2017 PokerStars Festival Manila

PHP 215,000 High Roller
Day: 1
Event Info

2017 PokerStars Festival Manila

Final Results
Winner
Winning Hand
j7
Prize
3,100,000 PHP
Event Info
Buy-in
215,000 PHP
Prize Pool
9,118,000 PHP
Entries
47
Level Info
Level
22
Blinds
10,000 / 20,000
Ante
3,000

Or-Paz Leads PokerStars Festival Manila High Roller Shot Clock Event

Level 11 : 800/1,600, 200 ante
Tom Or-Paz leads PSF Manila High Roller Shot Clock
Tom Or-Paz leads PSF Manila High Roller Shot Clock

Day 1 of the PokerStars Festival Manila High Roller Shot Clock saw 36 players (including re-entries) pony up the PHP215,000 (~$4,260) buy-in to grow the prize pool to an enticing PHP6,790,000.

However, with re-entry still open until the start of level 12 at 1pm local time (GMT+7) when play resumes on Thursday 3 August this figure could increase further.

Players started with 50,000 in chips and 18 players managed to hold on to the majority of them to lock up their Day two seat. After eleven 40-minute levels, it was Israel’s Tom Or-Paz who finished in front, bagging up an impressive 219,000.

Or-Paz seized the lead after ousting the UK’s Simon Burns not long after the last seven hands had been announced during the last level of the day, flopping top two pairs against the open ended straight draw of Burns and improving to a full house on the river to send the Brit to the rail.

"It's only because I was looking at my girlfriend’s [SMS] messages,' joked Or-Paz when asked about his good run.

"I had ten eight. I called from the button against a pre-flop raiser [Burns]. I checked it. The guy was betting it with a straight draw, I raised 25,000 and he went all in and I insta-called with the top two pair. He was up and down. Looked at my girlfriend’s [SMS] messages, turn is an ace, river is an eight — Boom! Full house," said Or-Paz.

The 29-year-old Israeli is vice president of one of the biggest sports betting companies in the world, SBTech Israel, and is clearly enjoying his time at the PokerStars Festival Manila.

“I wasn’t very lucky in most of the tournaments. I did a pre-qualifier to a satellite and I won it for $5, and I won it and I won the satellite so I have a ticket for the main event already… This so far [the High Roller Shot Clock] is the best one,” said Or-Paz.

Sathesh Muthu also enjoyed a good day at the felt, bagging up a very respectable 156,700. While the Singaporean’s tournament started poorly and he busted his first buy-in at the hands of Japan’s Yo Seb Rhee after the latter flopped a flush versus Muthu’s ace-king suited on an ace-high flop, the second time was the charm for Muthu.

On his second bullet, the Singaporean won the majority of stack from the unfortunate Van Sang Nguyen when the two became involved in a huge pre-flop raising war with all the chips finding their way into the middle. Muthu, holding pocket aces, had Nguyen’s ace-king crushed and the Singaporean shot into one of the top spots on the leaderboard, where he remained until play concluded.

The tournament’s only two satellite qualifiers, the United Kingdom’s Peter Plater (133,000) and Russia’s Timofey Asmolov, (156,700) both made it through to Day 2 with Asmolov concluding play with the third biggest stack.

While play began with three Nguyens in the field – with Bach Hoang Nguyen and Hoa Thinh Nguyen the other two – only one made it through to Day 2 with Hoa Thinh Nguyen (147,900) rounding out the top four stacks. Other notables to make it through included Taiwan's Pete Chen (33,700), Canada's Linh Tran (144,400) and Malaysia's Victor Chong (96,400).

Day 2 re-commences at 1pm local time on Thursday 3 August with blinds starting at 1,000/2,000 with a 300 running ante. The tournament will play out until a champion is crowned and the PokerNews live reporting team will be on hand to cover that and Day 1A of the PokerStars Festival Manila Main Event, which kicks off at 2pm local time.

Day 2 Seat Draw

TableSeatPlayerCountryChip CountBig Blinds
12Timofey AsmolovRussia154,40077
14Linh TranCanada144,40072
15Sathesh MuthuSingapore156,70078
17Lester EdocPhilippines103,90052
18Tom Or-PazIsrael219,000110
      
21Victor ChongMalaysia96,40048
23Yo Seb RheeJapan45,80023
25Jun ObaraJapan85,50043
26Aki VirtanenFinland56,90028
27Mansour MatloubiUK113,90057
      
34Konstantin PogodinRussia35,40018
35Hermann LeeSingapore81,00041
37Celine LeeChina105,90053
38Ken OkadaJapan43,00022
      
41Peter PlaterUK133,00067
44Antti HalmeFinland24,70012
46Pete ChenTaiwan33,70017
47Hoa Thinh NguyenVietnam147,90074

Tags: Bach Hoang NguyenHoa Thinh NguyenPeter PlaterSathesh MuthuSimon BurnsTimofey AsmolovVan Sang NguyenYo Seb Rhee