasspool (cutoff) had a bet of 20,000 out on the felt, but looked to have been check-raised by Wastel (hi-jack) who had plonked down a stack of blue 10k chips for a bet of 70,000.

Seeing us approach Glasspool gave a wry grin, tanked a little bit, tapped the table and mucked leaving Wastel free to pull in the pot. He’s now up to 118,000 while Glasspool dropped down to around 33,000.

However, even with that pot, Wastel has been pipped for the top spot by Kai Paulsen, who is sitting pretty on a stack of 120,000, which is currently good for the chip lead.

Kai Paulsen

5pm: Gopez wins multiway
Level 6 – Blinds 300/500 (BB ante 500)

Jae Kyung Sim boasts over $594,000 in live tournament winnings and also has a decent-sized stack so we popped by the Korean poker pro’s table to see if we could catch him in action.

Indeed we could, with Sim embroiled in a multi-way pot against four other opponents including Filipino’s Edilberto Gopez and Darren Abdullah. As you can probably guess from the post title it was Gopez who took down the hand – and here’s how:

We picked up the action on the turn with the board reading JA89 just as Sim (small blind) led out for 1,200 into a pot of around 2,000. This brought a slew of callers with a player in the big blind, Gopez, a player in middle position and Abdullah (cutoff) all coming along for the ride.

So, it was five-way to the 4 river and action checked around to Abdullah, who took a stab for 5,000. All but Gopez folded and Abdullah had been caught with his hand in the cookie jar, rolling over 65 for just six-high meaning Gopez’ 109 third pair was good for the pot. He climbed to 45,000 or so, while Abdullah dipped below starting stack.

4:50pm: Glasspool and Wastel tangle
Level 6 – Blinds 300/500 (BB ante 500)

Rob Glasspool

Trust the only two Brits at the same table to get into it. We caught frontrunner Philip Wastel and Rob Glasspool battling it out, with the latter managing to bring the Wastel express to a halt, though only a brief one.

It was Wastel the man driving the action with a cutoff raise to 1,200. This looks to have been a trend with Glasspool opting to three-bet to 4,800 from the small blind. The big blind pitched his cards into the muck and Wastel called to take play heads-up to a flop of 410J.

That was all the community cards dealt, with Glasspool’s 6,000 continuation bet enough to take it down, and he climbed to 50,000. Wastel still has loads though and is sitting on around 116,000 even after folding that pot. It looks as though the Wastel express has only stopped at the station before building up a head of steam.

4:25pm: Wastel still the man to catch
Level 5 – Blinds 200/400 (BB ante 400)

There have been yet more entries since play resumed following the break with 177 entrants so far, 149 of whom are still in the running.

The UK’s Philip Wastel is still the man to catch and has padded out his stack still further to climb to 110,000. While there are a couple of players on close to six-figure stacks, the Brit still holds the early chip lead.

The next biggest stack we can find belongs to Kai Paulsen, who has also got off to a great start and is sitting on 97,000.

The Philippines first homegrown WSOP bracelet winner, Mike Takayama, is in the house, coming in fresh from victory in yesterday’s Single Day High Roller, which was good for ₱587,000. Having already won the 2018 Asia Player of the Year and binked a bracelet already this year it’s fair to say that Takayama is having the best year of his professional career so we are expecting a deep run – although with a stack of 35,000 Takayama will need to get busy to challenge for the top spot.

Other notables with chips are as follows:

Mark Hebron (Philippines) – 76,000
Jae Kyung Sim (Korea) – 65,000
Romeo Catayas (Philippines) – 60,000
Randee Clybouw (Belgium) – 59,000
Vincent Li (Hong Kong) – 50,000
Sang Hwang (Korea) – 48,000
Rob Glasspool (UK) – 47,000
Soo Jo Kim (Korea) – 38,000
Richard ‘Hot Sauce’ Marquez (Philippines) – 34,000
Iori Yogo (Japan) – 34,000
Eugene Co (Philippines) – 32,000
Aaron Lam (Singapore) – 32,500
Soo Ghee Lim (Singapore) – 23,000
Maiko Kori (Japan) – 14,000

4pm: Breaktime
The 129 remaining Main Event players are on their first 10-minute break of the day.

3:45pm: Li gets Co to fold best hand
Level 4 – Blinds 200/300 (BB ante 300)

There have been 135 entries so far, with 129 of these still going strong. That means that the Main Event is just 80 players shy of making the ₱10M guarantee, which we see as given frankly, especially at the rate some of the players are banging the chips in.

Sang Hwang is back in action after a less than stellar Day 1A, with the Korean player informing us that he’s already on his second bullet of the day. Hwang has not long taken his seat and will be joined by professional tournament director Lloyd Fontillas, who has taken time off his day job to see how things work on the other side of the card tables.

Vincent Li is another recent arrival, and we caught the Hong Kong native in action in a hand against tablemate Wei Li Chow, though apparently, Eugene Co was also in, at least until the flop, as you will discover shortly.

We picked up the action on the river, with close to 5,000 in the pot and the community cards spread 8Q4J2 with Chow (big blind) checking the action over to Li, sitting in the hi-jack, who checked it back.

Chow rolled over A5 for the missed nut flush draw, meaning Li’s A10 ace-high was enough to take the pot.

“Damn it Vince!” piped up Co goodnaturedly, “You made me fold a pair, I had a four…”

Using our Sherlock Holmes powers of deduction, that leads us to believe that Mr. Co was also involved in the action, at least until the flop. We had no idea he was that tight…

3:20pm: More new faces
Level 3 – Blinds 100/200 (BB ante 200)

Eugene Co

The field size is continuing with an upward trajectory and has now grown to 116 entrants, 113 of whom are still in action.

One of the new arrivals is Manila native Eugene Co, who has not long taken his seat over on table three, joining Soo Ghee Lim and Kai Paulsen.

Of those two, Paulsen appears to have been the most active early and has grown his stack to 55,000 or so, while Lim has less than he started with and is sitting on around 22,000.

Obviously, Co is still on his 30k starting stack, but will be looking to win his fifth PokerStars LIVE title and pad out his $169,000 in live tournament winnings.

3:05pm: Wastel takes early lead
Level 3 – Blinds 100/200 (BB ante 200)

Philip Wastel

The number of entrants has grown to 95, though only 92 of these remain in contention. While we missed the bust out, one of those responsible for at least one of these early casualties is the UK’s Philip Wastel whom we caught stacking chips as the bustee headed for the cash desk, presumably to re-enter.

Wastel is sitting on a stack of 85,000 – which is close to triple the average at this early stage. While it is too early to speculate, Wastel will need to continue the run good if he wants to challenge Day 1A frontrunner Marius Zalpys for the chip lead as the Lithuanian bagged up 381,000 at the close of play yesterday.

2:45pm: Field growing
Level 2 – Blinds 100/200 (BB ante 100)

Iori Yogo

The antes have now kicked in and the field has grown to 90 so far. Iori Yogo is one of the new arrivals, and of the players we can see in the running so far the Japanese poker professional is easily one of the more accomplished. Yogo currently sits at #3 on the Japan All Time Money list and boasts over $1.2 million in live tournament winnings with his tournament titles sitting in double figures.

Singapore’s Soo Ghee Lim is another recent arrival who boasts decent results in Manila and has numerous cashes on his poker resume from both Macau and Manila for over $50,000 in live tournament winnings.

The Philippines Romeo Catayas has not long taken his seat. The 79-year-old will be looking to better his ninth place Manila Megastack Main Event finish back in May, which was good for a ₱344,000 payday.

2:27pm: Ong starting strong
Level 1 – Blinds 100/100

Cards have not long been in the air, and already there have been a few sizable pots played. The most exciting we have seen so far involved the Nelson Ong and Edward Tan.

We picked up the action on the river with the community cards spread QJQ4A and quite a few chips in the pot already.

Tan, sitting in early position, was the man first to act and he checked it over to Ong, who tossed out a bet of 3,500. After a few seconds thinking it over, Tan made the call, but could only muck when Ong rolled over AA for a rivered full house to claim the pot. Ong is now up to 37,000 while Tan dropped to 23,000.

2:12pm: Who’s here?
Level 1 – Blinds 100/100

Some familiar faces are settling into the action, with Australia’s Peter Plater, Norway’s Kai Paulsen, and Singapore’s Aaron Lam all in action.

As we mentioned yesterday, the last time we caught Plater in action in Manila he was in the process of taking down the ₱215,000 High Roller Shot Clock at the 2017 PokerStars Festival Manila for ₱3.1M ($61,429).

While yesterday did not work out all that well for Mr. Plater, today is a new day and he has a brand new 30k starting stack with which to mount his run at a Day 2 berth.

Paulsen is also a Manila regular, but then as a Norwegian-Filipino you’d expect him to be a frequent visitor and he’ll be looking to add to his two PokerStars LIVE titles and $765,025 in live tournament winnings.

Lam too is a seasoned player with results dating back to 2010 on his poker resume with cashes in the UK, Macau, Singapore, and the Philippines on his resume for combined live earnings of over $138,000.

2pm: Game time
Level 1 – Blinds 100/100

And we’re off, the button will be starting on seat 7 and there are currently 30 players in their seats and raring to go.

Welcome to Day 1B of the Manila Megastack 10
Welcome back to the second opening flight of the ₱30,000 Manila Megastack 10 Main Event taking place at the PokerStars LIVE Manila cardroom, based at the luxurious Okada Manila.

PokerStars LIVE Manila at Okada Manila

The opening flight played out yesterday – Friday, December 14 – and saw 167 players fight it out at the felt in an effort to make the second and final day. You can view all the highlights here.

A total of 34 players made it through and will be returning for Day 2, which plays out on Sunday, December 16.

With 381.8 (we’ll call it 382 as you can’t really have 0.8 of a player) runners needed to match the ₱10M guarantee that means a further 215 players will need to ante up for Day 1B.

Judging by the action yesterday, that should be no problem, and if anything, Day 1B is expected to be busier than it’s predecessor.

The second starting flight will follow the same format as the first, and will play sixteen 30-minute levels (approximately 8 hours) with play scheduled to conclude around 10.30pm.

The tournament is utilising the big blind ante format, where the big blind posts all the antes for the table to speed up play. Competitors will begin with a 30,000-chip starting stack and with unlimited re-entries allowed for the first nine levels of each starting flight, the sky really is the limit for those with deep enough pockets.

Cards will be in the air shortly and as always, we’ll be bringing you all the tournament thrills and spills as they happen so keep your browser locked to the PokerStars Blog as we see who has what it takes to make the Day 2 cut.

PokerStars Blog reporting team on the Manila Megastack 9: Ben Wilson. Photography by Chris Librojo.

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