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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
Event Name | Player Name | Prize Money |
---|---|---|
NLHE Deepstack | Desun Bang | PHP 110,000 |
NLHE Turbo | Ryan Malangen | PHP 58,670 |
NLHE - Shot Clock | Henrieto Acain | PHP 46,500 |
Main Event | Hernan Jaybee Villa | PHP 386,000 |
NLHE Short Deck Turbo | Dan Samarita | PHP 38,450 |
NLHE - KO | Jaeho Bae | PHP 67,000 |
NLHE Deepstack II | Byung Gon Sung | PHP 129,500 |
NLHE Bubble Rush | Yuri Odagiri | PHP 92,900 |
NLHE Deepstack III | Azusa Maeda | PHP 139,500 |
NLHE - Shot Clock II | Tao Wen | PHP 243,000 |
NLHE - KO II | Chih Liang | PHP 139,000 |
NLHE - 6 Handed Turbo | Tokuta Hokute | PHP 114,000 |
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).
Final Table Results (PHP)
*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)
Content & Image Courtesy: PokerStars