APPT Main Event (80,000 PHP)

After falling short in the first two flights, Daniel Benor found his stride in Flight C, spinning his 30,000 starting stack into a towering 487,000 to bag the top stack out of the 79 survivors.

I felt like I had a pretty good table drop today. Today was a really good one and from there on I just play the regular poker.

Kicking starting his ascent was a cooler at Level 8 where he landed a straight flush then later knocked out a big stack on a lucky river catch.

I made a straight flush against the set, after that there was one big hand where I rivered trips with QJ against Kings on an AJ board and got it all in against someone.

To secure the chip lead, Benor eliminated Han Gyung Rae during the last hands of the day.

Other notables navigating the minefield were APPT Main Event champions Xiong Cheng, Hai Ha Tran, and Florencio Campomanes.

The APPT Manila 2025 Main Event - Flight C was buzzing from the first shuffle, with players streaming in Cove Manila from the opening deal. By Level 4, the count had already surged to 253 entries, shattering the guarantee. When registration closed, it stood as the biggest flight, drawing 462 entries.

That wraps up Flight C! The survivors return on Sunday, August 3 for the race to the money and to the final table.

With the last hands called, Kim Enriquez fires up for 8000 then calls Junghyun Kim's 20,000 three-bet. Enriquez calls again at the flop 6♦ A♣ 3♦ for 15,000 then after Junghyun checks the turn 7♦ , Enriquez takes control for 25,000. Junghyun flats then checks again on the river J♥ . Enriquez barrels once more, now for 110,000 which well covers Junghyun's stack. Junghyun proceeds to tank then commits the rest of his stack.

Enriquez shows the Q♦ 8♦ flush, Junghyun busts with a distant K♠ K♣ .

When action folded around to the small blind Richard Marquez, he looked down at 3♣ 3♦ and shoved his last 16 bb but was denied the steal. Big blind David Erquiaga woke up with A♥ J♠ and called. On the ropes, Marquez's hopes dimmed at the flop 9♦ K♦ A♠ and with the turn 7♠ and river 6♠ , he left the scene.

Chase Cokaliong left Van Boc fuming after revealing 4♣ 4♥ quads. Before that moment, Cokaliong raised from hijack and Van Boc defended his small blind. When the flop landed 7♦ 4♠ 2♦ , Cokaliong continued to represent a strong hand with another 8000 bet which Boc check-called.

The turn 5♦ brought another check from Boc while Cokaliong kept the pressure high betting a bigger 20,000, and still Boc stuck around to see the board complete 4♦ on the river. Sitting on the stone cold nuts, Cokaliong blasted an 80,000 pot sized bet. Boc tanked for several minutes before the clock was called. When he finally made the call, Cokaliong rolled over his quads, prompting a frustrated slam from Boc as the pot was pushed across the table.

Daniel Benor chipped up again by taking out yet another player. Getting the boot was Han Gyung Rae who risked it all on Q♥ J♣ only to be dominated by Benor's K♥ J♥ . The board was 9♥ A♥ K♦ 6♣ 4♦ .

Leonell Losentes was still fixing his chips when he got involved in the next hand that opened with a raise from Edison Ang. Sitting at cutoff, Losentes and big blind Maiki Nishi gave him action. Edison didn't let up on the flop 3♣ 4♣ 7♦ , sending out 15,000 which scared no one. On the turn 2♠ , Ang pushed his last 81,000 and this time only faced Losentes with Nishi surrendering his hand.

Ang flipped open 5♦ 5♣ , Losentes had him beat with 7♠ 7♣ .

Leonell Losentes raised then tanked to Minsoo Hwang's sizable 105,500 shove. He eventually called and was ahead with Q♥ Q♠ over A♦ Q♣ . The board ran clean to ship it and boot Hwang in the process.

Flight C has entered the last level of play. Remaining players at the end of the round will bag up and return tomorrow for Day 2. For all the railbirds, Flight D is still open for registration but closing soon. The pot is currently at ₱85.4 Million (~$1.46M).

Happening simultaneously, Michihiko Matsuda eliminated Mikhail Bakharev to rises to 353,000.

Pete Chen finished off short stacked Gap Dong Kim with A♠ 7♥ over Q♦ J♣ . At a separate table, Daniel Benor eliminated a big stack to pump up his stack an additional 40 big blinds.

Pavel Zuev catapulted to the upper ranks in two hands. The first was a double up with pocket Kings that dusted Seonguk Huh's pocket Nines. He then called Louis Luo's 13 bb shove and was ahead with K♥ J♥ over K♦ 9♦. The board ran 2♠ 3♥ 3♠ A♣ 8♥ for his kicker to play.

Another APPT Main Event champion in the field and having some success. Local player Florencio Campomanes championed this event in 2019 and has since won several PokerStars titles including the PokerStars Red Dragon Main Event in 2020 and the APPT Open last year. At this series, Campomanes finished 3rd at the APPT Super High Roller.

We caught two pots back-to-back go his way. The first one saw a board T♠ 7♦ K♠ 5♦ where he raised preflop, bet the flop, and won it on the uncalled turn bet against Mikhail Bakharev.

On the next, he called a raise then took command at the flop 4♣ 3♦ J♠ with a 7500 bet that Alexey Malitskiy called. After both checked the turn 3♥ , Campomanes resumed for 14,000 on the river 9♠ . Malitskiy called. Campomanes rivered a pair 9♣ 8♣ and it was good.

Level 14 has begun with 115 players remaining. Play continues until the end of Level 15. For those that missed the mark, the last flight is still open for registration and closing at 11pm.

Catching the action on the turn with A♥ 4♦ 5♦ J♣ spread and 38,000 in the pot. Sungmin Oh has 5♥ 5♣ trips and bets 16,500. Anastasios Pavlou isn't going anywhere with A♦ Q♠ top pair in the hole and calls. The river comes A♣ and this time Oh jams for his last 43,000. Pavlou has trips but tanks to assess the situation. He finally calls and sees the bad news.

Seonguk Huh is all in for his last 39,000 and has K♠ T♦ to show for it. Viet Hoang Tran has him covered and dominated with A♥ T♥ . The tide quickly turns at the flop and holds through the runout K♦ 8♥ 9♦ 5♦ T♣ to keep Huh in the running.

Sang Ho Kim defends his big blind then goes aggro on the flop 6♠ 9♣ A♥ with a check-raise from 5000 to make it 12,000 to go. Minchul Lee tosses in the extra then calls down Kim's 8500 and 22,000 turn 6♣ and river 3♣ bets. Kim flips over A♠ 9♠ two pair at the flop and collects the pot.

Pete Chen is sitting on a massive stack and told us that he shipped a cooler against Annie Bordallo with Queens over Jacks. Bordallo dropped significantly and busted shortly after.

Ki Seok Kang defends his raise, calling Jaemoon Seok's 12,300 three-bet. When the flop lands 9♦ 7♣ 4♣ , Seok is given the reins which he uses to send out 9000, Kang answers with a check-raise of 24,000, and wins the pot uncontested.

Having just lost some chips, David Erquiaga recovers a bit after two players call his three-bet of 15,500. The board is checked down again until the river 9♦ 7♥ Q♦ 3♣ 6♣ where Maiki Nishi leads out 20,000. Richard Marquez gives up his hand while Erquiaga calls.

Nishi was bluffing with J♠ T♣ missed draw, Erquiaga takes it down with K♦ 9♠ pair.

David Erquiaga opened the hand from cutoff with a 4500 raise, button Edison Ang re-raised to 12,000, then big blind Shenghao Wu defended with a four-bet jam of 18,500. Scaring no one, the trio turned friendly, checking down the streets T♣ J♦ K♦ T♦ 5♠ . Wu claimed with A♦ Q♠ straight.

Sangjun Jung four-bet all in for 28,000 and only Ito Kazuki looked him up. Jung dominated with A♣ K♠ over A♠ Q♥ and held on a jack-high board.

Two players were facing a board 2♦ 8♦ Q♦ K♣ and 34,000 already brewed, Daisuke Kanai slid out 12,000 and Korzhenko called. Kanai fired again on the river 3♥ for a larger 30,000, Korzhenko snap-called and showed J♦ 9♦ flush well ahead of Kanai's Q♠ Q♣ set.

Nayeon Cho and Yuta Takazawa square off at the flop 6♥ 9♦ 4♣ with 44,000 weighing down the middle. Takazawa takes a stab for 14,000 which is met with a check-raise shove from Cho for 59,500. Takazawa tanks then gives up his stake in the pot.

Flight C closes with a roaring 462 entries! The prize pool is now well over ₱77 Million (~US$ 1.3 Million) with the last flight still open for registration.

Sick hand at Table 12 with three players in preflop to build a pot of 21,200. Action was checked to the aggressor Jaedeok Yu, he jammed 23,600 on a flop A♣ 2♣ 5♦ . Big blind Chase Cokaliong called then showed his hand A♥ 3♣ forgetting that Junichi Murakami was still in the hand. Murakami then shoved for a massive 123,100 sending Cokaliong deep in the tank. He eventually found reason to call the overbet and was behind.

Murakami had A♦ 8♦ , Yu was leading with A♠ Q♣ . Then came the turn 4♣ to catapult Cokaliong to a straight. At best, Murakami could only hope for a chop and Yu for a club to stay in the game but it was not to be. The river J♠ changed nothing for a double bust to Cokaliong.

Two players build a pot of 9600 preflop and balloon it further on the flop T♥ 5♦ 6♣ . Tae Hoon Chang kicked it off for 6500 that Duc Linh Dinh check-called. The pot increased again on the turn Q♦ with Chang's 16,000 met with a check-raise all in. Chang snap-called and showed 5♥ 6♥ two pair. Dinh had Q♣ J♥ top pair. Not out of danger yet, Chang needed to dodge eight cards in the deck and did so on the river with 5♠ ensuring him the win.

Yuta Takazawa chipped up against Kelvin Yu to edge past 200K. On a board 9♥ K♦ 6♠ 6♣ 3♦ , with 40,800 in the pot, Takazawa bets 26,500 and Yu tanks before making the call. Takazawa reveals his winning 6♦ 6♥ set.

Pete Chen opens it up with 2500 raise which is met with a three-bet of 7500 from Jayvon Carreon. Big stacked Annie Bordallo wants to join the action and calls until Leo Kamiy at cutoff four-bets 26,000. Much too much, everyone folds.

Big turnout at Flight C with 449 entries so far and closing at the end of the level. 203 players seated. Time for the railbirds to jump in!

From middle position, Finn Penderak looked down at A♣ A♥ and raised 2500. Two spots over Isamu Masai had 9♠ 9♥ and reraised 7000. Action folded around back to Penderak who slid out the call.

On a diamond heavy flop 7♦ 6♦ 9♦ , Isamu improved to a set and maintained his persona with a 6000 bet. Penderak lunged with a strong check-raise all in, Isamu wasn't going anywhere with the set and snap-called.

After their cards were on their backs, the turn 2♥ and river Q♦ kept Isamu ahead to ship the max.

Plenty of action and excitement in this hand with MMA fighter Sergey Kharitonov dealt A♦ A♣ on the button and respected it with a three-bet. Suiyuan Chen wasn't going to let his chips go without a fight and called with J♦ 8♦ .

At the flop Q♦ 5♦ T♦ , it's exactly what Chen hoped for and checked, setting the trap. Kharitonov bet 11,000 and Chen called. Then the turn comes A♠ improving Kharitonov to a set. He fired another barrel of 18,000 and this time Chen check-raised 41,000. Kharitonov punched back all in for 67,000 and Chen snap-called with a covering stack.

Upon showing, it all rested on the river card. The dealer flipped open Q♥ to pair the board and improve Kharitonov to a full house.

The 1990 WSOP Main Event champion Mansour Matloubi is back for another attempt having missed the mark at Day 1B. He is running well today and has just dusted Kohei Takami with A♦ A♥ dominating 7♥ 7♣ .

Daniel Benor defended his big blind holding 5♠ 6♠ and had a promising flop 7♣ 4♠ 2♠ . Aggressor Rudy Edenata continued for 12,000 and Benor paid to see the outcome of the turn. With the 3♠ arriving, Benor couldn't be more thrilled with an unbeatable straight flush on hand. He checked it as the aggressive Edenata continued the barrage for 15,000 and this time, Benor threw back a check-raise of 35,000. Edenata then shoved 67,700 and was snap-called.

Benor's showed the straight flush and Edenata was drawing dead with 4♦ 4♣ set.

Cooler at Table 26 with Maiki Nishi dealt A♦ A♥ and Kao Sze Ngai with K♠ K♥ . No bad beat arrived for aces to hold and clean out Kao.

Entering the level at the helm was James Dela Cruz and he padded up his stack some more after sending Yingpeng Li to the exit. During the hand, Li opened, Cruz three-bet 7000, Li jammed 24,000, and Cruz could easily afford it for the fast call.

Li: A♦ K♥

Cruz: A♣ 9♣

With both showing an ace, Li's kicker dominated until the flop came 9♦ 4♣ J♣ . Cruz quickly improved and held through the turn 2♦ and river A♥ .

Bum Suk Kang made a strong bid for the pot three-betting preflop that Zhi Tang called. At the flop and turn 7♠ K♦ 6♣ 2♦ , Kang fired 4000 and 8000. Tang mucked on the turn.