Manila Megastack 5: Daiki Ijima Wins Opening Event For PHP 522K, Piyush Gupta Makes Fourth Place For PHP 195K

The six-day Manila Megastack 5 series kicked off on May 3, at the Grand Ballroom, City of Dreams Manila. It was day of thrilling action at the opening Event – PHP 2 Million GTD Kickoff, which had a huge entry-crowd and ultimately was won by Japanese player Daiki Ijima (cover image) for PHP 522,224 along with seat to the Asia Pacific Poker Tour (APPT) 10 Manila Main Event. Runner-up Christopher Mateo of the Philippines also collected PHP 522,224 thanks to a deal, besides a seat to the APPT 10 Main Event.

India’s Piyush Gupta made a fourth place finish for PHP 195,000. Fellow countryman Dhaval Mudgal was also playing the event and though he busted the event, received a fillip to his bankroll with a consolation at the Bad Beat Jackpot cash tables. He also busted Event 3 – Knockout, which played its Day 1 on May 4.

After Event 2 – Freezeout yesterday, today will mark the start of Event 4 – PLO and Event 5 – PHP 2 Million GTD NLH.

Indian Participation

Among the Indian challengers, Piyush Gupta began the series with a deep run in the opening Kickoff Event, making PHP 195,000 for a fourth place finish.

Dhaval Mudgal, an Asian-circuit regular played Event 1, but busted and posted the developments on social media.

“Flight B of the kickoff about to start! Let’s boom boom shake the room#‎TeamThrillyou can follow o Twitter @dirtbagpoker”

“Busto JJ to KJ AIP. Turbo flight of the same tourney in an hour”

In between, the player was happy to be among those to receive the Bad Beat jackpot and humorously tweeted,“Playing 50/100 in Manila and the bad beat jackpot just got cracked on my table hahahahahah”

Mudgal then played Day 1 of Event 3 Knockout and posted, “All the drama out of the way, let’s do what we are actually here. Bounty tournament starts now! Follow on Twitter for regular updates! #‎TeamThrill”

“Wow 3 way all in on the flip We have Ad2d on 8d 7d 2h one guy 88 3rd guy 10 9 obviously open ended got there in CL pot. Fml @Thrill_India”

Other Indian players at the series include Jayde Fernandes, Sudhir Agarwal, Sandeep Nasa and Sumit Behl.

Event 1 – PHP 10,000 Kickoff

Japanese player Daiki Ijima was the winner of the opening event, collecting PHP 522,224, in prize money.

Then the final hand saw Ijima with against Christopher Mateo’s and a deal that saw both walk away with the same amount, and the title going to Ijima. Both players also received seats to the APPT Main Event.

Mateo had dominated the final day’s play taking several eliminations. He was also responsible for Gupta’s elimination, when his ace-jack cracked the latter’s ace nine. Gupta made a fourth place finish.

The opening event had three entry flights, which drew 333 entries and the handful that remained for the final battle on Day 2 were assured a min-cash of PHP 20,000.

The event had a prize pool of PHP 2,842,488, exceeding its announced guarantee of PHP 2 million.

Final Table Results (PHP)

1. Daiki Ijima – P522,224*

2. Christopher Mateo – P522,224*

3. Julian Tolentino – P250,000

4. Piyush Gupta – P195,000

5. Luke Pangan – P147,000

6. Thomas Larsen – P123,000

7. John Riad – P123,000

8. Soomil Kweon – P80,000

9. Jing Liang Chen – P64,000

10. David Perreau – P52,000

*denotes heads-up deal (both winners also got a seat to the APPT 10 Main Event)

Images Courtesy: PokerStars blog