Manila Megastack 24: Switching Roles From Player To Media Reporter

The Manila Megastack 24 just concluded in the PokerStars Live poker room at the Okada Manila with nearly two weeks of action. I got to play in the earlier part of the series with much thanks to a stake from a friend who wishes to remain anonymous.

In any case, I played the Sunday Special, the Knockout (1K Bounty), the Knockout (1k Bounty) again - a different event in a different day and the Knockout (5K Bounty).

I racked a big stack early in the Sunday Special, but finished somewhere 40-something out of 170+ players. My stack got hurt when We both hit top pair, but ran into a kicker problem with K-10 v K-J. Then, I had 8-8 on my big blind against the small blind, who min-raised and I just flatted. Flop came 7-7-4. He checked and I pushed all in. He insta-called with kings. And I thought I was the one trapping.

The first PHP 5,000 KO (1K Bounty) I played, I managed to score 2 bounties. Racked up a very sizable stack, but got hurt calling with a top pair of aces against a Q-9 two pair. I already felt behind when he shoved, like my ace was out-kicked, but I was greedy for a bounty, convincing myself that the seven might be good. Well... it was worse. Then, to finally end me... I shoved all in  when I hit the A on the flop with A-10, on a board of 6-7-A... Bro called with 9-8 and made a straight. He had a sizable stack and easily made the call.  Spiked a 5 on the turn and that was the end of me. Out in 43rd with 17 to ITM. 

                    

The second PHP 5,000 KO (1K Bounty) I played, I made 1 bounty, made a huge stack early to over double the starting stack of 30,000. However, I got cracked with two pair versus better two pair and went down to 3,200, which at that time was just 3 big blinds with 53 remaining out of 130. I tripled up with JJs against two callers. Then tripled up again with A-9 versus two who checked me down. The board was full of paint and a 9 and I thought I was surely out, but they turned over A-8 and A-7 and I climbed back up to just a little over the starting staack to 36 bigs.



I even managed to climb back to 51 bigs, and kept within the average. I lost some chips when I three-bet with pocket fours but couldn't call his four bet jam. That brought me down to around 24 bigs, but still played well enough to end my run on 23rd - 6 spots short of ITM. I got severely hurt to around 8 bigs when the button raised all in and I defended my big blind with a call, holding Kd 9d, hoping to score a bounty. He turned over Ace-Queen and held. I held as long as I could and made a move under the gun with As 7s and almost scooped the blinds, but the big blind had tens and made the call. Hit a seven, but it wasn't enough.

I got hurt early in the PHP 15,000 KO (5K Bounty) when I couldn't call all in with trips on a paired board and a flush showing. So early in the tourney, I was crippled to around 10,000. However, I was able to work my way back up, doubling with queens over tens. I crawled back to around 40,000 with the average at around 55,000. My last hand was painful. I opened with Ad Td  from UTG for 1,200 and called a raise to 5,000. Flop opened Ac Qd 4d. I check-called a 8,500 bet. The turn was a 9d. I checked and dude shoved all in, covering my last 26,000. I made the easy call and showed the nut flush. Bro showed a set of queens. I was poised for a huge double, but the 9h came on the river, pairing the board and giving him the full house. Bro took my bounty and I told him, "I hope that brings you luck. I'd rather you get my bounty than anyone else." Bro eventually went to win it, following an ICM deal with the guy who crippled me on the early levels.  

It wasn't all bad news. I was able to sneak in two rounds at the cash game. First one, I played an hour and profited PHP 1,000. The second one I went from 3,500 to PHP 9,150 in just two hands. Called it a night right after. 

            


I then had to do some media reporting work for Somuchpoker.com  to cover the Main Event action from the first flight all the way until a champion was crowned. Some players were surprised to see me in the "other side" taking down hands and sharing the live reports. However, it's a good gig for me since I know some of the players, which makes it useful when writing about them instead of always using the Kholdem database or having to scan their tickets. It also makes it easier to talk to them and ask them for some action recap in case I missed the immediate action.

It also helped in doing some interviews for the Somuchpoker socials like Instagram or Facebook. I interviewed Emmanuel Derecho, Richard Sharpe and John Matsuda. Good stuff. You can go to the pages to check it out. The voice asking the questions - That's ME!.

Overall had a great experience with the reporting. Somuchpoker team was easy to work with. Also enjoyed seeing some good friends on and off the tables. My dear friend John Matsuda had a great series - two spadies and a lot of deep runs. Good job, bro! How to be like you?

Also got to see Master K - Keijiri Shimojo, who has a Poker Bros poker room in Malate. We sat at the same table briefly, but I got transferred. Nice to also see my favorite players Seung Hyun Lee and Jaeil Lee, whom I have shared many tables with. Seung Hyun was the one who took my bounty in the 15K. So happy to run into my OG Richard Sharpe, who is now based in Cebu. Probably hadn't seen him in person in over a decade maybe, although we "stalk" each other on socials. It was great to spend time catching up about the old days and the old people from those days. 

Anyway, off to the next adventure.