First Championship Title For Beomhui Kang At Record Breaking Okada Millions

Maiden Title For Beomhui Kang At The 6th Okada Millions

The 6th edition of the PokerStars LIVE Okada Manila Millions wrapped up its flagship tournament with Beomhui Kang clinching the title after a one hand flip with Anacleto Quijano.

"This was my first championship and it's like a dream! I am very happy I won this championship. I am only a businessman. Poker is just my hobby."

Kang catapulted to the top of the counts after he eliminated Fahad Alanazi in 7th place. Alanazi had top pair top kicker which Kang defeated with two pair.

The record breaking Okada Millions ran from April 10-13, 2025 at Okada Manila in Philippines. It being the most popular low-stakes tournament by PokerStars LIVE, it attracted players from all over the region pulling in 1,638 entries across seven flights. With buy in at just PHP 8000 (~US$ 140), it set a new prize pool high of PHP 11,185,574 (~US$ 196,300) with 196 players earning share.

Read up on the action and results via the SMP Live Updates.

Yuma Endo Wins The Mystery Bounty

"I'm very happy right now, it's my third time to win a trophy! It makes me very excited to play more tournaments."

Fairly new to the live poker scene, with stats as recent as October 2024, 21-year old Japanese player Yuma Endo banked his largest payday of PHP 684,000 (~US$ 11,925) after reigning at the Mystery Bounty. Endo survived a grueling three-handed battle, eventually defeating Filipino Francis Ancheta and Korea's Byungsung Kim to earn the coveted title. Included in his payout were a total of 7 bounty rewards. In a post win interview, the champ shared,

"I think there are so many good players in Manila so I have to play a bit tight unlike in Japan where they play just for fun."

Event Recap

The final day opened with 35 returning to the tables. Action was fierce as players hunted down the largest bounty prize of PHP 200,000. Endo picked up momentum early, knocking down a few players before reaching the final table. Among the fallen was Marciel Cerbito in 14th place but not before he knocked out Jeffrey Pamplona to earn a bounty spin that turned into an APPT Manila Main Event package worth PHP 125,000.

Another casualty was Bernard Chua in 13th place with Michael Bueza chipping up. Bueza however would miss the final table in 10th place with A♣ K♠ losing the flip against Edwin Dela Cruz’s 9♦ 9♥ .

Final Table

First to exit the final table was Richard Marquez, falling short of a series second win. Prolan Fandialan delivered a double knockout to Rene Mar David and Jonald Garcia to trim the field to six. Endo eliminated Cruz next who limped then three-bet shoved with A♠ 2♥ that fell to A♥ K♠ .

Fandialan picked up another bounty token by sending off Woojun Lim in 5th place but could not take it further than 4th place with A♦ K♠ falling to Endo’s Q♦ 8♦ flush on a board 5♠ 5♥ T♦ K♦ 3♦ with the shoves on the river. In addition to his rank payout, Fandialan padded up for having pulled the second largest bounty worth PHP 130,000.

Down to the final three, Endo maintained the lead for 21 hands then lost two showdowns against Kim to drop in rank. Back on the grind, it didn’t take long for Endo to recover and proceeded to rail Ancheta in 3rd place with A♠ 3♦ landing trips against Q♦ Q♠ . Ancheta called for his tournament life on a river board 5♥ A♦ 7♦ 6♠ A♣ .

Heads up ran for 34 hands with the chip lead switching twice. On the 103rd final table hand, Endo wrapped it up with K♦ T♦ dominating Q♥ 5♠ .

*The last three players decided to chop the remaining bounties - 200K, 41K, 17K - to each receive PHP 86,000.



Mystery Bounty

Buy-in: PHP 12,500

Guarantee: PHP 2,000,000

Entries: 287

Total prize pool: PHP 3,062,290

ITM/Day 2: 35 players

Cash pool: PHP 2,076,290

Bounty pool: PHP 861,000

Largest Bounty: PHP 200,000

*Payouts below include bounty rewards.

Crushing Performance From Rene Mar David To Clinch Okada Micro

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 he was second in chips for most of the day until heads up against Taiwan's Li Ming Liu taking him just minutes to overtake and secure the win.

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 claimed 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

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.

Megastack Champion

The largest single day side event of the festival was seen on closing day with 165 pouring in for the Megastack. With buy in set at PHP 12,500 (~US$ 220), the prize pool surged past the PHP 1M guarantee, settling at PHP 1,760,550 (~US$ 30,895). A total of 19 players dipped in the money jar with local player Alvin Jeff Sembrano claiming the largest cut of PHP 423,550 (~US$ 7,435).

To capture the win, Sembrano overcame a swinging heads up battle against Rene Payan that had the chip lead exchange hands multiple times. A lucky hand shifted the tide towards Sembrano with A♥ J♦ straight over A♥ Q♠ on a board T♦ 8♣ Q♥ K♣ 4♦ . The final hand arrived soon after with Sembrano's T♦ 8♦ dusting 5♣ 7♣ on a board K♠ T♥ 2♦ 9♥ 4♠ .

First Career Live Win For Cheng Lin Yu

"It's my first time ever live tournament win so it is pretty exciting and I am very happy" said Taiwan's Cheng Lin Yu after emerging victorious at the Sunday Million. He earned a payout of PHP 359,790 (~US$ 6,275) along with a baby spade to forever treasure the moment.

Event Recap

The Sunday Million was a hot item on the weekend menu with 137 on register to exceed the PHP 1M guarantee for a larger PHP 1,461,790 (~US$ 25,485) prize pool. Just past the eighth hour, the bubble burst on Joseph Magnotti with A♥ 8♠ outdrawn by Hiroki Habu's K♦ J♥ that improved to a full house.

With the money intact, the remaining 15 players raced to the final table. For the second time today, Michael Bueza missed it by one spot, falling on the same position as he did at the Mystery Bounty. Bueza's T♦ T♥ ran into Hayato Karuo's J♥ J♣ .

Final Table

The final table kicked off with Cheng Lin Yu lucking out to burn Kim Enriquez with 7♠ 7♦ set on the flop 5♥ 3♣ 7♥ K♦ 6♥ that held against T♦ T♠ . Habu bit the bullet next with 8♠ 8♣ losing a flip against Masakazu Miyamoto's Q♠ T♣ ten on the flop. Miyamoto went on a tear to amass a big chip leading stack however it didn't hold when the tide turned. Yu sent Miyamoto packing in 3rd place with 9♦ 9♥ dominating 3♦ 3♠ in a dramatic 3♣ Q♣ 5♥ 6♥ 9♠ set on the flop burned by set on the river.

Yu had this to say about his Miyamoto,

"Miyamoto played very well and he is very aggressive especially when he had his big stack. Most of the time he was in the hand. I was relieved when we crippled him."

Facing Karuo at heads up, Yu's lead stayed well intact to nail it shut with 9♦ 8♦ flush against Q♥ T♠ on a final board of T♥ K♦ 7♦ 3♦ 3♥ .

"I Deserve This Win"

A fun addition to the festival lineup was the Swap Hold'em where players could change one or both hole cards before folding. After many twists and turns, the event ended with Kai Yi Sun capturing his first ever PokerStars spade, in turn, denying Joseph Sia a 13th career spadie. In a brief interview with the newly minted Sun, he shared,

"I feel rewarded, I feel like I deserve this win because last year I had 20 final table appearances and I always ran short. I didn't win any trophies. There were a lot of times where I had huge lead at heads up I ended up losing everything. So it was a big lesson for me that no matter how much you trip up you still got a chance. This win is a good start for me to grind more trophies."

However, victory was no easy task especially facing 12-time spadie holder Sia. According to the champ, Sia was the best player in the field. Both players faced off in a long heads up battle that saw Sun's lead vanish when Sia swapped both of his hole cards on a board showing 7♣ 4♦ 4♣ J♦ A♣ and got dealt a lucky 7♥ 4♥ for a full house that crushed Sun's pocket Kings.

Battling back, Sun grinded to the lead then swapped both of his cards and was dealt A♥ K♣ . He quickly called Sia's all in who held 9♠ T♦ . The final board ran 6♠ 3♣ A♦ 8♠ 2♦ .

Overall, Sun enjoyed the fun format saying,

"I think this game is a bit tricky especially for the first timer because people kept playing out of turn and it's complicated, but it's a cool game. It's a good addition to the tournament."

The Swap Hold'em event drew 17 evening warriors for a prize pool of PHP 74,205. The bubble burst on Anthony Gabitan in a wild cooler against Tony Khoang. From the big blind, Gabitan swapped then three-bet with K♣ K♠ . Khoang had Ace-Queen, then opted to swap the queen. He called and showed a stunning A♦ A♥ . The board ran blanks.