Two back-to-back tournaments played out in the Philippines recently, attracting huge crowds. Right after the Philippine Poker Tournament (PPT) played out at Metro Card Club (Jan 31-Feb 4), the six-day long Okada Millions series kicked off at Casino Okada on February 5.

The poker festival was hosted at the PokerStars LIVE Manila poker room and featured a roster of 13 events that ran all the way till February 10, when the series culminated. The series-opener was the NLH Deepstack event that attracted 195 hopefuls and was taken down by Korea’s Desun Bang for PHP 110,000 (₹1.49 Lakhs).

The star attraction, however, remained the PHP 2M GTD Main Event. Featuring a buy-in of PHP2,500, the Main Event attracted a record 1,464 runners across four starting flights, in addition to two turbo flights. The monster field broke all previous participation records in the Philippines and is now credited as the biggest poker tournament to be held in the country till date. An action-packed finale saw local talent Hernan Jaybee Villa claiming the title after a four-day deal. Villa banked PHP 386,000 (₹5.25 Lakhs) for his first-ever career title and new personal best score.

In addition to these two headline tournaments, the 2019 Okada Millions crowned champions in a number of other events. Capping off the series was NLHE 6-Handed Turbo that was taken down by Japan’s Tokuta Hokute (PHP 114,000 – ₹1.55 Lakhs).

2019 Okada Millions Winners

Hernan Jaybee Villa Wins Main Event

The PHP 2M GTD Main Event featured a buy-in of PHP 2,500 and attracted a full house of 1,464 entries in four starting flights and two additional turbo flights. The field was the largest-ever congregation of players at a live tournament in the history of Philippines and easily obliterated the 2 Million prize pool guarantee with the prize pool collection touching PHP 3,124,176 ($60,000 – ₹42,53,865). The top 178 players took home a piece of the prize money

When the curtains fell, it was home pro Hernan Jaybee Villa who claimed the title followinga four-day deal. Even as Villa banked PHP 386,000 (₹5.25 Lakhs) for his first-ever career title, Czech pro Stepan David finished runner-up for PHP 336,000 (₹4.57 Lakhs).

1. Hernan Jaybee Villa – PHP 386,000*
2. Stepan David – PHP 336,000*
3. Leoncio Cruz – PHP 304,000*
4. Richard Marquez – PHP 352,500*
5. Christopher Pasion – PHP 109,000
6. Rogelio Pacheco – PHP 78,000
7. Tyrone Lim – PHP 66,000
8. PUrev Srenjav – PHP 57,000
9. Giovanni Jariol – PHP 48,676
10. Janus Clinton Villaflor – P40,500

*denotes 4-way deal

Desun Bang Wins NLH Deepstack Event

The series-opener PHP 3,000 buy-in NLH Deepstack attracted 195 hopefuls that ensured that the PHP 200K prize pool guarantee was more than doubled with the total prize collection reaching PHP 499,356 (₹6,79,921). In a Filipino dominated final table, it was Korea’s Desun Bang who rode his way to the top to take home the winner’s payday of PHP110,000 (₹1.49 Lakhs).

Final Table Results (PHP)

1. Desun Bang – PHP 110,000
2. Jonald Garcia – PHP 74,700
3. Lemmor Patulot – PHP 51,400
4. Christopher Pasion – PHP 41,900
5. Martin Corpuz – PHP 33,500
6. Emman Segismundo – PHP 25,700
7. Michael Bueze – PHP 18,700
8. Azusa Maeda – PHP 13,600
9. Nanami Murata – PHP 11,156
10. Espen Hoo Bjorknes – PHP 9,500

Content & Image Courtesy: PokerStars