It was a big day at the felt with PokerStars Live Manila Anniversary Special Main Event running two day one flights, day 1b early in the afternoon and day 1c early evening. Day 1b was a big hit with many players in attendance for a total of 129 entries in the books. By the end of regulation play, the field dwindled to 17 players remaining with Norway's Henrik Tollefsen bagging a massive 528,000 chips.

Tollefsen's insane rise came in just two big hands. He had pocket aces that bested China's Jayson Lo's pocket kings plus earning a bit more with another player in the pot. He followed that up with another huge takedown against Dr Han who was the other big stack at the table. Tollefsen had pocket kings against Han's ace-king. Han's stack went straight into Tollefsen's arms when a king landed on the flop.

Claiming the second spot of day 1b was Swedish player Bo Mikael Baudin with 139,000 chips. Baudin ousted a player during the last half hour of regulation play, and proceeded to claim another sizable pot when he shoved at the final hand of the night.

Filipino player Richard Marquez ended third in chips, 134,000, with a large chunk of it earned by a bluff that turned lucky. Filipino pro Lester Edoc also made the cut with a fairly decent stack of 82,000 chips.

At day 1c, there were a total of 76 entries recorded with 12 remaining past the midnight hour. In the lead with the largest stack was Hong Kong's Jayson Lo with 221,000 chips. Filipino player Chris Mateo was second-in-rank with 162,000 chips. Rounding out the top three was Soo Jo Kim from Korea who ended with 129,000 chips. Filipino players Joven Huerto and Jessie Leonarez also survived the heat of the last flight of the day.

Among the fallen were Filipino player John Tech whose bluff was called out by Woo Young Kim and was unable to recover from there. Frenchman Rebei Karim also hit the rail, several times it seemed. Filipino player Edilberto Gopez, Denmark's Kristian Faiering, Yao Hui, and Edgar Angelo Felix also fell by the wayside.

For a read on some of the action at both of these flights, head to these links
Day 1b Updates
Day 1c Updates

Here are the chip counts of both flights:
Day 1b Survivors: 17
Henrik Tollefsen - Norway - 528K
Bo Mikael Baudin - Sweden - 139k
Richard Marquez - Philippines - 134K
Francis Villamar - Philippines - 121K
David Stephan - USA - 112K
Yongqi Ren - China - 102K
Noam Fater - Israel - 94K
John Joyce - Ireland - 90K
Michael Bueza - Philippines - 88K
Jeorge Lagatuz - Philippines - 83K
Napoloeon Pena - Philippines - 82K
Lester Edoc - Philippines - 82K
Yul Angel Maravilla - 77K
Angelou Roy - Philippines - 68K
Knoffler Carillo - Philippines - 58K
Lowell Umusig - Phillippines - 53K
Anthony Gabitan - Philippines - 43K

Day 1c Survivors: 12
Jayson Wai Tung Lo - Hong Kong - 221K
Christopher Mate - Philippines - 162K
Soo Jo Kim - Korea - 129K
Joven Huerto - Philippines - 125K
Jessie Leonarez - Philippines - 110K
Wen Peng Dai - China - 108K
Munesh "Kushty007" Sharda - UK - 86K
Woo Young Kim - Korea - 59K
Zhinning Chen - China - 45K
Martin Angelo Ealdama - Philippines - 37K
Ernesto Camerino - Philippines - 34K
Ben Carey Abrahams - UK - 30K

The third qualifying flight (day 1c) of the Anniversary Special Main Event has just begun. Late registration will be open until the end of level 12, that's just over 3 hours with the breaks. Players will be on the felt past the midnight hour until we reach the middle of level 20. Random day 1c updates will be posted right here.

8:30PM: Lots of limps, Sayo wins

With five players limping in, big blind player checked and the dealer felted [as][8c][2h]. Small blind player Martin Corpuz bet 600 and was called by two players, one of them was John Sayo. At the turn of [9d], the three remaining players checked. The river of [ah] had Corpuz and Sayo checking again but the last player bet 1100. Corpuz folded and Sayo called. Sayo won with his king-eight over pocket sixes.

8:15PM: Full house beauty for Tech

Three players were in a raised pot preflop with a board showing [ad][ac][8c]. John Tech bet 1100 and was called by both players in the hand with him. At the turn of [th], action was checked to the button player who bet 2k. He was called but Tech check-raised to make it 6k. Button player called while the other folded. On the river of [qs], Tech was all in and got the call. He won with his [tc][ts] full house.

7:45PM: Ortiz railed, Sato and Polishetty splitsville

Chris Ortiz, Srinivas Polishetty, and Eduard Sato were all in with Ortiz ahead holding pocket jacks against both his opponents ace-king offsuits. Looking pretty good, the board ran [qs][tc][2s] keeping him ahead but the turn of [ac] changed it all and with the river of [4c], Ortiz was out and Sato and Polishetty split his chips.

7:00PM: Notables on the felt

Lots of notables and players who busted out in the previous flights such as Kristian Faering, Joven Huerto, Regie Ann Delos Reyes, Eugene Co, and Rebei Karim. John King, Andrei Dementev, and Martin Corpuz are also in the field.

We are back at the PokerStars Live Manila poker room for the weeklong Anniversary Special. Today has Day 1b kicking off at 215PM and Day 1c at 7PM. Updates for both flights will be posted right here. Late registration is open until the end of level 12, or 3 hours of play. The night will close five minutes into level 20, as determined by yesterday's results.

3:15PM: Lejon ships it big

Lots of wild poker action at an outer table with a pot of roughly around 15k already in the middle and a flop of [5s][3c][8h]. Andres Richard Lejon bet 6500, was called by Pedro Gutierrez, then Bo Mikael Baudin jammed all his chips in. Nelia Nepomuceno folded, Lejon moved all in as well, and Gutierrez decided best to fold. Baudin had [qh][qc] while Lejon was ahead with [ac][ah]. The turn of [5c] and river of [7s] was good for Lejon who kept his lead and shipped in a big pile. He is now over 40k.

3:00PM: Pangan tanks, Takayama scoops

Luke Pangan and Mike Takayama, two of the toughest Filipino players at their table, faced off. We caught the action on the river with a board showing [8d][8s][8c][5h][2h]. With a pot of 7200 in the middle, Takayama moved all in covering Pangan's stack. Pangan tanked for some time until the clock was called on him. He folded.

2:45PM: Ilkwon Kim earns a little off Segismundo

With blinds low, some tables have some small battles happening in the orbits. At table 12, Emman Segismundo raised to 225 and was called by button player Ilkwon Kim plus the big blind player. At the flop of [ac][4d][7c], action was checked to the raiser who bet 300 and Kim called. On the turn of [5c] and river of [2s], Segismundo and Kim checked. Kim won with his [ad][jh] top pair.

2:30PM: Takayama doubles up through Heinikangas

With 1300 already in the middle and a board of [6d][3c][th][6s], Nillo Heinikangas bet 700 then got popped to 2200 by Mike Takayama. Heinikangas responded with an all in and Takayama snap-called. Heinikangas had [5h[6h] for trips while Takayama had [3s][3d] full house. The river of [4d] kept Takayama safely ahead and he doubled up.

2:15PM: Notables on the felt

Action is already underway with several notables banging it out early on the felt. Korea's Jae Chul Chang, Denmark's Kristian Faering, Taiwan's Stefano de Caro, Filipino players Mike Takayama and Luke Pangan, re-entry player Noam Fater, and day 1a chip leader, Carlo Aziz Hassan looking to bag even more than he did yesterday.