After three days of no-limit hold’em action, the final table of the WPT National Philippines is set at Solaire Resort & Casino and Kai Paulsen is leading the way.
Paulsen finished Day 3 with 2,270,000 chips and heads into the WPT Final Table with about a third of the chips in play. He has a sizable lead over the rest of the field; Jiabin Cui is his nearest competitor with 1,435,000.
Cui is is fresh off of a victory in the WPT National South Korea last month, trying to win back-to-back titles in WPT National events. Joining the two chip leaders at the final table are Louis Nyberg, Michael Tse Hua, Markus Garberg and Ying Ling Chua.
WPT National Philippines Main Event Final Table
Seat 1. Louis Nyberg – 450,000 (11 bb)
Seat 2. Kai Paulsen – 2,270,000 (56 bb)
Seat 3. Michael Tse Hua – 640,000 (16 bb)
Seat 4. Markus Garberg – 735,000 (18 bb)
Seat 5. Jiabin Cui – 1,435,000 (35 bb)
Seat 6. Ying Ling Chua – 1,140,000 (28 bb)
Day 3 began with 22 players all searching for a spot at the final table, and after more than four hours of poker, Andrei Kaigorodtcev was eliminated in 11th place. The final 10 players combined to a single table to continue playing down to the final six.
It took a surprisingly long time for anyone to bust; there were plenty of all-in situations, but the short stack always earned the double up. The first elimination didn’t take place until the 51st hand, when William Kang was eliminated in a three-way all in with his 
falling to Michael Tse Hua’s 
and Yuen Wai Loong’s pocket tens.
Tse Hua flopped a king to nearly triple up, and then the bustouts started coming more quickly — three more in the next 36 hands.
1st: PHP 4,048,700 ($86,130)
2nd: PHP 2,840,700 ($60,440)
3rd: PHP 1,827,200 ($38,870)
4th: PHP 1,352,500 ($28,770)
5th: PHP 1,015,300 ($21,600)
6th: PHP 811,900 ($17,270)
7th: Samuele Moschetti – PHP 674,400 ($14,340)
8th: Yuen Wai Loong – PHP 540,700 ($11,500)
9th: Dennis Gamboa – PHP 405,000 ($8,610)
10th: William Kang – PHP 295,100 ($6,270)
As you can see, the remaining six players are all guaranteed at least a payout of PHP 811,900 ($17,270), but everybody is shooting for the top prize of PHP 4,048,700 ($86,130), the title, and the trophy.
The final table is scheduled to begin at 1:00 pm local time (12:00 midnight ET / 11:00 pm PT), and WPT.com will have complete hand-for-hand coverage of the action as they play down to a winner.
Players and VIP guests in Manila Bay were welcomed with an extravagant, poolside bash at WPT National Philippines. Check out our video coverage below: