Entering the biggest tournament in poker, five Filipinos tried their luck in the USD 10,000-buy in No Limit Hold’em tournament. Now, only two remain.
WSOP bracelet holder Mike Takayama and high-stakes cash game player Marc Rivera are guaranteed at least USD 15,000 after making it to the final 1,182 players of the 2018 World Series of Poker Main Event, Sunday afternoon (Philippine time).
This year’s tournament boasted 7,874 players to create a prize pool that will see the first place winner bag a whopping USD 8,800,000.
American Matthew Hopkins was the unfortunate bubble boy for this year’s tournament.
Takayama, who is the Philippines’ first-ever bracelet holder after winning the USD 1,000 No Limit Hold’em Super Turbo Bounty last June 30, will enter Day 4 tomorrow armed with 862,000 chips. Rivera, on the other hand, has 724,000.
Joining Takayama and Rivera were top players Lester Edoc, Jojo Tech, and Julius Roque.
The highest recorded finish for a Filipino player in the main event happened back in 2013, when Filipino businessman Jun Te finished in 78th place during the 2013 edition of the tournament to bag USD 84,786. On the other hand, Neil Arce finished in 222nd-place to bring home USD 51,398 back in 2007.
