It was a busy day at the poker tables of the stunning Coral Room inside the Okada Manila complex and the PokerStars sponsored Asia-Pacific Poker Tour made history in the capital of the Philippines. The flagship 2023 APPT Manila Main Event shattered the PHP 20 million guarantee, which it had already surpassed on Day 1a, and nearly quadrupled the prize money up for grabs.
A new record was already on the horizon thanks to incredible 646 entries in the second of three starting days, which was then aided by more than 300 entries in the last-chance turbo heat 1c. Eventually, the new attendance record was missed by fewer than one dozen entries as an unofficial field of 1,354 emerged.
The PHP65,000 price tag of the marquee equals approximately $1,168 and drew a prize pool of PHP76,832,730 (～$1,381,101). A familiar face for the popular live poker tour ended atop the leaderboard for Day 1b as Florencio Campomanes claimed 423,500 to his name upon completion of 13 levels of 40 minutes each.
Back in 2019, the rising Pinoy poker pro came out on top of an 1,135 entry strong field here at Okada Manila after defeating Thijs Hilberts in heads-up. Filipino WSOP bracelet winner Mike Takayama finished third then and also advanced with a healthy stack of 247,500 today as well. One year prior, the APPT Manila Main Event took place at City of Dreams with a lower price tag of PHP55,000 and drew 1,364 total entries, setting the record attendance of the tour on the live poker circuit so far.
Day 1a: 395 entries, 91 advanced
Day 1b: 646 entries, 143 advanced
Day 1c: 313 entries, 109 advanced
Total Day 1: 1,354 entries, 343 return for Day 2
Andrej Nagy was also among the big stacks when the action wrapped up for the night and advanced with 351,500, while Christopher "BIGTIME" Mateo narrowly missed out on the podium of Day 1b with 325,500 in chips. Five of the top ten for this flight hail from the Philippines as Jason Magbanua (269,000) as well as Jeffrey Pardales (256,000) also had a strong showing as well.
Top 10 Chip Counts for Day 1b
| Place | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Florencio Campomanes | Philippines | 423,500 | 141 |
| 2 | Chierro De Leon | Philippines | 357,500 | 119 |
| 3 | Andrej Nagy | Slovakia | 351,500 | 117 |
| 4 | Christopher Mateo | Philippines | 325,500 | 109 |
| 5 | Masahiko Hoshiko | Japan | 317,500 | 106 |
| 6 | Luan Haitao | China | 280,000 | 93 |
| 7 | Chan Sung Choi | South Korea | 279,000 | 93 |
| 8 | Jason Magbanua | Philippines | 269,000 | 90 |
| 9 | Zhigang Chen | China | 267,500 | 89 |
| 10 | Jeffrey Pardales | Philippines | 256,000 | 85 |
It was an incredibly busy day for the PokerStars LIVE Manila team as all three areas in the Coral Room were used for the various tournaments and cash game action. More than 160 players were in their seats when the action kicked off at 1 p.m. local time and the field size kept on growing by the minute thanks to hundreds of later additions and the single re-entry option on each starting day.
While many local big names fell on the wayside on Day 1a, the big names came out on top this time. Eventual chip leader Campomanes had a decent stack last evening too before he gambled it away. This time, the 2018 APPT Manila Main Event champion consistently built up a wall of chips and jumped into second place overall, just one big blind behind Oleg Kaminski (426,000).
Other notables were not as fortunate as the likes of Martijn Gerrits, Bryan Huang, Yasuhiro Waki, Ting-Yi Tsai, Pete Chen, 2023 PokerStars Players Championship third-place finisher Max Menzel, Junnie Pamplona, Calvin Tan, and David Erquiaga all departed much earlier than they were hoping for.
The action never really slowed down throughout the 13 levels and many eye-catching all-in showdowns unfolded. Oliver Duran was involved in two of them, first hitting quads kings against a flopped nut flush and then turning the nut flush against the inferior flush of Richard Tolentino.
Archie Mariano couldn't hold with pocket kings on his first entry of the day either when Weixuan Wang flopped trips deuces in a three-bet pot. John Costiniano flopped quads deuces against Feras Elnatsha and was paid off for nearly three times the pot size but didn't advance to Day 2. Even earlier in level two, Joong Hoon Eum prevailed in a three-way all-in when cracking pocket aces and the flopped nut straight of Louis Bilodeau.
Many other spectacular showdowns blew by in a frantic day of live poker action in Asia as the trend of rising numbers for live events all over the world continues in 2023.
The survivors of all three starting days will return to their seats at 1 p.m. local time on Saturday, August 5, 2023. Recommencing blinds in level 14 will be 1,500-3,000 with a big blind ante of 3,000. The level duration increases to 60 minutes each and a 30-second shot clock comes in play as well.
On the penultimate tournament day, the money bubble is set to burst during the earlier stages before the race towards the final table continues. Whether or not the latter will be reached remains to be seen.
The PokerNews live reporting team will be back on the floor here in the Philippines to provide as many of the key hands as possible until a winner has been crowned at Okada Manila.
