The 2025 Manila Super Series 21 has officially concluded with local player Emanuel Florendo keeping the trophy at home by winning the Main Event. This was Florendo’s first live poker title, since his first recorded live cash in 2022. Florendo not only took his maiden PokerStars trophy but also earned his career-best payday of PHP2,066,078 (~$35,238).
The PHP20,000 (~$340) buy-in no-limit hold’em Manila Super Series 21 Main Event inside the luxurious Okada Manila saw a turnout of 705 entries across four flights. The impressive entries crushed the PHP10 million (~$170,560) guarantee, generating a prize pool of PHP10,936,078 (~$186,500). Of the 705 entries, the top 105 finishers shared the prize pool. Philippines players mostly dominated the tournament, however, several other countries’ players also ran deep to score money.
Team India Performance
From Team India, PokerStars India Team Pro Siddharth Karia was the only Indian to finish in the money. He finished in 18th place, earning himself PHP 81,000 (~$1,381) for his efforts.
Manila Super Series 21 Main Event Final Table Quick Recap
Florendo qualified via Flight and entered Day 2 in the middle package. He played some top-notch poker and was able to make it to the final table with the second largest stack behind Japan’s Ko Okubo, who held 5,160,000 against 5,050,000 of Florendo.
The final table kicked off with Ranch Cyril Lee, knocking out Shawn Benitez (9th). Florendo then narrowed the field further by eliminating Alex Gelev and Lenart Ecarma in 8th and 7th place, respectively. Despite the elimination, Lee was the next to follow the railbirds in 6th place after he ran his king-queen against Florendo’s ace-queen.
With the eliminations, Florendo took the chip lead, holding over 100 BBs. However, David Erquiaga snatched the lead by sending out Lemmor Patulot in 5th place, kicking off the four-handed action.
It didn’t take long for Florendo to fight back and take the chip lead again, after calling Rick Jason Ambata’s ace-jack all-in with pocket deuces. His deuces held up to end the tournament life of Ambata in 4th place. Florendo headed to the three-handed action with a big chip lead over Ko Okubo and Erquiaga. Okubo scored his first elimination of the final table, eliminating Erquiaga in 3rd place.
In the heads-up Florendo held a 2-to-1 chip advantage over the Japanese player. Okubo gradually narrowed the chip lead but wasn’t able to overcome it. In the final hand of the tournament, Okubo with a straight draw shoved holding five-three. Florendo made the call with his pocket eights. Okubo needed an ace of six to complete his straight, but Florendo’s eights held up. Ko Okubo collected PHP1,259,00 (~$21,473) for finishing 2nd in a Philippines dominant final table.
Manila Super Series 21 Main Event Final Table Payouts
| Rank | Player | Payout |
| 1st | Emanuel Florendo | $35,238 |
| 2nd | Ko Okubo | $21,473 |
| 3rd | David Erquiaga | $15,230 |
| 4th | Rick Jason Ambata | $11,495 |
| 5th | Lemmor Patulot | $9,107 |
| 6th | Rancy Cyril Lee | $6,890 |
| 7th | Lenart Ecarma | $4,946 |
| 8th | Kiril Gelev | $3,377 |
| 9th | Shawn Philip Benitez | $2,677 |
India’s Anant Acharya Shipped the Manila Super Series 21 DeepStack Event
Anant Acharya was the only Indian to secure the title at the series. He won his first-ever PokerStars trophy after a swift heads-up battle, defeating the UK’s Ashley Patterson in just four hands. Acharya outlasted a competitive field of 134 entries in the Deepstack Event, claiming the title and a PHP356,780 (~$6,105) payday. Ashley Patterson finished runner-up, claiming $3,825 for his efforts. Korea’s Junhoon Chung rounded out the podium to collect a PHP159,500 (~$2,730) payday.
The impressive entries generated a total prize pool of PHP1,429,780 (~$24,390) crushing the GTD PHP1 Million. Besides Anant Achary, Asian poker circuit regular Harish Kumar Asnani finished 12th to collect PHP29,000 (~$495).
Manila Super Series 21 DeepStack Final Table Payouts
| Rank | Player | Payout |
| 1st | Anant Acharya | $6,105 |
| 2nd | Ashley Patterson | $3,825 |
| 3rd | Juhoon Chung | $2,730 |
| 4th | Anthony Castro | $2,095 |
| 5th | Alvir Inocentes | $1,620 |
| 6th | Oliver Kubalek | $1,240 |
| 7th | Stephane Graffin | $985 |
| 8th | Byambasuren Danzanbaljir | $820 |
| 9th | Robert Van Schalm | $685 |
2025 Manila Super Series 21 Events Winners
| # | Event Name | Buy-In (PHP) | Winner | Country | 1st Prize (USD) | Entries |
| 1 | Warm-up | 12,500 | Christian Lortie | CAN | $9,585 | 283 |
| 2 | Freezeout | 25,000 | — | — | — | — |
| 3 | Run It Twice – Turbo | 8,000 | Shuhei Hiroshima | JPN | $615 | 18 |
| 4 | Main Event Qualifier – WYS@80 (5 Seats GTD) | 2,700 | Alexis Lim | PHL | $635 | 29 |
| 5 | NLH 10/10/10 | 5,000 | Sonny Soriano | PHL | $860 | 31 |
| 6 | Superstack | 12,500 | Fred Farboud Feridoun | USA | $4,835 | 105 |
| 7 | Knockout [5K bounty] | 20,000 | Sergei Korzhenko | RUS | $2,925 | 41 |
| 8 | Turbo | 6,500 | Oliver Kubalek Richert | SWE | $2,125 | 95 |
| 9 | Main Event Qualifier – WYS@80 (5 Seats GTD) | 2,700 | Richard Marquez | PHL | $315 | 37 |
| 10 | Deepstack | 12,500 | Anant Acharya | — | $6,105 | 283 |
| 11 | NLH | 20,000 | Carsten Klug | DEU | $1,900 | 13 |
| 12 | Main Event Qualifier – WYS@80 (5 Seats GTD) | 2,700 | Keita Kitamura | JPN | $510 | 45 |
| 13 | Win the Button Hyper Turbo | 5,000 | Ryuki Shirase | JPN | $940 | 37 |
| 14 | Survivor Knockout [25K bounty] | 12,500 | Anthony Castro | PHL | $3,705 | 164 |
| 15 | 6 Handed Shot Clock | 20,000 | Juhwan Kim | KOR | $1,655 | 14 |
| 16 | Main Event Qualifier – WYS@80 (5 Seats GTD) | 2,700 | Keijiro Shimojo | JPN | $315 | 35 |
| 17 | Superstack Hyper Turbo | 5,000 | Alvin Jeff Sembrano | PHL | $1,130 | 45 |
| 18 | Mystery Bounty | 12,500 | Marc Gagne | FRA | $7,190 | 235 |
| 19 | Single Re-Entry | 20,000 | David Erquiaga | PHL | $1,325 | 7 |
| 20 | Main Event Qualifier – WYS@80 (10 Seats GTD) | 2,700 | Zackary Lazarus | CAN | $635 | 82 |
| 21 | Showtime Hold’em Turbo | 5,000 | Naofumi Morishita | JPN | $860 | 31 |
| 22 | Main Event Qualifier – WYS@80 (5 Seats GTD) | 2,700 | Makoto Miyatake | JPN | $320 | 31 |
| 23 | Main Event | 18,500 | Emanuel Florendo | PHL | $35,238 | 705 |
| 24 | Double Stack | 10,000 | Joseph Sia | PHL | $2,465 | 52 |
| 25 | Super Series High Roller | 35,000 | Sergei Korzhenko | — | $7,440 | 41 |
| 26 | Split Hold’em | 10,000 | Liu Li Ming | TWN | $870 | 15 |
| 27 | NLH – 15/10/5 | 5,000 | Moshe Yurkevich | ISR | $940 | 37 |
| 28 | Main Event Qualifier – WYS@80 (5 Seats GTD) | 2,700 | Jeffrey Ponce | PHL | $955 | 69 |
| 29 | PLO | 20,000 | — | — | — | — |
| 30 | Super Series Turbo | 7,500 | Marciel Cerbito | PHL | $3,060 | 131 |
| 31 | Hyper Turbo | 5,000 | Nayeon Cho | KOR | $360 | 30 |
| 32 | Main Event Qualifier – WYS@80 (5 Seats GTD) | 2,700 | Lito Quijano | PHL | $640 | 72 |
| 33 | Mix PLO/NLH | 10,000 | Keijiro Shimojo | JPN | $1,830 | 30 |
| 34 | Badugi | 8,000 | Kenji Hamamoto | JPN | $960 | 19 |
| 35 | Flipout (1in7) ITM Hyper Turbo | 3,000 | — | — | — | — |
| 36 | Super Knockout [5K bounty] – Turbo | 10,000 | Junsuke Shigemura | — | $695 | 33 |
| 37 | Superstack Hyper Turbo | 5,000 | Tamon Nakamura | JPN | $1,475 | 67 |
| 38 | Mini Main Event | 12,500 | Nikolai Babushkin | — | $3,515 | 174 |
| 39 | Six Handed Shotclock | 25,000 | — | — | — | — |
| 40 | Knockout [₱2K Bounty] – Turbo | 10,000 | Shun Yamauchi | JPN | $2,160 | 64 |
| 41 | Super Hyper Turbo | 5,000 | Keijiro Shimojo | JPN | $1,180 | 46 |
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Source: PokerStarsLiveManila & SoMuchPoker
Image Credit: PokerStarsLiveManila & SoMuchPoker
