Warm-up (7,500 PHP)

No Warming Up Needed For Richard Marquez

Highly decorated Filipino pro Richard Marquez aka “Hotsauce” wasted no time heating things up at Okada Manila Millions as he powered through the opening event to claim his fourth career PokerStars spadie.

The Warm Up set the tone for the festival with 117 entries breaching the 500K guarantee for a prize pool of PHP 749,034 (~US$ 13,050). Before the victory moment, Marquez first delivered the bubble by knocking out short-stacked Joshua Cordova with T♦ 7♣ full house over A♥ 8♦ on a board of 7♥ J♣ 7♠ K♠ J♥ . Once the money was intact, the final 17 players sprinted toward a seat at the final table, and with the average stack at just 6 big blinds, survival was tough and shoves were rampant.

For Marquez, he was down to just 4.5 bb when he won a crucial flip against the leader Christian Lortie Cloutier. During the hand, Marquez's A♦ J♣ found a jack in the window to overcome 8♥ 8♣ . Soon after, he surged into the lead by cleaning out Acharya Anant in 7th place, holding Queens against King-Jack.

After three more players fell, Lortie staged his comeback. He eliminated Makoto Miyatake to regain control. However, in a repeat showdown against Marquez, Lortie once again lost a flip that handed the lead back to the Filipino pro. Their third clash saw Lortie answer back with 6♠ 7♠ straight on a board of T♦ 5♦ 3♣ J♦ 4♥ to overcome Marquez’s Q♦ J♥ . Marquez quickly recovered the lost ground by eliminating Minsuk Kim in 3rd place.

The final hand came shortly after. Marquez’s Q♣ 4♠ outdrew Lortie’s 3♦ 3♠ on a board of 6♥ 5♥ Q♠ 4♥ K♦ to grab the first spadie of the series, along with a payout of PHP 181,534 (~US$ 3,160). Despite Lortie placing second, the Canadian pro secured a cool PHP 113,500 (~US$ 1,977) for his efforts.