"I finally did it!" Those were UK Jean Issa's words after he defeated Norwegian poker pro Henrik Tollefsen to claim his first-ever trophy at PokerStars Live Manila. Issa overcame a field of 534 entries at the Anniversary Special Main Event to capture the P461,600 cash prize and a seat worth P25,000 to the Manila Megastack 5.

The Main Event final day was full of Wild Wild West action with all sorts of crazy hands and bad beats happening at every turn. As the bubbled neared, Filipino player Chris Mateo scalped two players at once when he landed a gut shot straight on the river. This erupted the floor as it began the money stage where multiple short stacks quickly shoved and were eliminated.

This gave rise to many players such as USA's Gerald Casey who was the first person to cross the million-mark. Filipino pro Mike Takayama also amassed towers of chips, impressively going from an ailing 15k to 1.8m chips. Day 1e chip leader, Filipino player Jenelee Dizon also maintained a big stack throughout the day and joined the seven-digit bracket when she crushed fellow countryman Jay Lapinid's pocket queens with her queen-six straight. The unfortunate bubble to the final table was Christopher Runas with his pocket queens spanked hard by Takayama's three-six off suit.

At the final table, the first to fall was USA's Nickolai Alexandrov in 10th place (P35,312) whose pocket jacks was burned by Tollefsen's ace-queen. With blinds already very high and climbing every fifteen minutes, majority of the action were preflop shoves. Issa won a three-way all in with pocket aces and then Lapinid doubled up through Takayama who found his double up through Joseph Sia. After that, the severely crippled Sia finished in 9th place (P45,700) followed by Korean player Woo Young Kim who got crippled down to 15k, rebounded up to 340k, but no further as he ended in 8th place (55,800).

Meanwhile, Tollefsen shaved off all of Lapinid's towers, leaving him with less than one big blind. Lapinid tried to steal Tollefsen's big blind by shoving his stack of over a million but was caught red-handed when Tollefsen called with pocket tens. Tollefsen was the first player to cross the two-million-mark.

Falling in 7th place was Carlo Hassan (P65,900), and then a double whammy delivered by Tollefsen, knocking out two players at once with his big slick, Lapinid in 6th place (P81,200) and Dizon in 5th place (P101,500). Shortly after, Casey was eliminated in 4th place (P137,000) by Jean Issa, and then another nutty hand, that is, Tollefsen's [as][qs] nut flush that painfully cracked Takayama's aces making him settle for a 3rd place finish (P178,600).

The heads up round began with Issa dominated 5:1 in chips. This would simply be a momentary disadvantage because he proceeded to win the first hand, and several hands later, he won three pots in a row, switching the chip count to his favor. The final hand saw Tollefsen move all in with [kd][8h] and Issa calling with [ad][8c]. Though not needed, the board landed an ace to end it with a victorious Issa.

Congratulations to Jean Issa for his excellent run at the Anniversary Special Main Event! He captured the first main event trophy of the PokerStars Live Manila 2016.

Final Table Payouts:
1st - Jean Issa - UK - P461,600
2nd- Henrik Tollefsen - Norway - P289,600
3rd- Mike Takayama - Philippines - P178,600
4th - Gerald Casey - USA - P177,000
5th - Jenelee Dizon - Philippines - P101,500
6th - Jay Lapinid - Philippines - P81,200
7th - Carlo Hassan - UK - P65,900
8th - Woo Young Kim - Korea - P55,800
9th - Joseph Sia - Philippines - P45,700
10th - Nickolai Alexandrov - USA - P35,312

The top ten players received a seat worth P25K to the Manila Megastack 5.

Final Day Updates
Day 1e Updates
Day 1d Updates
Day 1c Updates
Day 1b Updates
Day 1a Updates

We will be posting random updates right here on some of the action at the final day of the PokerStars Live Manila Anniversary Special Main Event. We kick off with 76 players returning to the felt, each one vying for that top cash prize of P461,600. The overall chip leader entering today is Norway's Henrik Tollefsen with a massive 528,000 chips.

12:30PM: Early bust outs

The tournament has just begun and already we have a couple of casualties, short stacked Hakju Lee and Martin Ealdama were unable to land that much needed double up and were down and out.

From 534 entries down to the 76 players, the PokerStars Live Manila Anniversary Special resumes today in search of its first main event champion. What's up for grabs? A big piece of the P2,279,112 prize pool, a total of P461,600 in cold hard cash to the winner plus a seat worth P25K to the Manila Megastack 5. The top 50 players will be seeing a pad up in their wallets, and the top ten will be receiving a seat to the MM5 as well.

Entering the final day with an overwhelmingly large stack is Norway's Henrik Tollefsen with 528,000 chips, this is nearly double the stack of the player second in the chip rung, Filipino player Jenelee Dizon with 267,000 chips. Tollefsen was the leader at the end of day 1b and Dizon was the leader at the end of day 1e. Coming in third with 221,000 chips is Jayson Wai Tung Lo from Hong Kong who claimed the leader's seat at the end of day 1d, and in fourth with 213,000 chips is Filipino Pedro Gutierrez, the top dog at day 1c. Chip leader of day 1a is Carlo Aziz Hassan from the United Kingdom who sits with 190,000 chips.

There are some notable players and regulars in the field such as Filipino pro Lester Edoc, Mike Takayama, Jessie Leonarez, Hong Kong's Alan King Lun Lau, UK's Jean Issa, USA's Nickolai Alexandrov, Korea's Soo Jo Kim, and India's Srinivas Polishetty.

The short stacks will be glad today as the tournament director has announced a rollback to level 16, that's 1500-3000 blinds.

Running alongside the main event will be a KO Bounty (P200,000 Guarantee). This kicks off at 215pm with a buy-in of P2,500. At 4pm the Sunday Superstack will take place with a buy-in of P10,000. For more details on the structure of these events, just head to the PokerStars Live Manila website.

We will be posting random updates of the final day so be on the lookout for that in the website. You can also find updates of the previous days. You can read up on some of the wild action at the felt during all the qualifying rounds.

We have completed the last two flights of the PokerStars Live Manila Anniversary Special Main Event and what a big turnout it was with 99 entries for day 1d and 171 entries for day 1e. This easily surpassed the guarantee, bringing the prize pool to a healthy P2,279,828.

Day 1d was the first to finish off with only 12 players making the cut. Filipino player Pedro Gutierrez came out on top with 213,000 chips. Gutierrez was already holding a large stack midway through the event and further escalated when his king-jack landed a dominating two pair in a four-way all in. Gutierrez was trailed by two PokerStars Live Manila regulars, Jean G. Issa from the United Kingdom with 180,000 chips and Nickolai Alexandrov from the USA with 177,000 chips. Both of these players had some late runs to bring their stack up to where they ended the day.

Other players who bagged up chips with the flight leaders were USA's Gerald Casey, India's Srinivas Polishetty, and Hong Kong player Alan King Lun Lau.

On the last flight of the Main Event, day 1e, the massive turnout saw many players fall by the wayside leaving only 27 out of 171 entries at bagging. Ruling the flight was Filipino player Jenelee Dizon with 267,000 chips. Dizon scooped a massive pile near the end of the day when her pocket jacks bested pocket tens. Coming in second-in-chips was Filipino pro Mike Takayama with 199,000 chips, and rounding out the top three was Filipino player Christopher Runas with 181,000 chips.

There were quite a number of exciting hands and situations all day. We were able to catch some of those and they are posted in the updates posts. The prize pool was also announced tonight with the top 50 players out of the 76 qualifiers seeing a profit. The top ten eventual placers will all receive a seat worth P25k to the Megastack Manila Main Event 5 with first place earning the largest piece of the cash pie of P461,600. Day 2 will resume promptly at 12:15pm tomorrow.

For a read on all the action today, click on Day 1d updates and Day 1e updates.

Chip Counts:
Day 1d Survivors: 12
Pedro Gutierrez - Philippines - 213K
Jean G. Issa - UK - 180K
Nickolai Alexandrov - USA - 177K
Takaaki Hagiwara - Japan - 164K
Keith Robert Gorman - UK - 127K
William Gordon Mcauley - Canada - 122K
Gerald Casey - USA - 117K
Miki Teranishi - Japan - 112K
Ronald Morfe- Philippines - 78K
Srinivas Polishetty - India - 73K
King Lun Alan Lau - Hong Kong - 61K
Tarmo Oskari Petajajarvi - Sweden - 61K

Day 1e Survivors: 27
Jenelee Dizon - Philippines - 267K
Mike Takayama - Philippines - 199K
Christopher Runas - Philippines - 181K
Alexander Ungria Jr. - Philippines - 139K
Alvir Inocentes - Philippines - 136K
Tae Kyung Kim - Korea - 132K
Renato Pacayra - Philippines - 110K
Jay Lapinid - Philippines - 105K
Wyngard Brillo - Philippines - 93K
George Martel - Philippines - 92.5K
Roque Lima - Philippines - 90.5K
Jan Jason Leoncio - Philippines - 88K
Ryan Peter Malangen - Philippines - 87K
Kazuki Sasaki - Japan -85K
Antonio Abesamis - Philippines - 83K
Nicholas Gorman - USA - 73K
Aristotle Sigua - Philippines - 69.5K
Eduard Sato - USA - 69K
Darwin Santelices - Philippines - 64.5K
Vincent Miranda - Philippines - 60.5K
Joven Mente - Philippines -59.5K
Ginbert De Villa - Philippines - 59.5K
Na Young - Korea - 57.5K
George Aquino - Philippines - 57K
Kichae Jun - Korea - 56K
Jerick Borja - Philippines - 37.5K
Hakju Lee - Korea - 19K

We are down to the last day one flight of the PokerStars Live Manila Anniversary Special Main Event P2M Guarantee. Alike the previous flights, late registration is open until the end of level 12 and regulation play will conclude five minutes into level 20. Random updates for this flight will be posted right here. We will also be posting updates on the prize pool.

5:00PM: Notables on the felt

Final flight has begun! Tables are all full. Several players well-recognized in the Asian circuit are at the felt such as Edilberto Gopez, RJ Villanueva, Luke Pangan, Regie Ann Delos Reyes, Jae Chul Chang, and Seung Soo Jeon to mentin a few.

Here we go! Day 1d of the Anniversary Special Main Event is underway at the PokerStars Live Manila poker room. This event has a P2M Guarantee with buy-in fee of P5,000. Unlimited re-entries are available until the end of level 12. Action will conclude five minutes into level 20. We will be posting random updates right here for your reading pleasure.

2:45PM: Siegel doubles up; Galang bets to Teranishi for the win; Harada bests Tan

Having no luck at his earlier table Philip Siegel re-entered and faced a new set of players. Not long after, he landed a double up with pocket queens over pocket eights.

Meanwhile, from the table he busted from, Mike Galang was in a hand against Miki Teranishi. Galang raised to 1300 and Teranishi called. At the flop of [3h][ts][4s], he continued and bet 3700, Teranishi called. At the turn, both checked. Then on the river of [5s], Galang bet 3300 and Teranishi folded up.

At another table, Naoto Harada and Pete Tan, and another player were in a raised pot preflop. The board ran [jd][th][5c] and action was checked to Harada who bet 2400. Tan called while the other player folded. At the turn of [kd], it was checked by both for a free river of [2c]. Tan checked to Harada who bet 3k and Tan smooth-called. Harada won with his ace-king versus Tan's king-queen.

2:30PM: Polishetty's set holds strong

Another all in fest on the floor with three-players looking down at a board of [8h][6d][5h]. After the necessary fixing of the pot took place, Srinivas Polishetty had [6s][6h] set, another had [ah][qh] nut flush draw, and Yong Wee Cham had [6c][7s] for a pair and a straight draw. The turn of [tc] and river of [7d] was good for Polishetty and scooped up all the chips in the middle.

2:15PM: Han causes a confusion; Maturan wins back-to-back

Myung Ho Han was having a cigarette and wanted continue smoking and play his big blind. Because that's not allowed, he sat back down and entered a pot that was raised by Philip Siegel. At the flop of [ac][jc][2d], Han checked, another player in the hand checked as well, and Siegel bet 2200. Back to Han, he check-raised to 4400 and Siegel called. On the turn, Han made a bet and then moved all his chips on the middle saying it was for the river bet. Since Siegel hadn't acted yet, there was a confusion as to what his bet was because all his chips were already past the betting line. Amidst the confusion, Seigel decided to fold. Han showed his jack-ten trips.

Nominel Maturan earned himself two good pots back-to-back. In the first one, he was in a 7-player limped pot. At the flop of of [8s][6c][4h], everyone checked to Maturan who bet 1500. He had three callers. At the turn of [8d] action checked to him again and he bet 3500. This was enough to win the pot with everyone folding.

Next hand, Maturan raised to 1200 and was called by two players. At the flop of [ks][qh][9d], he bet 2100 and was called by one player while the other opted to fold. On the turn of [7d], it was checked by both players. On the river of [6s], Maturan bet 3500 and won without a challenge.

2:00PM: Tate takes one from Cham

Ronnie Tate and Yong Wee Cham tangled in a pot that we caught at the turn of [9h][7c][ks][ts]. With 2900 already in the middle, Tate bet 1050 and Cham called. On the river of [6h], Tate continued and led out for 3k, Cham called. Tate won with his king-queen offsuit.

1:45PM: King scalps three in one fell swooooop!

It was a four-way all in party with ace-jack, ace-ten, ace-king, and pocket nines battling it out for a big pot. With the board running [2c][8h][5d][8d][7h], the owner of the pair, John King, delivered a multiple three-headed scalping and amassed around 60k chips.

1:30PM: Crazy call by Obrigo rails Gorman

Action is nutty especially at table 4. It began with Keith Gorman raising to 650 and was called by four players. At the flop of [td][5s][8h], the blinds checked to Gorman who bet 1800. He was called by Rommel Obrigo, but when it reached the button player, he raised to 3800. Blinds folded and Gorman jammed his 10,750 chips in the middle. Obrigo reluctantly called, and button raiser interestingly folded. Gorman had [as][ks] and Obrigo had [qh][jh]. The turn of [th] and river of [2h] gave Obrigo a runner-runner flush and Gorman was eliminated. A short debate over Obrigo's call ensued.

1:15PM: Harada earns a pot from Lau

Alan King Lun Lau was one of those casualties at the previous flights and is back for another attempt. With two limpers before him, he raised to 650 from the button and was called by the small blind and the utg player. At the flop of [9s][5s][3s], everyone quietly checked to each other then the dealer opened up the turn card of [6s]. Action checked to Lau who bet 800. Sb player Andres Lejon folded but Harada check-raised to 2k. That was enough for the pot with Lau folding.

1:00PM: Casey re-enters then doubles up

Gerald Casey wasn't so lucky at his first table but after re-entering, he was granted a sweet double up with his pocket queens against Kunal Shetty's ace-king.

12:15PM: Notables at the felt

Some new faces are at the felt today, that is, players who have not attended the previous flights, such as Gerald Casey, Kai Paulsen, and George Martel. Returning to the felt are Rebei Karim, John King, Jean Issa, and Stefano de Caro.

With rain coming down outside, that only means lots of poker action to be expected this Saturday at the PokerStars Live Manila poker room with the Anniversary Special Main Event P2M Guarantee already underway.

Today will see day 1d and day 1e heat up the felt. Day 1d got started at 1215pm while day 1e, the final day one flight of the Main Event, kicks off at 5pm. Both of these flights will have late registration / re-entry open until the end of level 12, that's a total of 3 hours of play. Buy-in is P5,000. Alike the previous flights, they will play until the first five minutes into level 20.

Two days ago Carlo Aziz Hassan from the United Kingdom end day 1a as the chip leader. There were a total of 8 players remaining out of 59 entries. At day 1b, Norway's Henrik Tollefsen swept past all the 17 qualifiers with a massive stack of 528,000 chips. Day 1b had a big turnout of 129 total entries. At 7pm last night, day 1c began with 79 entries recorded by the end of late registration. Leading the 12 remaining survivors was Hong Kong's Jayson Lo who rose to the leaders seat with 221,000 chips. This was a great accomplishment fo Lo as he was pummeled by Tollefsen at day 1b with pocket kings against pocket aces.

This festival marks the first year anniversary of the PokerStars Live Manila poker room since its opening last year. This runs from February 2-8, 2016 with five side events in addition to the Main Event. We will be posting updates of the day 1d and day 1e action. You can find these in the blog site along with updates and recaps of the previous flights.

In addition, two side events already found their victors these past days. For the P2,000 (P200,000 Guarantee), Conrad Lumaban defeated Wyngard Brillo at heads up to earn the first side event trophy of the weeklong festival. He earned P65,168 in cash plus a seat worth P25,000 to the Manila Megastack 5 Main Event.

At the second side event, the P3,000 (P300,000 Guaantee), it was Germany's Detlef Heckenbach who bested Norway's Kai Paulsen at heads up to take down the next side event trophy of the festival. He also earned P78,400 in cold hard cash plus a seat to the MM5 Main Event. Despite coming in second place, Paulsen was also awarded a seat to the MM5 Main Event.

Day 1a Updates
Day 1b Updates
Day 1c Updates