PAGCOR Chairman's Cup - Latest Post

11.10pm: Binh Nguyen wins PAGOR Chairman's Cup and $260,700 A pre-flop all-in show-down has resulted in Binh Nguyen eliminating Scotsman Gordon Huntly to be crowned champion. The action started with a 250,000 raise from Nguyen on the button before Huntly three-bet to 600,000. Nguyen then moved all-in and after some...more

10pm: LEVEL UP The seventh level of the night begins with blinds at 40,000-80,000 with no ante. 9.55pm: Putting out the feelers Most pots so far have been limped pots with little action on the streets. Continuation bets are getting through and no pots have been bet on more...more

6.47pm: Break time That's the end of the level. Players are now on a 15 minutes break. 6.45pm: Got there on the river Terrence Chan raised from the button and was called by Gordon Huntly in the small blind. It was checked to the river where the board read 2♥A♣T♣4♦3♥....more

3.40pm: Break time Players are taking the first break of the day for 30 minutes. Time to go buy a slot machine at the expo. Play resumes at 4.10pm. 3.35pm: Huntly doubles house Gordon Huntly has doubled up to around 1.4 million through overnight chip leader Choon Kwang Lim. Huntly...more

The final table of the PAGCOR Chairman's Cup will be played out today. Nine players, one table, packed into the noisy and slightly surreal environment of a full on gaming expo. We can see the chips on the table, hear a racket coming from beyond the red curtains and...more

We've just about worked out the formula to this tournament. Written down it might involve brackets, squiggly lines and X=something, but it goes something like this: turn up, sit down and play like hell until someone tells you to stop. Don't get up and down from your table, don't...more

After last night's closing stages it's hard to imagine how this day might top it. But the chances are that it will. At stake today is a place at the final table of the PAGCOR Chairman's Cup, but along the way everyone will be paid. Some 430 players came...more

In the last few minutes today this was not a poker tournament, it was a survival story, one of life and death and only a few would survive. It was not a matter of cards, it was like the sighting of a ship in the distance to a bunch...more

The old adage the final flight of day one is often the toughest is certainly something we've seen at poker tour's around the world. It turns out the PAGCOR Chairman's Cup is no different. After two previous editions of day one featured a combined 208 players, day 1C attracted...more

On our way out of the hotel this morning Tony Hachem was on his way in, looking slightly jet-lagged but chipper. He has reason to be happy, having just won ANZPT Perth and AUS$132,750. The jetlag look was because he did that yesterday, less than 18 hours ago. Hachem...more

After yesterday's performance of tinderbox poker, a day that reduced 99 players to 44, it was always a long shot to expect the same level of attrition today. But we weren't far off. With ten more players starting today, 109 were whittled down to 59 just without much of...more

We're all set for day 1B of the PAGCOR Chairman's Cup in downtown Manila. Well, we assume it's downtown. Manila can be disorientating to the first time visitor. Gridlock and dizzying heat during the taxi journey here, and back now we think of it, makes it a vibrant hodgepodge...more

Those of us who had never been to an APPT event before today didn't really know what to expect in the Coral Ballroom of the Manila Pavilion Hotel. We anticipated difficulties with names, directions, maybe even the stuffed fish for lunch, but what we didn't expect was a fuel-injected...more

Welcome to Manila for the first ever staging of the PAGCOR Chairman's Cup in the sunny, busy, affordable capital of the Philippines. We were supposed to be at EPT Snowfest, rolling down wet hills and experiencing shattered bones for ourselves, but we turned our back on all that, swapping...more