The Phillipines' Finest Lead Final 12 in GOP 2026 Manila Main Event

After 12 levels of 60 minutes each, the 54 hopefuls out of an 383 entry strong field in the 2026 Gods of Poker Manila Main Event have been whittled down to the final 12 hopefuls. They are all very much in contention for the biggest slices of the PHP 30 Million guaranteed prize pool but a duo of very well-known local poker pros sits atop the leaderboard with their eyes firmly set on victory.

Having survived their respective five starting flights, all players who returned to their seats inside of the Grand Ballroom at the City of Dreams Manila Luxury Hotel Resort & Casino in Metro Manila had locked up a cash prize already.

It was most certainly fitting to the theme of The Arena of Champions when they returned to action with a staggering 86 big blinds average. That came to play thanks to the roll-back of the Cronus Structure, and the nine-handed final table was narrowly missed just like the guarantee by a mere 17 entries which ensured a small overlay for all contestants.

When the clock hit midnight and they bagged up the chips, Lester Edoc (10,885,000) and Marc Rivera (9,020,000) had accumulated the most chips and plenty of knockouts along the way. Rivera even sent his nephew Nikolas Rivera to the payout desk on the final three tables in one of many memorable hands throughout the penultimate tournament day.

Marc Rivera

Dutch player Joris Michl stormed the weather of hyper-active Viet An Nguyen many a times and soared to third place with 7,140,000 - good enough for 71 big blinds for the final day.

Among the survivors are also Dakota Anderson (5,620,000), John Matsuda (3,280,000), Dmitrii Belikov (2,325,000), Aleksei Zhukov (1,715,000) and start-of-the-day chip leader Mc Yeldarb Mantos (925,000).

Seat Assignments for the Final Day

With the early bagging prior to the final table, the final dozen hopefuls keep their seats and will redraw one last time for new seats when the final nine players have been reached.

The final day is slated to recommence at 12.30 p.m. local time with level 17, featuring blinds of 50,000-100,000/100,000 and the levels will be 60 minutes through.

All finalists have locked up at least PHP 433,200 for their efforts and the winner can look forward to a payday of PHP 6,304,500 (∼ USD 101,322).

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When the action resumed with everyone already in the money, it came as no surprise that it took a long time to lose a player with an average of more than 80 big blinds - unheard of in many international events at such a stage. Eventually, San Kang was the first to bust and Emmanuel Derecho followed. Flight b chip leader Rodolfo Dela Fuente was a surprise early casualty considering he had started the day with nearly 130 big blinds and fellow Flight B big stack Seunghee Park was the next to depart after both were tormented at the tables.

John Costiniano lost a big chunk of his chips with ace-king suited to the flopped set of tens of Gary Thompson and collected PHP 156,900, as did James Bonnano and Lloyd Locsin. The elimination of Renniel Estrada in a dramatic three-way all-in set up the final four tables and it wasn't the last big multi-way showdown.

David Erquiaga

Well-known local poker pro and vlogger David "Dave Spade" Erquiaga was pipped by Rivera in a duel of pocket pairs while Viet An Nguyen was running riot at the tables being involved in almost every hand. He peaked at more than five million with very aggressive play, notching up knockouts such as Sumay Mishra before it all came to a quickly accelerating end.

One of the most pivotal hands of the entire tournament day unfolded on the outer tables when Tom Verbruggen ran with pocket kings into the pocket aces of Edoc before he was denied a double knockout in dramatic fashion. Edoc busted Jonald Garcia, Samuel Schwarz and Fendy Kosasih to run away with the lead before the emphatic Nguyen crashed out against Belikov. Embodiment of Edoc's run-good on Day 2 was his elimination of Kohki Iwata with king-queen versus pocket kings.

Two-time trophy winner Gary Thompson was the last casualty of the day to conclude the action with 12 players remaining and they will return at 12.30 p.m. local time to play down to a winner.

Lester Edoc

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Speaking of multiple champions, the two-time Gods of Poker Player of the Series Martijn Gerrits has notched up 12 cashes mostly in mixed games especially in his personal favourite Omaha and among those were SEVEN victories. He sits in a comfortable first place on the overall festival leaderboard with 22,474 points, well ahead of Alvir Inocentes (13,533 points) and Bonifacio Mondalo (12,158 points).

The winner of the 2026 GOP Manila Main Event receives 12,164.73 in points for the ranking but must have at least three cashes to qualify for leaderboard prizes. There will be somewhat of a sweat on the penultimate day to see who is potentially making a charge to dethrone Gerrits from making it three triumphs.

Gerrits' latest win came on Day 8 of the festival when he took down Event #63 GOP Mixed Game Titan Stack in heads-up against Tony Khoang for PHP 144,000.

Ryan Hong made up for his Main Event bubble misery by winning a third title in a PHP 198,000 Single Day High Roller for PHP 1,123,200, denying Indonesia's Steven (PHP 673,900) a fourth and Emmanuel Derecho (PHP 449,300) a second trophy. Fellow Aussie David Wang won Event #66 PL Omaha Turbo High Roller after cashing on Day 2 of the Main Event.

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Two days remain for poker enthusiasts from near and far to claim one of the beautiful Gods of Poker trophies. On the final day of Event #62 GOP X ZSOP Mini Main, 19 players out of 128 entries remain with a share of the PHP 3,686,400 prize pool up for grabs and Lavonne Watkins leads the way.

The PHP 55,000 Kraken Stack with a PHP 5 Million guarantee kicks off and the same also applies for the PHP 220,000 GOP High Roller, which carries a PHP 6 Million guarantee to make sure the room will be buzzing with action.

For a full overview of the remaining schedule, head over to the GOP Manila 2026 overview.