Okada Micro (4,500 PHP)

Filipino player Rene Mar David delivered a knockout performance at the final table, eliminating three players before coming from behind to take down the inaugural Okada Micro event . In a post-win interview with the champ, he shared,

"It was kind of difficult. I had a lot of bad beats during Day 1. I had a total of 6 bullets. I felt completely lost but forced myself to stay focused even when I got variance."

At the final table, David was second in chips for most of the day until minutes into heads up play against Taiwan's Li Ming Liu.

"Before the heads up, I was studying how my opponent plays - from his body language, eyes, etc. Once I was able to see one of his hands, I could already tell what type of gameplay he had. There was one hand when I snap-called his all-in and I was able to trap him. Also in another hand, I had a flush draw on the flop. I checked-raised on the turn. On the river, I just tried to get value. I knew he had good hands when he called my re-raise. It's either an Ace or something. If he had a Q, then he would probably go all-in.

For his victory, David pocketed the largest cut worth PHP 420,000 + PHP 9,000 Super Qualifier Ticket.

Event Recap

The inaugural Okada Micro kicked off on April 7 at Okada Manila as one of the Okada Manila Millions key events. After two days and four flights, 545 entered to breach the guarantee. On the final day, 66 players returned to determine their cut of the PHP 2,093,454 (~US$ 36,500) prize pool.

Flight A: 115 entries / 14 qualifiers

Flight B: 121 entries / 15 qualifiers

Flight C: 158 entries / 19 qualifiers

Flight D: 151 entries / 18 qualifiers

Buy-in: PHP 4500 (~$80)

Guarantee: PHP 1,000,000 (~US$ 17,500)

Entries: 545

Prize pool: PHP 2,093,454 (~US$ 36,500)

ITM: 66 players

The final day was brutal for the day's entering chip leader Nikolas Rivera who lost a succession of pots to fall in 45th place. Flight D chip leader Jay Padilla finished 26th, second biggest stack Maxwell Rosete ran deep in 14th place, then on the seventh hour, the final table was reached after Flight A leader Azamat Shafiev was eliminated in 10th place.

The final table ran just over two and half hours with Benjamin Perez leading the way. Within the first hands, Li Ming Liu overtook and held the top spot until heads up. Liu collected more chips by eliminating Cheng Wen Huang while Rene Mar David tried to catch up by knocking out three players Jeffrey Calonge, Rick Jason Ambata, and Joseroy Jeremias.

Down to five players, Jonathan Duque nosedived on a flip to drop to barely a small blind. Stunningly, he recovered after winning three consecutive pots and had enough ammo to eliminate Perez in 5th place and Michael Bueza in 4th place. On a side note, kudos to Bueza for reaching the final table having fallen in 10th place at the Mystery Bounty and Sunday Millions. Despite Duque's return, he had to settle for 3rd place with all of his chips claimed by Liu.

Heads up kicked off with Liu sitting on a 3:1 advantage. David quickly bridged the gap when Liu's flush draw missed then continued to dominate the action to take the lead. Keeping Liu at bay, the final hand saw Liu shove on the flop with an open ended, David called with two pair that further improved to a full house.

Congratulations to the champ!

David is ahead with two pair while Liu has an open ended. The turn T♥ offers nothing new and with the river 3♥ , David further improves to a full house to knock out Liu.

Liu earned PHP 270,000 + PHP 9,000 Super Qualifier Ticket

Rene Mar David limps and Li Ming Liu checks his option. At the flop 5♥ 7♦ 4♣ , David bets 350,000, Liu check-raises 950,000, David three-bets all in and Liu gives it up.

Rene Mar David limps in and gets to see the flop cheap with Li Ming Liu checking. When the board runs 3♣ J♦ 4♠ 6♥ , David barrels 300,000 and 700,000, Liu calls both then they check the river 7♦ . Liu shows 3♠ 7♥ two pair and David mucks.

It didn't take long for Rene Mar David to slide into the top spot. From the big blind, he defended from a 600,000 raise and watched the flop land Q♣ Q♠ T♠ . Both players checked to the turn A♠ then Liu took a chance for 500,000 which was met with a check-raise of 2,000,000 from David. Liu tanked for two time banks then folded.

Rene Mar David cuts the gap between him and the leader Li Ming Liu after banking a double up. From the button, Liu opened 500,000 and David defended. At the flop 2♠ 8♥ 4♦ , Liu continues for another 500,000 and David calls. On the turn K♦ , Liu jams a massive 9,000,000, David tank-calls for his tournament life.

David flips open T♠ 8♦ , Liu is drawing with T♦ 7♦ . The river 5♣ gives David the double up.

After nearly nine hours of play, heads up has been reached with the title, trophy, and PHP 420,000 top prize on the table.

A pot of 1,500,000 has been brewed with Li Ming Liu and Rene Mar David as the only two left in the hand. The board shows T♣ T♠ 3♣ 3♦ 6♠ . Liu bets 1,125,000, David folds.

Rene Mar David has already sent three players out of the final table and continues build his stack. In a hand against Jonathan Duque, with his 320,000 raise called preflop, they proceed to check down the board 8♣ 6♦ J♠ 4♦ 9♣ . Duque has A♣ 7♣ , David wins it with A♥ 4♥ .

Jonathan Duque continues to command the table entering numerous pots per orbit. Just before the blinds went up, he opened 150,000, Rene Mar David defended from the big blind for 400,000, the Duque four-bet shoved for 975,000. David folded.

Rene Mar David has chipped up significantly to rise past a million. He first doubled up off Cheng Wen Huang with A-J pairing up the jack on the river to survive against pocket Nines. Keeping the momentum. David won a couple of more pots but without showdowns.

From the big blind, Vijay Singh defends by calling Rene Mar David's 55,000 raise then they both check the flop T♣ T♥ A♣ . Action resumes on the turn K♦ with Singh leading out 90,000 that David calls. Singh continues again on the river 9♣ for 100,000 and it's enough to win the pot uncontested.