From Satellite to Victory: Peter Plater Wins PokerStars Festival Manila High Roller
Day 2 of the 2017 PokerStars Festival Manila PHP215,000 (~$4,260) High Roller Shot Clock saw 18 players out of a 36-entry strong field returne to the tables of the PokerStars LIVE Manila at the City of Dreams Grand Ballroom.
With the registration open for another full level and break, further hopefuls took a shot at the prize pool and a field of 47 entries in total emerged. The prize pool of PHP9,118,000 was set with the top six spots guaranteed to receive a share of it, along with points for the current Asian Player of the Year leader board.
Ultimately, it was Australia's Peter Plater who sat down for the winner shot after more than 13 hours. During the final table play, Plater admitted that his best cash so far was for A$9,000 on last Sunday in a A$350 tournament at the Crown Casino in Perth. Right after, the 37 year old engineer jumped on a plane to Manila, won his entry with a one-shot through yesterday's PHP33,000 satellite and eventually lifted the golden trophy.
"Fold to the money,” that was Plater’s strategy for the final table. He came in with a short stack and just wanted to walk away with anything. “I’d like to say that I was trying to win it but it was simply fold to the money. I had no intent to play the High Roller tournament,” Plater added. “The big buy-in events are a little bit too high for me. I like playing the 400 and 500 dollar events. I was a bit lucky just before I came. I won a tournament just before I came so I had a little extra money than I usually do, so I thought, I’ll give it a go, the satellite. And the rest is history.”
The Aussie, who engaged in plenty of table talk and banter with runner-up Sathesh Muthu and third-place finisher Hermann Lee from Singapore, takes home PHP3,100,000 (~$61,520). The other players in the money include Japan's Yo Seb Rhee and Jun Obara while fellow live satellite qualifier Timofey Asmolov min-cashed.
Final Result High Roller Shot Clock
| Place | Player | Country | Prize (PHP) | Prize (USD) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Peter Plater | Australia | 3,100,000 | 61,520 |
| 2 | Sathesh Muthu | Singapore | 2,140,000 | 42,475 |
| 3 | Hermann Lee | Singapore | 1,368,000 | 27,152 |
| 4 | Yo Seb Rhee | Japan | 1,050,000 | 20,840 |
| 5 | Jun Obara | Japan | 820,000 | 16,673 |
| 6 | Timofey Asmolov | Russia | 640,000 | 12,703 |
Day 2 early action
Tom Or-Paz was leading the field of Day 1 survivors, but the player from Israel suffered several setbacks to join the rail much sooner than expected. Among those to run out of chips were Aditya Sushant, Konstantin Pogodin, Aki Virtanen, Singapore's Alex Lee, Victor Chong and Van Sang Nguyen. Or-Paz bowed out before the last three tables as well after losing a flip with pocket fives against the king-queen of Lester Edoc.
Lester Edoc himself was one of the victims of the hot run of Sathesh “Stash” Muthu when his open-ended straight draw didn't get there, and Muthu also cracked the pocket kings of Pete Chen when flopping a flush with ten-nine suited. Sparrow Cheung dispatched fellow 2017 Asian Player of the Year (APOY) contender Alan Lau with ace-king versus ace-ten, but also failed to earn additional points for the leader board. Short-stacked, Cheung put his hopes on queen-ten and Jun Obara's pocket jacks held up.
Sathesh Muthu seemed unstoppable by then, and he also took care of Hoa Thinh Nguyen after rivering a broadway straight. But Yo Seb Rhee, who fired four bullets on Day 1, managed to break through Muthu and built his stack with two aggressive moves in quick succession. While Celine Lee doubled with quads, Linh Tran and Ken Okada were less fortunate and ran out of chips.
Tsun Ming Chan, one of the players that joined in the first level of Day 2, ran with queen-seven suited into the pocket aces of 1990 World Series of Poker Main Event champion Mansour Matloubi and one seven on the board was not enough. What followed was a wave of double ups and Simon Burns ended up as the bubble boy of the unofficial final table. The Brit first lost most of his stack with set versus flush and the remainder vanished with nine-seven against the ace-deuce of Peter Plater. This sent everyone into the dinner break with the following seat assignments.
Unofficial Final Table
| Seat | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Shengyu Li | China | 226,000 | 38 |
| 2 | Yo Seb Rhee | Japan | 579,000 | 97 |
| 3 | Timofey Asmolov | Russia | 210,000 | 35 |
| 4 | Peter Plater | Australia | 157,000 | 26 |
| 5 | Jun Obara | Japan | 167,000 | 28 |
| 6 | Sathesh Muthu | Singapore | 410,000 | 68 |
| 7 | Mansour Matloubi | UK | 124,000 | 21 |
| 8 | Hermann Lee | Singapore | 384,000 | 64 |
| 9 | Celine Lee | China | 93,000 | 16 |
Final Table Action
The final table started with a bang and it was Shengyu Li who was first to bust. He three-bet out of the big blind, bet a four-high flop and shoved when a jack appeared on the turn. Initial raiser Hermann Lee snap-called with jack-four suited for trips on the flop and a full house on the turn, and Li's pocket tens found no magic river.
Mansour Matloubi's stack all but vanished and the Welshman joined the rail in 8th place. His ace-three in the big blind failed to hold up against the eight-six of Jun Obara and the money bubble was reached. Several players were getting very short and it was Celine Lee who ended up empty-handed. Lee moved all in for her last seven big blinds with pocket queens and Peter Plater reluctantly called with pocket sevens and the slightly superior stack. A seven fell on the flop and that was it for Lee.
Timofey Asmolov lost back-to-back hands against Peter Plater and had to settle for the min-cash when his king-seven suited found no help against Plater's ace-ten. Jun Obara's move with jack-eight and second pair on the flop followed by a straight and flush draw on the turn backfired, as Stash Muhtu called with ace-nine for two pair on the river and the field was down to the last four.
Yo Seb Rhee fired four bullets on Day 1 and had to settle for 4th place eventually. A roller coaster final day saw the Japanese at risk with pocket eights out of the big blind on a jack-high turn and Hermann Lee snap-called with seven-three spades for flopped two pair and a turned full house.
Down to the final trio, Sathesh Muthu held more chips than both of his opponents combined, but both Peter Plater and Hermann Lee doubled through him. Muthu regained a comfortable lead and the two short stacks collided when Lee's queen-jack suited for top pair failed to hold up against the nine-three of spades for Plater. Another spade on the river completed Plater's flush and Lee was gone.
Satesh Muthu dominated the first hands of the duel one-versus-one, but Peter Plater quickly established a big lead. After 90 minutes, Muthu forfeited the vast majority of his stack against a back-to-back check-raise of Plater on flop and turn and then got it in with pocket nines on an eight-high flop the next hand. Plater reluctantly called with jack-seven for middle pair and went runner-runner straight to clinch the win.
That marks the end of the PokerNews live updates from the High Roller Shot Clock, but the PHP55,000 Main Event continues with the second of three starting days as of 2 p.m. local time on Friday, August 4th 2017.