Mondalo Wins Opening Event; Kosasih Strikes Gold in Demigods Challenge

The second day of The Arena of Champions has wrapped up in the early morning hours of August 23, 2026, inside of the Grand Ballroom at the lavish City of Dreams Manila Luxury Hotel Resort & Casino. With the fifth edition of the newest live poker series in Asia underway, one player in particular continues to earn his legacy and plenty of trophies while the home crowd also had reason to celebrate.

Let's take a closer look at what happened on Day 2 of the Gods of Poker Manila 2026 stop.

Even Chop in the Opening Event Propels Mondalo to Victory

A total of 32 players stepped back into the arena after they had survived their respective flights the previous day and each of them was guaranteed at least PHP 36,000 for their efforts. That's what Johnson Tan had to settle for as the first casualty on the final day. Until the first break after two hours of play, the field was already down to the last 14 hopefuls with notables such as Seung Hyun Han, Peter Chung, Edgar Asehan, and AJ Acdal all on the rail.

Danil Karpov had survived several short-stacked showdowns in his flight prior and laddered to 16^th place for PHP 54,300 before John Riad took the pay jump to PHP 61,000. The next pay-jump was a more tense affair and fell within a minute when two players hit the rail. Young Min Kang prevailed with ace-king versus queen-jack to send Yohn Paredes packing before Daekwan Lee called all-in with king-high as the preflop raiser on an ace-high flop. Rodolfo Dela Fuente revealed the 4 ♥️ 3 ♥️ for a pair and flush draw which rivered a straight.

Itay Kay then held with nine-high versus eight-high to knock out Cezar Quiambao and Dmitrii Belikov ran with J ♥️ J ♦️ into the K ♠️ K ♣️ of Kang. Lightning struck for the second time only two hands later when Louis Bilodeau ran with A ♥️ 10 ♣️ into the A ♠️ Q ♠️ of Kay and bubbled the final table on a board of Q ♦️ 7 ♥️ 3 ♣️ K ♣️ 8 ♦️ . Kang entered the final table with the lead ahead of Sandro Encinas and Bonifacio Mondalo, all having their eyes set on the trophy and GOP Manila Main Event ticket for the top two finishers.

Martin Astorga was down to fewer than four blinds when he jammed the A ♠️ 7 ♠️ and Thanh Cao Nguyen reshoved with the K ♥️ Q ♥️ to river a flush for the first casualty on the final table. One entire level without any showdown followed before Joemark Vasay three-bet jammed the A ♥️ 8 ♦️ into Kay's 10 ♠️ 10 ♣️ which rivered a courtesy straight. Next to go was Nguyen who had his fingers caught in the cookie jar when shoving a naked gutshot in a three-bet pot versus Kay, who called with top pair to take over the lead after a blank river.

King-nine then worked for Encinas and Mondalo after both had gotten short, but Encinas' departure in sixth place was then a cruel one. He called all-in against the small blind shove by Kang with K ♠️ K ♥️ , poised to double through 4 ♦️ 4 ♣️ . But the 9 ♠️ 9 ♣️ 4 ♥️ 6 ♥️ J ♠️ board gave the player from South Korea a full house for the bad beat. Kang also notched up the next knockout when his Q ♠️ 10 ♠️ flopped trips tens to dispatch Dela Fuente, establishing a commanding lead in the process.

After five hands in a row with an all-in and no call, Mondalo took a chance with K ♣️ Q ♥️ and Kang looked him up holding the Ac: 6 ♦️ to see a king on the flop flip the lead. Ryan Tan was a long-time short stack on the final table but scored a double through Kang with K ♥️ 10 ♣️ versus A ♥️ 9 ♦️ to pile more misery on the former chip leader.

“Queen five, are you serious?” Kay then vividly exclaimed when he jammed his last six blinds with 10 ♦️ 7 ♦️ into Kang's big blind, who called with the Q ♣️ 5 ♠️ and came out on top after a queen-high board. Three-handed play produced several all-ins without call before Mondalo looked up Kang's shove with K ♠️ Q ♠️ and had the superior kicker against K ♣️ 10 ♠️ . The board ran out blank and the Filipino heads-up duel was set.

Tan had 15 big blinds to boot and heads-up lasted exactly one hand with Mondalo's A ♣️ 10 ♠️ flopping an ace and rivering the higher flush to beat 5 ♣️ 4 ♦️ in a preflop all-in – both had chopped the top two payouts.

Final Table Results:

*the top two finishers chopped the remaining prize money and also received a GOP Manila Main Event entry on top

Bonifacio Mondalo

Further Side Event Results

In Event #10 Open Face Chinese, Alfie Adam and Hanh Tran were unable to overcome Australia's Ryan Hong who became the first trophy winner of the second day.

The top three spots were paid in the Aphrodite's Event and all but two of the finalists hailed from the Phillipines. Julia Bongayan was eliminated on the bubble via one-outer against Honoka Suzuki to secure a cash prize for the final three players. Suzuki also sent Maggy Mae Cenon to the rail with 7 ♦️ 4 ♦️ versus A ♥️ 8 ♥️ to enter heads-up with a huge lead after spiking a four on the flop.

Bianca Flores was hoping to overcome the massive chip deficit but it was a task too tall. The difference was so big that they even agreed to get Flores' short stack in blind after which Suzuki made two pair to secure the victory.

Honoka Suzuki

Martijn “the Monster” Gerrits – as dubbed by Alfie Adam – went on a rampage in Event #13 Omaha Dealer's Choice to burst the bubble after knocking out Joris Michl and Jimi Hyvonen in quick succession. But then play was halted by the final three as they all jumped into the Hyper Turbo Big O. In that tournament, Gerrits went heads-up against Keijiro Shimojo while Adam and Hanh Tran were waiting one table over to recommence the trophy hunt.

Shimojo scored a big double set over set and took it down thereafter to deny Gerrits a third title ... yet. Because the Dutchman sailed to victory in the Dealer's Choice, once again denying Tran in heads-up for the third trophy in the first two days.

Kosasih Finally Gets His Gauntlet in Demigods Challenge

In the PHP 682,500 Demigods Challenge, a total of 12 players battled for the PHP 7,566,000 prize pool with the top two spots paid and the eventual winner was also slated to claim the black gauntlet trophy. Yesterday's High Roller champion Rudy Edenata lost two bullets rather swiftly but jumped back in, as did fellow countryman Harry Halim.

Edenata never got much running through and his fellow Indonesian players Halim and Fendy Kosasih were left to battle instead. Gary Thompson and Emmanuel Derecho fell prior to the final four, which produced a country battle against the Philippines with Lester Edoc and Marc Rivera on the other side.

Edoc was very vocal whenever there was an all-in showdown but Kosasih had the last laugh after a three-way battle in which his K ♦️ 9 ♦️ rivered a flush for the triple up. Edoc was also at risk with A ♥️ K ♥️ and Halim won the side pot with 10 ♥️ 10 ♠️ for a set of tens to bring the field to the money bubble.

There were brief discussions about a possible ICM deal that didn't come to a conclusion. Rivera grinded his way out of a short stack only to then get it in with Q ♦️ Q ♣️ against the K ♥️ K ♠️ of Kosasih. There was no escape on the A ♥️ 8 ♦️ 6 ♦️ 6 ♠️ 10 ♦️ board and the entire prize pool went to Indonesia.

Kosasih held a comfortable lead and had the chance to end it with A ♥️ K ♥️ versus J ♦️ 8 ♦️ but Halim flopped a pair and rivered a straight for 17 big blinds. After getting back the strong lead, Kosasih then called the three-bet shove for just shy of 15 blinds with A ♠️ 9 ♣️ . Halim was ahead with K ♥️ K ♣️ and Kosasih asked for “only an ace”, which he found and some more on the J ♣️ 10 ♠️ 9 ♥️ A ♣️ 9 ♠️ runout to make nines full of aces.

“Finally I have a gauntlet,” the Indonesian said when it was all done.

Later in the evening, Edoc won a fraction of his previous expenses back when he took down a Hyper Turbo Event for PHP 100,800, though.

Fendy Kosasih

Mystery Bounty Event Set for Day 2

The first flight of the Pandora's Mystery Bounty drew a field of 26 entries and they were set to play down to the final four. Among the early casualties were AJ Acdal, Kim Michael Enriquez, Danil Karpov and Jason Pereira. Seven different countries were represented on the final table and the bubble took a fair share of time after China's Longyang Wang had departed.

Mark Remnant survived against the chip leader Edilberto Gopez with A ♠️ 2 ♥️ versus K ♣️ 2 ♣️ before Gopez then burst the bubble against Alexander Allen. The local player jammed with K ♣️ Q ♥️ into A ♦️ 7 ♦️ and turned unbeatable two pair on the Q ♣️ 4 ♦️ 2 ♥️ K ♠️ 7 ♠️ runout to conclude Flight A.

By then, Flight B was down to the final seven out of 33 entries with the top five destined to advance. Muk Pin Lai from Malaysia came up short of the money and that left half a dozen hopefuls still in contention. Lukasz Jankowski was then at risk for five and a half blinds with A ♦️ J ♣️ against the Q ♥️ Q ♣️ of Shenglai Zhang but spiked an ace in the window to double.

Czardy Rivera then held with aces against the deuces of Andy Kok and the bubble action continued. Jankowski's second double left Florencio Matias on a severe short stack, which then vanished against Kok's turned nut straight shortly after to conclude the second starting day.

In Flight C, a field of 29 entries made sure of an additional four survivors for the Mystery Bounty chase on the final day and a near-identical 26 entries emerged simultaneously in Flight D with Tom Verbruggen entering at the last minute after coming straight from the airport.

Tsz Chung Yip fell short of the money with king-ten against the ace-king of San Kang and Hernan Villa lost a classic flip with A ♦️ K ♥️ versus J ♦️ J ♣️ as Alvir Inocentes prevailed on a queen-high runout. Kang ultimately ended up as the Flight C bubble when his 9 ♥️ 9 ♠️ were cracked by the 10 ♦️ 8 ♥️ of button jammer Inocentes, as a nine on the river gave Inocentes the straight.

Joris Michl

In the late evening flight, Joris Michl sparked an unlikely comeback from less than a single big blind whereas Opening Event finalist Sandro Encinas took another beat with A ♦️ J ♦️ versus A ♥️ 6 ♥️ preflop against Indonesia's Steven. Ronald Haverkamp fell victim to Michl's surge and Florencio Matias ran with 10 ♣️ 7 ♣️ into the aces of Javier Becerril.

Kohki Iwata spiked a double thereafter before Michl doubled into the lead against Berrecil with queens versus eights preflop. One more player had to go and that was Steven from Indonesia. His 10 ♥️ 10 ♦️ were cracked by the A ♥️ 2 ♥️ of Takamasa Kojima and he busted forced all-in the next hand.

The 17 total survivors are slated to return for the final day at 12.30 p.m. local time when PHP 2,660,000 in cash and PHP 1,340,000 in Mystery Bounty prizes will be up for grabs. Blinds will roll back to 8,000-16,000 with a big blind ante of 16,000.

Other notable events to take place on the third day of the festival are the PHP 38,500 Titan Stack with a PHP 4 million guarantee and three flights, a PHP 428,000 Super High Roller, two Omaha competitions and another Women's Event. You can check out the full schedule right here.