The Arena of Champions Kicks Off in Manila

At half past noon local time, the action has officially kicked off inside of the Grand Ballroom at the five-star City of Dreams Manila Casino and Resort complex and players from near and far can look forward to a total of 82 events with PHP 60 Million (~ USD 1 Million) in guaranteed prize pools. It marks the debut of The Arena of Champions in cooperation with the Soul Poker Club in the fifth edition of the new Gods of Poker live series, founded by none other than Lloyd Fontillas who has more than fifteen years under his belt as tournament director.

GOP has taken a new approach to tournament play in Asia to showcase a far shorter late registration with a more meaningless structure to bring the fun back to the tables instead of the usual GTO solver-approved approach that has taken over in recent years on a global scale.

The Arena of Champions is the debut of GOP on Fontillas' native country in the Philippines and many of the up-and-coming local players are expected to jump into the action with dozens of tournaments scheduled throughout ten days. It isn't just about the same old No-Limit Hold'em and Pot-Limit Omaha as five-card as well as six-card, Open Face Chinese, Double Board Bomb Pot, Dealer's Choice, and Draw variants are all getting their moments to shine, too.

Most certainly the crown jewel of the schedule is the PHP 82,500 GOP Manila Main Event, which comes with a staggering guarantee of PHP 30 Million. The flagship tournament consists of five starting flights and a multi-layered structure in which each of the flights plays down to the money of around 13.5% of the field. Flight B is the only flight with two days and five levels on Day 1 with just one blind increase. The late registration is open until the restart after which the flight also goes down to the wire.

All survivors of the five flights will return for Day 2 on August 28, 2026 when they try to reach the final 18 players - or the final table depending on the field size. Beyond that, however, there are a plethora of other events available for players no matter what their bankroll is from high-stakes regulars to local Pinoy grinders or expats living in the Philippines.

They all contribute points towards the Player of the Series leaderboard which will award the iconic Crown Trophy to the overall points leader along with $1,500 in tournament credits. Second place comes with $1,000 in tournament credits whereas third place pads your bankroll with $500 to be spent on GOP events.

One of the players who knows how to rack up as many points as possible is Dutchman Martijn Gerrits who has already racked up numerous GOP trophies and a POS title to his name within the first 12 months. And he went right back to work in Event #2 Big O and battles with fellow countryman Tony Khoang for the top prize of PHP 69,120.

Also on the schedule is a PHP 110,000 Single Day High Roller which closed the late registration with 13 entries to create a prize pool of PHP 1,248,000 to be split among the top three finishers. Two Turbo and Hyper Turbo High Rollers will be available later on for those enjoying an even faster pace.

Flight A of the Opening Event with two seats to the GOP Main Event attracted a field of 82 entries with the top 12 spots paid whereas Flight B has already commenced with at least 39 entries in the second level of play. Flight C is scheduled to kick off at 6 p.m. local time followed by Flight D at 9 p.m. local time.

The GOP live reporting team will provide a recap of today's action when all of the cards have been dealt and pick up the Main Event coverage as of August 24, 2026.