There are hot streaks, great runs, and lucky breaks in poker... and then there is Mustapha "lasagnaaammm" Kanit's last ten months. The 24-year old not only won the SCOOP Main Event for $1.3 million, not only took the #1 spot on the all-time money list in his native Italy, but won three EPT high roller events (Monte Carlo €50k, Barcelona €10k and Dublin €25k) since last May, pushing his total combined live and online MTT earnings over the $10 million mark. Just last week, Kanit quietly shipped the Sunday Supersonic for $48,000 and tonight, he joined the ranks of Sunday Million champions, as he topped a field of 5,717 to win over $177k. 2016 may only be ten weeks old, but Kanit has already cashed for over $1.4 million this year, both online and live.

Another interesting footnote to this week's Million was the potential for another repeat champion. In the ten-year history of the Sunday Million, only nine players have won it twice. One of those nine, Hungary's twirlpro, finished in 14th place tonight and three other Sunday Million champions, goodvibe1 (3rd), 147_star (4th), and xKoSSSx (12th) were among the final 12.

This week's Million drew 5,717 players, the prize pool topping out at $1,143,400.00. 855 places were paid with $177,229.79 set aside for first place.

The blinds were up to 125,000/250,000 with ten players remaining. Vladlen911, the second-shortest stack remaining, open-shoved for 1.84 million on the button with [As][8d] and Mustapha "lasagnaaammm" Kanit called from the big blind with [Ac][9c]. The two appeared to be headed for a chop with the board reading [Qs][3d][6s][Tc] on the turn, but Kanit rivered the [9d] to make a pair of nines and sent Vladlen911 to the rail one spot shy of the final table.

Final table chip counts

Seat 1: lasagnaaammm (14,504,591 in chips)
Seat 2: anteen (876,643 in chips)
Seat 3: goodvibe1 (7,708,246 in chips)
Seat 4: Pumpingpoker (3,687,804 in chips)
Seat 5: uknowProsky* (2,897,137 in chips)
Seat 6: Beth Abbey (6,375,763 in chips)
Seat 7: 147_star (9,422,868 in chips)
Seat 8: XouLio131 (7,278,599 in chips)
Seat 9: tracedyew (4,418,349 in chips)

The first five hands at the final table produced three eliminations. On Hand #1 the action folded to uknowProsky* in the cutoff and he moved in for 2.87 million with pocket sixes. XouLio131 called with [Ad][Jh] and rivered an ace on the [Ks][Td][Tc][3c][Ah] board to send uknowProsky* home in ninth place. Three hands later, Pumpinpoker picked up [9h][9d] and moved in for 3.58 million from UTG+1. Kanit called from the small blind with [Ac][Qs] and won the coinflip when an ace hit the flop, ending Pumpingpoker's run in eighth. Then, on the next deal, 147_star opened for 500,025 and anteen committed his remaining 501,643. Anteen's [5d][9d] did not improve against 147_star's [Ac][7s], and he went out in seventh place.

Beth Abbey's stack took a hit when tracedyew's [Ad][Kd] held up against [As][Th], good for a double-up to 5.2 million. Beth Abbey fell to 3.26 million and with the blinds up to 150,000/300,000, she three-bet shoved from the small blind with [Ks][Qh]. Goodvibe1 called with [8h][8c] and the pocket pair held up to send Beth Abbey to the rail in sixth place.

Four hands later, XouLio131 opened for 630,000 from UTG and tracedyew moved all-in for 4.45 million with [Kc][Qc]. XouLio131 called and his dominating [As][Ks] held up to eliminate tracedyew in fifth.

Among the final four players were two former Sunday Million champions-- goodvibe1 snagged the title and $205k in August 2013 while 147_star picked up $258k back in April 2010. However, 147_star took a turn for the worse during four-handed play, losing over half his stack to goodvibe1. Holding [7d][8h], goodvibe1 limped in from the small blind, then fired three times on the [Jh][9d][5d][Ts][2h] board. 147_star called him down and mucked at the sight of his turned straight. 147_star was left with 3.99 million and three hands later, he open-shoved from the cutoff with [Jd][Td]. Goodvibe1 called with [As][Kh] from the big blind. 147_star unfortunately did not improve on the [8c][7h][6s][5c][Ks] board and finished in fourth place.

When three-handed play commenced, goodvibe1 held a slight chip lead with 21.9 million, Mustapha "lasagnaaammm" Kanit had 21.3 million, and XouLio131 was the short stack with 14 million.

Kanit dominated three-handed play and moved into the chip lead after taking two 8 million chip pots off goodvibe1. Then, in a three-bet pot vs. XouLio131, he turned a nine-high straight on a [Js][7c][5s][8s] board and bet 1.89 million. XouLio131 called. The [Ks] river put four spades on the board and both players checked. Although XouLio131 turned over pocket jacks for a set, Kanit's [6c][9c] took down the 9.18 million pot.

Shortly thereafter, all three players agreed to pause the action and discuss a potential deal. Here's how they stacked up at the time:

lasagnaaammm 34,551,451
godvibe1 12,110,664
XouLio131 10,507,885

Per the players' request, both chip chop and ICM figures were presented. The chip chop deal offered virtually no downside for Kanit-- it guaranteed him a $155,160.95 share no matter where he finished, and with $20,000 still on the table, he'd still have the potential to walk away with $175,160.95 of the $177,229.79 published first place. Kanit declared he would only accept the chip chop deal, otherwise he was willing play it out. Although XouLio131 agreed to the chip chop, goodvibe1 would not accept it and cards went back in the air with no deal in place.

On the second hand back, Kanit showed his first signs of vulnerability at this final table when he dropped an 11.4 million pot to XouLio131. In for 1.05 million apiece, both players checked a [Jc][8s][3s] flop. When the [As] turned, Kanit checked and XouLio131 made it 1,512,500 to go. Kanit called and the [4c] landed on the river. Kanit checked again, XouLio131 bet 2,821,250 and Kanit looked him up. XouLio131 revealed [Ac][3h] for aces up and Kanit mucked.

Kanit retained the chip lead after that hand, but goodvibe1 snatched it away a short time later. With the blinds up to 300,000/600,000, Kanit opened for 1.38 million and goodvibe1 shoved for 11.77 million with [9h][9c]. Kanit called with [Ah][Kh] and lost the race when the board ran out [Qd][Ts][8s][4s][Qh]. Goodvibe1 doubled to 23.7 million while Kanit slipped to 15.3 million.

Kanit rebounded when his [Ks][8h] flopped a pair of kings and rivered kings up vs. XouLio131. Kanit raked in an 11 million pot and moved back up to 23.4 million. Then, when the action folded to him in the small blind, Kanit made it 10.5 million to go with [Ac][6s] and goodvibe1 called all-in with [Kh][Js]. Kanit flopped aces and sixes on the [Ah][8d][6d][Kc][7d] board and goodvibe1 went out in third place, ending our shot at crowning a tenth repeat Sunday Million champion tonight.

Heads-up chip counts

Seat 1: Mustapha "lasagnaaammm" Kanit (36,518,554 in chips)
Seat 8: XouLio131 (20,651,446 in chips)

Kanit won seven of the first eight hands and chipped up to 48.3 million before XouLio131 picked up [Jh][Tc] and three-bet shoved. Kanit called with [Ah][Jc] and had XouLio131 dominated. It looked like curtains for XouLio131... until the [Ks][Kd][Th] flop made him two pair. Kanit never caught up and XouLio131 doubled to 19.4 million.

With the stacks essentially back to where they started heads-up play, Kanit and XouLio131 exchanged almost a dozen small pots before all the money went in preflop. Kanit opened for a min-raise to 1.6 million, XouLio131 shoved for 16.6 million with [4h][4s] and Kanit called with [Jd][Js]. Kanit's pocket jacks held on the [Td][8s][7c][3c][7d] board and the young Italian added yet another title to his already-impressive poker C.V.

Congratulations to the seemingly unstoppable Mustapha "lasagnaaammm" Kanit, our newest Sunday Million champion! He banked $177,229.79 for the win, while runner-up XouLio131 earned $131,491.00.

PokerStars Sunday Million results for 3/13/2016

Players: 5,717
Prize pool: $1,143,400.00
Places paid: 855

1. Mustapha "lasagnaaammm" Kanit (Austria) $177,229.79
2. XouLio131 (Greece) $131,491.00
3. goodvibe1 (Germany) $92,615.40
4. 147_star (United Kingdom) $64,201.91
5. tracedyew (Cyprus) $48,022.80
6. Beth Abbey (United Kingdom) $36,588.80
7. anteen (Sweden) $25,154.80
8. Pumpingpoker (Russia) $14,292.50
9. uknowProsky* (Netherlands) $8,918.52

Mayu "marroca5" Roca is one of Columbia's live top money winners claiming fourth place at the European Poker Tour Grand Finale two years ago earning $579,682. Roca was already established as a force online before that EPT final table winning a WCOOP bracelet and SCOOP watch along with nearly four million dollars in online winnings. Add a Sunday Warm-Up title to the list as the Columbian took down the $400,000 guarantee earning $70,912.00. Coming into the final table Roca would only have nearly a third of the chips held by the final table chip leader. But, he would grind the beginning of the final table while blasting the latter half to earn the Sunday Major victory.

Read on below for the full story of Roca's win.

With the board showing [2d] [7c] [5h] [8h] and down to two full tables of nine, Roca would check-raise SonOfBadger all-in. SonOfBadger thought pocket kings [Kc][Ks] would save the day, however Roca's aces [Ah][As] only had eyes for the 1.9 million chip pot and cleared the river [9d] to eliminate SonOfBadger in 18th place ($1,684.16).

Roca already has WCOOP and SCOOP victories and was looking to add another Major win in the Sunday Warm-Up.

The last hand before the ninth hourly break with the blinds at 40K/80K ante 4K a three-way pot between tnapoleao, roo_400, and vovanmillion would start-up with tnapoleao's short-stack all-in pre-flop. Vovanmillion would bet the turn and river [9d] [5s] [7s] [Th] [Kd] but 747431973 hung tight with [Kc][Jc] as vovanmillion's sixes [6c][6s] could not match the winner. Tnapoleao mucked away in 11th place ($3,013.76).

Three hands later vovanmillion and 747431973 went at each other again. This time to see who would be moving on the final table. After a min-raise by vovanmillion, 747431973 would shove 5.3 million chips covering vovanmillion's stack. Vovanmillion quickly called with pocket nines [9c][9h] facing suited big slick [Ah][Kh]. The ace's appearance on the flop [8h] [7s] [Ad] [2s] [5h] meant vovanmillion's demise as the spotlights came on below:

Seat 1: 747431973 (6504259 in chips)
Seat 2: Pr0fiteer (6076184 in chips)
Seat 3: ISAAC201266 (2512384 in chips)
Seat 4: adv2mayfair (1075328 in chips)
Seat 5: HYZENBURG (289780 in chips)
Seat 6: roo_400 (1399850 in chips)
Seat 7: Mikthepoker (833378 in chips)
Seat 8: Mayu "marroca5" Roca (1886008 in chips)
Seat 9: Mike180373 (1582829 in chips)

Roca wasted no time trying to spin up a stack at the start by winning the first three pots. Mikthepoker and ISAAC201266 would also survive the first five minutes after doubling-up.

Ten minutes into the final table with the blinds moving up to 50K/100K ante 10K, HYZENBURG would lead out by shoving 574,240 chips as only Mikthepoker called with pocket sevens [7d][7c]. That left one live card for HYZENBURG's [7s][Ah] which quickly dissipated as the fourth seven [7h] [3c] [Kc] [2h] [8c] hit the door earning HYZENBURG $3,988.80 in ninth place.

Soon after the blinds moved up to 65K/130K ante 13K, Roca decided to make a run at the chip lead. He would lead for a min-raise from middle position as Pr0fiteer shoved for 1.9 million. Pr0fiteer made the final table here before, but notched a much better payday winning the Sunday Million for $222K. This time the final table would not be so kind as Pr0fiteer's [9h][Jd] could not catch Roca's [Kd][Ac] on the [7s] [Qh] [2h] [Qd] [3d] board taking away $6,426.40 in eighth place.

Four minutes later still in the same blind level, Roca went back looking more. Roca was facing another player in roo_400 who has been to the Sunday Warm-Up and Million final table along with a victory in the Sunday 2nd Chance for $33K last month. It would come down to a classic flip as Roca found big slick [Ks][Ah] again but this time facing a pair of jacks [Jd][Js]. A string of fives finished with a king on the river [9h] [5c] [5h] [5s] [Kc] to knockout roo_400 in seventh place ($10,858.40) and gave Roca the chip-lead.

Seven hands later as the blinds moved to 80K/160K ante 16K Mikthepoker would raise to 480K as ISAAC201266 shoved for 5.2 million from the small blind and adv2mayfair called all-in from the big blind for 588,656. Mikthepoker made it a party by also jumping for 1.04 million with pocket sixes [6c][6h]. ISAAC201266 showed [Ah][Th] as adv2mayfair turned-up [Kh][5h]. No enough hearts for ISAAC201266 nor adv2mayfair on the [Qh] [2d] [4c] [Qd] [2h] board as Mikthepoker swept the 3.8 million chip pot and adv2mayfair collected $15,290.40 in sixth place.

Shortly before the tenth hourly break with murmurs of chop talks, Mayu Roca went to work by raising to 350K from the hijack seat as Mikthepoker lost most of those chips from the previous three-way pot and shoved for 1.04 million. Roca had plenty to spare and pocket nines [9s][9h] made the call an easy one as Mikthepoker showed pocket fives [5d][5h]. No fives on the [8s] [8c] [8d] [Kh] [Jh] board sent Mikthepoker away in fifth place ($19,944.00).

Holding over half the chips in play Roca told the other players during the tenth hourly break that he would ask for more than any given numbers. That would sour the chances of a chop enough as play continued immediately after the break.

Four minutes after the break with the blinds moving up to 100K/200K ante 20K ISAAC201266, who made the Sunday Million final table back in June earning $46K for fifth place, would open-shove from the small blind for three million with [Ad][7s]. Unfortunately, the chip leader would have a better kicker [8h][Ah] and made the call from the big blind. With an eight on the turn [Ac] [Ts] [3c] [8s] [4h] ISAAC201266's tournament was done in fourth place ($26,592.00).

Seven hands later with Roca now holding (16.1M) three times as many chips as Mike180373 (4.6M) and 747431973 (1.3M) combined, Mike180373 would try to make something happen. After the chip leader raised to 435K, Mike180373 shoved from the small blind holding a sizable [Ad][Qs]. Mayu however found a familiar ace-king [As][Ks] and made the call. If one king was not enough, the second one sealed the deal [Kc] [8d] [9c] [Kd] [3c] as Mike180373 earned $37,672.00 for third place.

No David versus Goliath-type analogies necessary to see the huge advantage Mayu had going into heads-up play. 747431973 would take the first pot with a pre-flop shove as Roca took the next two pre-flop. On the fourth hand with the blinds still at 100K/200K ante 20K Roca raised enough to put 747431973 all-in again but this time 747431973 called with [Qs][2h] hoping for two live cards. Instead Mayu dominated with [Qd][Ac]. That strength would carry Roca to the Sunday Warm-Up title as the ace on the flop was enough [6h] [As] [8d] [Td] [6c] to win $70,912.00!

PokerStars Sunday Warm-Up results (03-13-2016)

Entrants: 2,216
Prize pool: $443,200.00
Place paid: 324

1. Mayu "marroca5" Roca (Colombia) $70,912.00
2. 747431973 (Estonia) $53,073.20
3. Mike180373 (Russia) $37,672.00
4. ISAAC201266 (Canada) $26,592.00
5. Mikthepoker (Denmark) $19,944.00
6. adv2mayfair (United Kingdom) $15,290.40
7. roo_400 (Canada) $10,858.40
8. Pr0fiteer (Thailand) $6,426.40
9. HYZENBURG (Canada) $3,988.80

Want to win your own Sunday Major? Click here to get a PokerStars account.

It was a big day for Taiwanese player Wang-Ping Yuan aka Wayne who overcame a field of 361 entries at the P1M Guarantee Main Event to claim the trophy and the P332,648 first place cash prize.

Yuan's run to the finish line began with him scalping many players prior to entering the final table. One of his first victims was Filipino player Felicitas Soriano just before the bubble. When the bubble burst with Korea's Shin Haeng Lee falling to fellow countryman Seung Soo Jeon, Yuan proceeded to rail Filipino player Patrick de Jesus with a lucky trips landing on the river. Two rounds later, he delivered Korea's In Sin a shattering blow with his [2d][4d] landing two pairs against Sin's [6d][6c].

At the final table, Yuan entered with a dominating lead, and immediately increased past 1M in chips after winning three hands, all nearly back-to-back, and without a showdown. With such a massive arsenal, Yuan delivered the first casualty of the final table by eliminating Chinese player Yongqi Ren in 9th place with a full house, and minutes after, he sent Filipino player Edwin Marzan packing in 8th place. This sent him to around 2.5M in chips.

It didn't all go his way though, Yuan doubled up Korean player Soo Jo Kim, and then watched as other players started getting in on the action. Jeon fell next, in 7th place, when his aces was cracked by UK's Dave Colclough, and then USA's Seyedomid Hadipour got the best of a coin flip against Ronald Dimaano (6th place). Hadipour's big slick bested Dimaano's ladies when a king graced on the river.

Looking for some payback, Yuan called Kim's all in preflop and his [ah][th] did well as it gave him the nut flush and his chips back. Kim was out in 5th place. But Yuan's climb didn't last. At four-handed, the tides changed up with Yuan all in against Colclough. Yuan had [as][kd] and Colclough had [ad][ah]. Colclough's aces were good to the end and he took the chip lead. Then there was Hadipour. He railed Stanilav Malkov in 4th place and followed it up with a massive double up against Yuan with his [kd][kh]. Hadipour jumped into the chip lead with 2.5M chips.

Action continued to be fast and furious with Yuan determined to get back in the game. He doubled up through Colclough and went up to 1.5M chips with his [kd][6d] winning against Colclough's [js][7s]. He doubled up again in a showdown against the big stacked Hadipour with his [ad][jc] dominating Hadipour's [as][3s]. With 3M chips in his arsenal, he eliminated Colclough in 3rd place with his pocket tens landing a set and burning Colclough's pocket queens.

At heads up, Yuan had a 7:1 chip advantage and was looking assured to deliver his fifth and final knockout. It happened in the just the fourth hand. Hadipour went all in with [qc][jd] but it was no good against Yuan's [ah][ts] with the board running [4d][3h][2h][5s][qd] for a victorious straight.

Click here for a read on the Final Day Updates

Final Table Payouts:
1st Wang Ping Yuan - Taiwan P332,648
2nd Seyedomid Hadipour - USA - P212,400
3rd- Dave Colclough - UK - P134,500
4th Stanislav Malkov - Russia - P106,200
5th Soo Jo Kim - Korea - P77,900
6th Ronald Dimaano - Philippines -P63,700
7th Seung Soo Jeon - Korea - P49,600
8th Edwin Marzan - Philippines - P41,800
9th Yongqi Ren - China - P34,000

*The top five finishers each received a seat to the Manila Megastack 5. Seats are worth P25,000 each.

We are at the final day of the P1M Guarantee with 56 players returning to the felt for a battle to the trophy. The first place cash prize is P332,648 big ones plus a seat to the upcoming Manila Megastack 5. Top 36 players will see a profit with the lowest at P9,200. We will be posting updates on some of the action so read up here from time to time to see how your buddies are doing.

1:45PM: Sigua triples up

A joyful eruption near us had us check on the action. It seemed, Aristotle Sigua tripled up with his pocket fives landing a set on the turn against pocket tens and king-ten.

1:30PM: Double elimination by Sin

In Sin delivered a bang-bang at his table with two players denied a double up. It was a three-way all in preflop with Sin holding [jc][jh]. He was up against Stefano de Caro with [ad][8s] and Zi Cheng Wou with [ah][3h]. The board bricked and Sin scooped up the chips while sending two hopefuls to the rail.

1:15PM: Bust outs: Jeon rails Felix; Beveridge out

The first elimination of the day was Hung Chang Lin followed by John Beveridge whose ace-queen all in didn't do well against Patrick de Jesus's king-jack with a king landing at the flop. Beveridge was crippled to just under one big blind and busted out the next hand.
Edgar Angelo Felix fell as well. In a battle of the blinds, Felix and Jeon saw a board run 4-4-5-4-A. Felix was all in with ace-nine full house but Jeon had ten-four for quads.

1:00PM: Chong Yaw Lee triples up; Ren doubles up vs Arceo

Chong Yaw Lee three-bet all in and initial raiser Minwoong Jeong and caller Byeongcheol Kim, both made the call. At the flop of [kc][th][js], Jeong and Kim checked. At the turn of [8d], Jeong checked again and Kim bet 20k for the start of a side pot. Jeong quickly called. On the river of [9d], both checked again. Kim won the side pot with his [jc][9c] two pairs against Jeong's [as][9s] pair, and Lee tripled up with his [7d][7s] straight.

Yongqi Ren avoided elimination when he doubled up against Jose Arceo. His pocket fours landed a set and then a full house.

12:45PM: Cards are in the air

Shuffle up and deal! The final day has begun.

We are at the final day of the P1M Guarantee at the PokerStars Live Manila poker room at City of Dreams Manila. The combined day one flights saw a total of 361 entries - 168 for day 1a and 193 for day 1b - bringing the prize pool to a massive P1,540,748, surpassing the guarantee.

Today will see 56 players return to the felt for the final battle to the finish. Day 1b chip leader Korea's Soo Jo Kim will be holding the torch with his massive stack of 348,600. Entering in second rank is UK's Dave Colclough who bagged 227,700 chips at day 1a. Coming in third is Singaporean Louis Lee with 194,400 chips.

With quite a number of short stacks in the field, and 36 seeing a payout, the early hands should see some immediate shoves with some getting successful and some getting dusted. Clearly what everyone is aiming for today is to scoop up that first place cash prize of P332,648. In addition to the cash prizes, the top five players will also be awarded a seat to the Manila Megastack 5 worth P25,000 each.

We will be posting random updates of the action at the final day so stay tuned for that on our next blog.

Flipout Results

At last night's Flipout side event, ten rounds of crapshoot "who's the luckiest" flipout action saw 10 players eventually win seats to the final table. When normal play resumed, it was Kah Seng Sim from Singapore who claimed the trophy.

KO Bounty (P200,000 Guarantee)

At 215pm, the last side event will be up and running, the KO Bounty with a P200,000 guarantee. Buy-in is P2,700 with blinds increasing every 20 minutes.

Day 1a Updates
Day 1b Updates

Although the day started slow, day 1b of the P1M Guarantee Main Event eventually picked up momentum and recorded 193 total entries by the end of late registration. At the end of regulation play, only 28 players were able to hold on to their chips with Korea's Soo Jo Kim taking full ownership of the chip leader's status with a massive stack of 348,600 chips.

SJ Kim managed his stack well all day, keeping it above average by winning many small pots and claiming several heads. His biggest takedown happened against Filipino player Christopher Mateo. With both players sporting a big stack, they were both all-in preflop with Kim holding pocket aces and Mateo with ace-jack. Kim's rockets held and he escalated past the 300k range making him the overwhelming chip leader.

Running second in rank was Singapore's Wei Li Lee with 194,400 chips. Lee earned some sizable pots during the last few levels, a big one when he eliminated Xiaohua Fu with his king-jack connecting with a higher pair at the flop against Fu's pocket tens. Korea's Seung Soo Jeon ended in third position with 160,300 chips. Like SJ Kim, Jeon maintained an above average stack all day, adding more when he eliminated a player late in the tournament with his ace-seven suited. In fourth position was another Korean player, Minwoong Jeong, with 152,500 chips. With three tables left, Jeong won a nice pile of chips against aggressor Byeongcheol Kim when his pocket nines improved to a set. Rounding out the top five was Filipino player Noel Regencia with 145,800 chips. Regencia also capitalized on a set of nines but he also eliminated Martin Corpuz to add more firepower to his growing stack.

Other players who also survived the grueling battle at the felt were Korea's Byeongcheol Kim, Jae Chul Chang, Singapore's Zhengzhong Yang, India's Srinivas Polishetty, Australia's Derek Baker, China's Zhinning Chen, and Filipino players Ronald Dimaano and Edgar Angelo Felix.

With such a low number of players making the cut, that only meant that many fell to the wayside. Among them were Jean Issa who told us he tried everything but it just wouldn't go his way, Nickolai Alexandrov, John Tech, Kunal Shetty, Justin Worth, Ben Abrahams, Anacleto Quijano, and Mike Takayama to mention a few.

The final day resumes at 1215pm tomorrow with 56 players returning to the felt. For a read on some of the action today, just click the link Day 1b updates.

Day 1b Chip Counts: 28 players
Soo Jo Kim - Korea - 348,600
Wei Li Lee - Singapore - 194,400
Seung Soo Jeon - Korea - 160,300
Minwoong Jeong - Korea - 152,500
Noel Regencia - Philippines - 145,800
Ronald Dimaano - Philippines - 137,000
Derek Baker - Australia - 136,400
Hyungkook Shin - Korea - 126,300
Byeongcheol Kim - Korea - 121,900
Jose Arceo - Philippines - 115,200
Zhengzhong Yang - Singapore - 109,700
Sungwoon Park - Korea - 105,000
Zi Cheng Wou - Singapore - 99,000
Jae Chul Chang - Korea - 97,800
Johnjin Kim - Philippines - 90,400
Felicitas Soriano - 85,100
Jingxiang Li - Singapore - 76,700
Srinivas Polishetty - India - 74,400
Alejevel Yburan - Philippines - 71,300
Zhinning Chen - China - 64,200
Stanislav Malkov - Russia - 57,800
Hung Chang Lin - China - 55,400
Edgar Angelo Felix - Philippines - 53,500
Gary Serafin - Philippines - 52,500
Patrick de Jesus - Philippines - 49,700
Raul Aquino - Philippines - 45,200
Jerick Borja - Philippines - 43,000
Ponciano Ramel - Philippines - 20,000

Cards are in the air for day 1b of the P1M Guarantee Main Event at the PokerStars Live Manila poker room. We will post random updates of some of the action at the felt today. This is the last flight to qualify into day 2. Buy-in is P5,000 with unlimited re-entries and late registration open until the end of 8 levels. Blind duration is 30 minutes. As adjusted yesterday, regulation play will stop at the end of 14 levels.

1:00PM: Notables at the felt

Already heating up the felt are some players well known in the Asian circuit including some regular PokerStars players such as Jean Issa, Kunal Shetty, Edgar Angelo Felix, John King, Anacleto Quijano, Gerald Casey, Ben Abrahams, Nickolai Alexandrov, and Derek Baker to mention a few.

12:30PM: Slow start

Shuffle up and deal! Unlike yesterday's booming kickoff, today's flight is on a much slower pace with six tables ongoing at the moment.

The final day one flight of the P1M Guarantee Main Event kicks off today at 1230pm at the PokerStars Live Manila poker room at City of Dreams, Manila. Buy-in for this event is P5,000 with unlimited re-entries until the end of level 8. Starting stack is a healthy 15K, which is 300 times the starting big blind. That only means, plenty of playing time for those who get in early.

Day 1a (quick recap)

At yesterday's day 1a flight, there were 168 entries with 28 players surviving the night. Sitting at the top of the rung at bagging was UK's Dave Colclough with 227,700 chips. He will be the man to try and catch up to.

Other notables who qualified into day 2 were Korea's In Sin who ranked second in chips, and Seyedomid Hadipour (USA) in third position. Side event winner Rommel Angeles also survived the day, although his chips are below average due to a beating he took from the leader late in the day.

With under twenty percent of the total entries making the cut, some of those who bowed out were regulars at PS Live Manila including some poker pros struggling to have the day go their way. Among those were Jean Issa, Lester Edoc, Srinivas Polishetty, Gerald Casey, and Regie Ann Delos Reyes to mention a few. It is likely that some of these players will be returning to the felt for another attempt.

Deepstack Hyperturbo Freezeout

Running alongside the Main Event in the later part of the evening was the Deepstack Hyperturbo Freezeout event that saw a field of 21 players. Some of the players who busted out of the Main Event early were glad to have a game they could jump into, to ease their woes per se. There were also others who joined the event as soon as the Main Event ended such as Filipino player Edwin Marzan who qualified into day 2 of the Main Event. Marzan went on to win this side event, earning P38,528. Additional players who cashed were Narciso Todio, another Main Event day 2 qualifier, he took second place, Lester Edoc in third, and Jose Colada in fourth place.

Click the link for a read on Day 1a updates