Day 2 Chip Leader Lester Edoc
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
| Table | Seat | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
| 21 | 1 | Mc Yeldarb Mantos | Philippines | 925,000 | 9 |
| 21 | 4 | Joris Michl | Netherlands | 7,140,000 | 71 |
| 21 | 5 | Dmitrii Belikov | Russia | 2,325,000 | 23 |
| 21 | 6 | Lester Edoc | Philippines | 10,885,000 | 109 |
| 21 | 7 | Aleksei Zhukov | Russia | 1,715,000 | 17 |
| 21 | 8 | Joven Huerto | Philippines | 2,105,000 | 21 |
| 19 | 1 | Dakota Anderson | United States | 5,620,000 | 56 |
| 19 | 2 | John Matsuda | Philippines | 3,280,000 | 33 |
| 19 | 4 | Marc Rivera | Philippines | 9,020,000 | 90 |
| 19 | 5 | Sangjin An | South Korea | 580,000 | 6 |
| 19 | 6 | Manoj Pentakota | India | 1,395,000 | 14 |
| 19 | 7 | Thanh Cao Nguyen | Vietnam | 1,350,000 | 14 |
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). The conclusion of the flagship Main Event can be followed on the Gods of Poker Youtube channel with cards-up coverage and commentary on a 30-minute security delay.