Jaeho Kim Tops 24 Survivors on Day 1a at Okada Manila; Markus Garberg Among Big Stacks

Jaeho Kim and Markus Garberg on Day 1a of the 2020 WPTDeepStacks Philippines

After 14 levels of 40 minutes each, Day 1a of the Season 18 World Poker Tour Asia-Pacific WPTDeepStacks Philippines PHP 75,000 (~$1,500) Main Event has wrapped up and 24 players bagged and tagged for the night. The first of two starting days attracted a field of 126 entries, consisting of 109 unique entries and 17 re-entries, and both numbers are expected to increase for the second and final flight the following day as of noon local time.

The WPT visits the Philippines for the third time after 2014 and 2016, and the stunning five-star Okada Manila is hosting the popular mid-stakes circuit of the Asia-Pacific region for the first time. Three dozen players took their seats in the first level in The Coral Room and that number grew by the minute until the late registration closed at the start of level 10.

It was a close race for the chip lead and South Korea’s Jaeho Kim turned his starting stack of 30,000 into more than ten times of that, claiming 312,000 to his name. Julien Weymouth, an American that calls Guam his home base these days, came the closest with 290,000 and needed a second entry to do so. Fellow compatriot Joshua Chargualaf also advanced with a big stack as he made it through with 249,000, very close behind Francesco Morales (252,000) and narrowly ahead of Markus Garberg (247,500).

Garberg was one of several Norwegians that joined the action and has sweet memories to the last time the WPT headed to Manila in 2016 as he finished runner-up to Ying Lin Chua for his best result on the live poker circuit so far. Two fellow countrymen also bagged up on Day 1a including Simen Gulbrandsen (199,500) and Andre Berg (160,000), while Daniel Holmedahl and Henrik Tollefsen will certainly give it another shot on Day 1b.

Top 5 counts after Day 1a:

1st: Jaeho Kim (South Korea) – 312,000
2nd: Julien Weymouth (Guam) – 290,000
3rd: Francesco Morales (Italy) – 252,000
4th: Joshua Chargualaf (Huam) – 249,000
5th: Markus Garberg (Norway) – 247,500)

Other notables that locked up their seat for Day 2 on Sunday, February 16th, 2020, already are Sean Ragozzini (194,000), David Erquiaga (189,500), Jun Obara (136,000), Marc Rivera (78,500), end Redontor Eeoc (59,000).

For the Season 18 WPT Asia-Pacific Player of the Year contenders, it was a bad day at the office as Hamish Crawshaw, Jae Kyung Sim and Si Yang Phua all hit the rail. Crawshaw and Sim used both available bullets to no avail while Phua was eliminated during the last hands of the night when he ran sixes into aces.

Other familiar faces that also came and left without anything to show for were Phachara Wongwichit, Richard “hot sauce” Marquez, Ronnie Bardah, Johnnie Moreno, Huu Dung Nguyen, Linh Tran and Nathanael Seet. They are all expected to return to the action for Day 1b.

During the first flight, World Poker Tour Live Event Specialist Danny McDonagh also informed all players that the upcoming event in Vietnam will be canceled and the season finale in Taiwan will be moved to the end of May as a result of the Corona Virus outbreak, which has taken a toll on several countries of the region.

The WPT.com live reporting team will be back to provide all the action for Day 1b, which kicks off at noon local time and wraps up around 10 p.m. local time to give all participants the chance to join the Player’s Party as of midnight.