Record numbers have flocked to the latest poker event to take the gaming industry’s most lucrative continent by storm. The inaugural Manny Pacquiao World Poker Event got underway over the weekend with as many as 148 players entering across the three opening days. The PHP 50,000 Asian Poker Tour accredited event has a prize pool of PHP 6,675,540 (£98,517). As a result Malate, Philippines will send one player home with the winning amount of PHP 2,200,000 (£32,467). Day two gets underway today with 50 players returning, chief amongst those currently Elias Koukos with 131,600 chips. He’s being closely pursued by Binh Nguyen (120,000) and Oliver Speidel (119,100), with the highest-placed Filipino Mike Puno with 103,400 chips. The large prize pool and number of attendees backs up the APT’s decision to get Pacquiao on board and don’t be surprised if this turns into their most lucrative event for year’s to come.
PokerStars confirmed that they’ve entered the Guinness Book of Records after their 10th anniversary tournament in Prague was a rousing success. The moment came yesterday when 200,000 people took part in the $1 tournament smashing the original record of 149,196 in the process. A Guinness World Records rep that was in attendance verified it all and then handed over the certificate to one of Team PokerStars Pro’s newest members, Fatima Moreira de Melo.
In the same city, Stanislac Kretz takes a huge lead onto the final table of the World Poker Tour stop in Prague. Yesterday’s play saw 63 players whittled down to just six with a number of notable casualties falling by the wayside. Kretz took the chip lead after winning a big pot against Christopher McClung and never relinquished top spot ending with a stack of 6,300,000. The final table is set out as follows:
Seat 1: Adria Balaguer – 1,315,000
Seat 2: Andrey Pateychuk – 2,310,000
Seat 3: Benjamin Polak – 4,865,000
Seat 4: Russell Carson – 725,000
Seat 5: Stanislaw Kretz – 6,300,000
Seat 6: Sigur Eskeland – 1,575,000
