Two Trophies for Martijn Gerrits on Opening Day of GOP Manila 2026

The opening day of The Arena of Champions at the City of Dreams Resort & Casino in Manila has delivered in the fifth edition of the Gods of Poker live series in cooperation with Soul Poker Club and first on home soil of it's founder - tournament director Lloyd Fontillas – in the Philippines. Former champions showcased their talents with five trophies awarded and the four flights in the Opening Event all played down to the money.

The first tournament to determine a winner inside of the Grand Ballroom was an all Dutch affair as Martijn Gerrits came out on top against Tony Khoang for the top prize of PHP 69,120 in Event #2 Big O.

Martijn Gerrits

In the respective four-card variant in Event #4 PLO Turbo Bounty, the PHP 16,500 buy-in saw PHP 5,000 go towards each knockout and it happened to be an Irish victory as Kevin De Groot was the greatest to claim half of the PHP 230,400 prize pool also including eight bounties. Ronald Haverkamp finished in second place ahead of fellow Dutch player Tony Khoang while Gerrits bubbled the cash prizes this time.

Speaking of Gerrits – the back to back Player of the Series – he made up for it in Event #6 Hyper Turbo Double Board Single Winner as he defeated the UK's Alfie Adam in heads-up by cracking aces for the second trophy of the opening day. It was a case of who will claim the second title as Adam had previously prevailed in Event #7 6-Card PLO Hyper Turbo in which Austria's Hanh Tran had to settle for the runner-up spot.

Alfie Adam

Also on the schedule was 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. Notables still left on the final table included Emmanuel Derecho, Rudy Edenata, Lester Edoc, Ronald Haverkamp, Mike Takayama and Gary Thompson.

Haverkamp became an early casualty and Fendy Kosasih then bowed out in a duel of players from Indonesia when his king-jack of hearts flopped an open-ended straight draw but the ace-queen of Edenata held for top pair and top kicker. Soon after, Thompson fell to Derecho and they were down to five with three spots paid. Takayama's departure left four players left – two from Indonesia and two locals though Derecho usually resides in Australia.

It was then Derecho trying to burst the bubble with nine-six suited which flopped top and bottom pair, but Edenata's middle pair and straight draw instantly improved on the turn. Instead, it was Edoc who won a flip with nines against the ace-ten of Steven thanks to a rivered straight to achieve that feat. Derecho was left short and secured the min-cash when his ace-trey came up short to Edoc's king-jack with a king in the window.

Two GOP trophy winners were left to battle for another title with PHP 624,000 reserved for the eventual champion – at a staggering 65 big blind average. Edenata fell at a disadvantage rather quickly and was then at risk with eight-six for top pair on the flop only to see Edoc reveal pocket kings for the overpair. An eight on the river came to the rescue for the GOP Incheon 2026 Demigods Challenge champion and it was all over soon after in a classic flip when pocket nines held versus ace-king for Edenata to claim the trophy.

Rudy Edenata

There were four flights scheduled for the GOP X League of Poker Opening Event and Flight A attracted 82 entries of which the top 12 finishers were secured a spot in the money. Perhaps one of the biggest names still in contention on the final three tables was David Erquiaga, who has more than $2.5 million in live cashes to his name. After losing a chunk preflop with ace-jack versus ace-king, Erquiaga was knocked out before the money as were Alexander Allen, Longyang Wang and Jonald Garcia.

Three away from the money in Flight A, Canada's Peter Chung was at risk with ace-jack versus kings and hit running cards to a wheel to stay in contention. In the meanwhile, Danil Karpov was a cat with many lives and doubled twice including sevens versus tens thanks to a two-outer on the river. Over on the other table, Louis Bilodeau then won a chip-leading pot with kings against the ace-eight suited of Venkata Ganduri to cement his top spot. In hand number nine of hand-for-hand play, Chung jammed ten-deuce into the ace-queen suited of Edgar Asehan who made broadway.

Ultimately, it was Froilan Delapena who bowed out as last player from Flight A. He got it in with ace-six against the jack seven of Ryan Tan, who improved on every street to end up with sevens full of jacks to claim the second-largest chip tally just behind Bilodeau.

Louis Bilodeau

The bubble for Flight B was taking place almost at the same time when a field of 59 entries was whittled down to the final ten already. Benjamin Ebarle shouted his usual “dos tres cuatro” when he was all-in with jacks against the ace-jack of Dmitrii Belikov but the latter hit broadway on the river. William Robles busted next to set up the next bubble on a full-ring table.

Flight B in fact reached the money first with Henri Santos falling one spot shy of bagging up chips when his nine-seven suited ended up second-best to the king-deuce suited of Seunghee Park to send eight players through to the final day.

A near-identical field of 56 entries emerged in Flight C with the same goal for the end of the night – reaching the last eight players. Notables who came up short of the money included Christian Cloutier, Michael De Leon, Joshua Figuerres, Czar Ian Marcos, Christopher Pasion, John Costiniano and Emmanuel Segismundo to name all but a few of the known local favorites.

After double-ups for Johnson Tan and John David, it was then South Korea's Dong Woo Lee who flipped with pocket fours against the A ♠️ J ♠️ of Michael Diniega. Two spades on the flop and another on the turn left Lee drawing dead whereas Thanh Cao Nguyen was the only survivor to bag up a seven-figure stack and advance with 1,175,000 as the new overall chip leader.

Thanh Cao Nguyen

Last but not least, the late night turbo Flight D added another 27 entries to the overall tally of 224 entries and four players advanced. With eight players left, Jaeil Lee jammed K ♣️ Q ♣️ into the A ♣️ Q ♠️ of Jean Paul Chavez and failed to improve. The average dropped below ten big blinds thereafter and Hyunjo Jung busted in a three-way all-in that he entered with the best hand, as Niroshan Loganathan tripled up with A ♠️ 6 ♠️ for a flush, whereas Kyungjin Kim hit kings and queens.

Despite winning the main pot, Loganathan lost a flip with tens versus ace-king in the next hand to Sandro Encinas and missed the money by two spots. The last player to fall was Chavez after losing two all-in showdowns, the latter of which saw Martin Astorga flop the nut flush for just over two blinds to conclude the action beyond 2 a.m. local time.

Top 5 Chip Counts for the Final Day:

That will bring back a total of 32 players who all compete for the PHP 4,300,000 in prize money with two GOP Manila Main Event tickets up for grabs for the top two finishers as well. The action for the final day rolls back to level 13 with blinds of 10,000-20,000 and a big blind ante of 20,000 upon restart at 12.30 p.m. local time.

It will be one of several tournaments with a trophy up for grabs on the second day of the festival in Manila. The PHP 682,500 Demigods Challenge is catered to the high-stakes players whereas more affordable buy-ins await in the PHP 16,500 Aphrodite's Event, the PHP 19,800 Omaha Dealer's Choice and Event #16 NL Big O Hyper Turbo with a price tag of 13,200.

Back to vanilla No-Limit Hold'em Event #9 Pandora's Mystery Bounty features the same four multi-flight structure with a buy-in of PHP 33,000 and a PHP 4 Million guarantee.