One year ago, PokerStars opened up its newest hub in Asia, the PokerStars Live Manila poker room at the highly prestigious City Of Dreams Manila in Pasay City, Philippines. Since then, they have held several festivals such as the highly attended Manila Megastack events, the P1M Guaranteed tournaments, and the Asia Pacific Poker Tour 9 (Manila stop), which saw a massive Main Event turnout the country had ever seen.

Celebrating the successful year that has passed, PokerStars Live Manila is currently hosting its weeklong Anniversary Special, running from February 2-8, 2016. On the schedule is a P2M Guaranteed Main Event plus five exciting side events. Kicking off the festivities was the Anniversary Freeroll Shootout and Main Event Mega Satellite. These two events saw a total of 32 players - 20 from the Anniversary Freeroll and 12 from the Mega Satellite - claim seats to the Main Event.

On the next day, the first side event, the P2,000 Deep Stack (P200,000 Guarantee), pooled in 158 entries bringing the prize pool above the guarantee to P275,868. Well-known Filipino players Edilberto Gopez, David Erquiaga, and Regie Ann Delos Reyes were amongst those who were in attendance however they all failed to reach the money. Korean player Soo Jo Kim also fell before any profit.

On the other end of the scale however was Filipino player Conrad Lumaban who was awarded the first PokerStars Live Manila side event trophy of 2016 plus a cash prize of P65,168 and a seat worth P25,000 to the Manila Megastack 5 (MM5). Filipino players Wyngard Brillo, Christopher Luke Pangan, and Stefano de Caro from Taiwan also earned themselves a cash profit.

Early this afternoon, there were 132 entries for the P3,000 NLH (P300,000 Guarantee). This brought the prize pool up to P345,708 with 12 players looking to get paid. The eventual winner will receive P78,400 plus a seat worth P25,000 to the MM5. The runner-up will also get that coveted seat to the MM5.

At 9pm this evening, day 1a of the Main Event P2M Guarantee will be underway. Buy-in is an affordable P5,000. For those eager to play, make sure to register as early as possible because there is a 6-table cap for this qualifying heat. We will also be posting some random live updates on the action at day 1a. Additionally, there will be four more day one flights running the next days, information on those are in the PokerStars Live Manila tournament page.